Hamid Mir - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Iranian President Ahmedi Nijad and Afghan President Hamid Karzai came under heavy fire in Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum attended by more than 850 journalists from 94 countries on Tuesday.

Speakers from all over the globe said that telling the truth should not be a crime anywhere and there could be no democracy without an independent judiciary and free press. They criticised the anti-media policies of different governments and they also condemned the publication of blasphemous caricatures by Danish newspapers.

Despite a recent blast near the Danish embassy of Islamabad, many prominent journalist speakers of this international event said that no newspaper in the world should have the right to insult any religion in the name of press freedom.

The forum mainly discussed the role of the media in peace building and promoting democracy in conflict areas. Speakers spoke on length about the role of media in the war against terrorism, genocide in Darfur, civil war in Zimbabwe, human rights abuses in Burma, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Tibet. The Global Media Forum was inaugurated by the keynote address of Iranian female Nobel Peace laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi, who interestingly justified the ban on denying the holocaust in Germany but never said a single word against the blasphemous caricatures.

Ebadi criticised the Iranian government for its censuring measures and the open assault on media but she defended the ban on criticising the holocaust in many Western countries. She said that criticism on holocaust could create some conflicts and that was why there should be no permission for denying the holocaust but she remained silent on the conflicts created after the publication of caricatures in the Danish newspapers.

Jan Hoek, Director General of Radio Netherlands, clearly said that the freedom of speech was not a license for insulting any religion. He informed the audience that media in the Netherlands never encouraged a recent anti Islam film Fitna produced by a local politician. He said that 95 percent population of Netherlands never gave any serious attention to that film.

Aref Hijjawi, Director Programs of Aljazeera, said that media should respect all the religions. He criticized the West for its alleged bias against the Aljazeera. Erlends Calabuig from Radio France also criticised the hate media and urged to discourage hate material. He suggested that the Western media should not use the terms Islamic bomb and Muslim terrorists. He proposed to form an international media code for discouraging hatred. Danforth W. Austin, Director Voice of America, criticised the anti media laws in various countries and said that authorities should regularly provide legal protection to media instead of becoming a threat for media freedom.

Vincent Brossel from Reporters without Borders delivered a hard-hitting speech against Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai for their anti-media policies. He said the Musharraf regime broke all the records of recent history by banning more than three dozen TV channels and some anchors. He said that Musharraf banned many popular TV anchors for many months but failed to ban illegal FM radio stations run by the Taliban in tribal areas. He mildly criticised PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and said that the new regime in Pakistan was also using the old anti-media laws to twist the arms of some TV channels. He said that many so-called democratic governments in South Asia were not issuing licenses for new TV channels as a blackmailing tactic.

Eberhard Sucker from Deutsche Welle spoke on the need for journalists training to work in the conflict areas. He criticised Afghan President Hamid Karzai and said that his government was attacking independent journalists in Afghanistan.


This article was first published at The News

Hamid Mir, the author of this article, is a top Pakistani reporter, head of the Geo TV Bureau in Islamabad. He has won a world-wide acclaim for his interviews with Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, before and following 9/11. His new book about OBL is due to appear in Britain, later this year.