Updated on
Summary SAFMA holds national conference on Media Militancy and Fair Elections.
South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) held National Conference on the subject of ‘Media Militancy and Fair Elections’.In the name of “obscenity”, new curbs and discrimination, reflecting entrenched prejudices against women and progressive values, are being contemplated through the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Pemra and state authorities on the initiation of sick and sexist minds who want to impose their anti-women code and restrictive and obscurantist values on society.While upholding freedom of expression and choice, men and women’s rights on their bodies, we call upon all institutions, including courts, PEMRA, parliament, police, media, Council of Islamic Ideology and education institutions to refrain from defining any code as it is variable, against diversity and individual freedoms.Such efforts would only result in a fascist code, moral vigilantism and brutalization of society. Our society is a dynamic enough to hold its sense of decency and relative balance and doesn’t need intervention from self-appointed crusaders of virtues, judiciary or other institutions, including media.The conference condemned the murderous attack by the Taliban on Malala Yousufzai, Kainat and Shazia, the teen-age students of Swat who defied all odds and threats in their resolve for not abandoning their rights to education and a peaceful life free of terror and discrimination.The conference adopted an unanimous resolution, which said that the government, the parliament, the state authorities, the armed forces, parliamentary parties, courts, media, academia and civil society and people of Pakistan resolutely, consistently and at all levels through appropriate calibrations and combinations of political, ideological, diplomatic, academic, legislative and military means eradicate religious/sectarian extremism and terrorism and all sanctuaries of terrorists.Those Taliban who have attacked Malala must be brought to book by all possible means and those who are in any way or on any pretext whatsoever try to cover up or justify the accused Taliban/terrorists are no less worse and should be censured through public opinion.
