ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) on Monday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Imran Khan for accusing the news media and journalists of taking money to campaign against his government in in Malakand, a city in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
The union’s president Shahzada Zulfiqar, Vice President Lala Asad Pathan and Secretary-General Nasir Zaidi were both shocked and chagrined at the prime minister’s “baseless remarks” and said: “It is surprising that the head of the government chose to make unfounded allegations against the news media using a public forum, instead of ordering an investigation by the state agencies under his command.”
The union told the PM to order a probe instead of spreading “fake news” to garnish his election campaigns or defuse pressure of the impending “no-trust motion” being made by the Opposition against him.
The Joint Action Committee of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) also took “serious note of the false allegations” made by the embattled Pakistani prime minister.
