RAWALPINDI
Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi has imposed an unannounced ban on media coverage of pending cases.
Court security personnel prevented the media from entering the court premises
Yesterday, on the occasion of the hearing of the cases against Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed, the officials posted at the entrance of the court prevented the media from entering the court premises.
When asked by the media, the officials’ position was that we have an order from above, but they did not said that this order was given to them by the court or that the administration and the police imposed a ban.
On the question of the media, he said that the ban on the entry of the media in the courts is not appropriate.
Describing the ban on the media as a violation of fundamental rights, he said that the access to the courts of the media representatives assigned to court coverage is their fundamental right. Under the concept of open court, not only the media but also the layman cannot be stopped from hearing of the case he wants to see.
Meanwhile, Vice Presidents of Rawalpindi High Court Reporters Association Rahat Munir, Babar Malik and General Secretary Iqbal Malik expressed concern over this move and said that on one hand the Supreme Court hears important cases on camera while the Supreme Court and the High Court. As the media normally fulfills its journalistic responsibilities, it is incomprehensible to stop the media representatives here.
Under the guise of this ban, the security officials also misbehave with the media and the security officials maintain that they are instructed to inform the media of the upcoming date of any trial.
He said that the Supreme Judiciary should take notice of such actions and order to remove obstacles in the discharge of professional responsibilities.
It should be noted that under the unannounced ban on coverage of cases in the Anti-Terrorism Court, there has been a complete ban on the media from entering the court for a long time.
