Azhar Abbas Elected President of AMEND

General Council expresses grave concern over deteriorating press freedom and misuse of PECA; new executive committee to announce the association’s position on the media situation

Karachi: Azhar Abbas has been elected President and Tariq Mehmood General Secretary in the elections of the Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AMEND).

According to the election results, Muhammad Usman and Mian Tahir were elected Vice Presidents, Rehan Ahmed and Nadeem Jamal Joint Secretaries, and Shahab Mehmood Finance Secretary. At the meeting of AMEND’s General Council, held in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, the remaining members of the Executive Committee were also elected. They include Zahid Mazhar, Masoom Rizvi, Hasnain Khawaja, Mohsin Raza, Mubarak Ali, Kamran Lashari, Humayun Saleem, Muhammad Noshad and Razzaq Sirohi.

The AMEND General Council expressed serious concern over the worsening state of press freedom in Pakistan and the growing use of government powers and state institutions to restrict independent journalism.

The General Council also voiced concern over the misuse of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and the actions of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA). The council described the irresponsible conduct of some YouTubers as promoting personal or political agendas under the guise of journalism. However, the association made clear that there is no justification for imposing restrictions on the entire media on the basis of the actions of a few individuals.

The AMEND General Council decided that the association’s position on the overall media situation in the country would be issued after detailed deliberation at the meeting of the new Executive Committee.

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