(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
From the ’60s till the ’80s, the Press functioned under the PPO (1963) and, what Naz calls, Zia’s
ideological, social, and pre-censorship guidelines (1999, p. 55-57; Z. Niazi, 1994, p.5 -14) to
control the information pertaining to internal instability, political mobility, the loyalty and
allegiance of the forces and the martial law administration, the wars, the Fall of Dhaka, and
Bhutto’s arrest, trial, and execution, which is perceived as politically motivated judicial murder by
the sections of general public. Under these tough circumstances, Zia’s government made the first
ever historical attempt to resolve the Press violation issues by signing an accord with the Council
of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) on March 6, 1980. Ziauddin says, the accord “made it
obligatory for the Press to abide by an agreed code of ethics” (2000). However, the Press flouted
this code because of Zia’s heavy censorship policy and the suspicion that the martial law regime
forced the CPNE to sign the agreement (Ziauddin, 2000). Z. Niazi says Zia terrorized the Press
(1994, p. xv), but adjusted policies following the law suites (1994, p. 5). As reported in papers, Zia
used both punishments like whipping and jailing and rewards like “plots of land” to control and
oblige the journalists “who desperately vied with each other” to greet Zia first at the conferences
(Naz, 1999, P. 57-58; Z. Niazi, 1994, p. 6; Masood, 2010). Naz quotes Z. Niazi who says political
affiliations of the journalists and “‘the selectivity’ in reporting” reduced politics to “narrow
sectarianism, religious and ethnic divide” (1999, p. 58). Z. Niazi’s comment on unethical practices
during Zia regime offers a historical perspective of the relationship between Pakistani media and
politics since Yahya.
From Yahya to Zia, the governments ignored several press violations and the demand to repeal the
PPO (1963) by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), All Pakistan Newspapers
Employees Confederation (APNEC), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), All
Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), and the respective local unions of journalists in each city
and town (Ziauddin, 2000; Naz, 1999). Many citizens from all sectors of life supported media
campaigns and professionals who filed and won a petition in Federal Shariat Court to repeal the
PPO during Zia’s martial law regime. According to Ziauddin, the Court “declared various sections
of the Press law un-Islamic and called for their deletion or amendment” (2000). “A clear
consensus on major reform of the law” was felt across the board when the Supreme Court “upheld
certain observations” of the Shariat Court in its judgment of the appeal by the martial law
government in January 1988 (Ziauddin, 2000). By July 1988, the Senate passed a resolution to
repeal the law that followed the passing of Registration of Printing Presses and Publications
Ordinance (RPPO) by the government to repeal and replace the PPO (1963) in September 1988.
The 1988 Press law exorcized the arbitrary powers of the government and expanded a lot of
dignity and integrity to individuals by incorporating the observations and recommendations of
both the Shariat Court and the representative bodies of mass media (Ziauddin, 2000). It reinstated
press freedom under the constitution (1973) and abolished MIB’s unpublished black list of
journalists, intellectuals, and citizens who criticized the establishment, or opposed martial law. It
also eliminated the requirement of no objection certificates for media professionals for travelling
abroad on invitations of foreign governments and organizations (Ziauddin, 2000). Unfortunately,
the absence of legislation caused the reappearance of the PPO (1963) by default, legally disabling
the media. However, Ziauddin says, it was not used (2000) and the mass media picture remained
relatively stable due to comparative leniency of the governments till the military takeover in 1999
and after.
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