Pak foreign minister heckled in London over media freedom

Amidst reports of growing press censorship in Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was heckled by a Canadian journalist here alleging that his social media account was suspended over complaints from the government, according to media reports.

Qureshi was attending a press conference on ‘Defend Media Freedom’ here on Thursday when the incident took place, days after Pakistan Electronic Media Regula¬tory Authority (Pemra) suspended transmission of three private TV channels for airing an interview of jailed former President Asif Ali Zardari.

   

The move came as the Pakistan government decided to curtailthe space given by the press to jailed politicians like Pakistan’s former primeminister Nawaz Sharif and Zardari.

Journalist Ezra Levant of the Rebel media, a Canadianfar-right political website, interrupted and verbally assaulted the ministeralleging that his Twitter account was suspended over complaints from thePakistan government, the Dawn newspaper reported.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Twitter didn’tdelete my whole account. But they deleted a tweet they said violated Pakistanilaw. Twitter said that to me in an email. I’m in Canada. Twitter is in America.But Pakistan censored us,” he tweeted.

In a video clip of the incident shared by Pakistanjournalist Munizae Jahangir on Twitter, Levant said the organisers should beembarrassed to invite a “censorious thug” to talk about free speech.

Levant also accused the minister of adopting doublestandards on free speech, the report said.Responding to the allegations, Qureshi said,”first of all you want your sentiments to be respected. Just look at the toneto the panel you have adopted. Is that the correct way? You have a right to askquestions.”

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