ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that journalist Azam Chaudhry — who is reported to have claimed he was “taken off air” from the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) for asking a question related to press freedom from the prime minister — was never an employee of the state-run broadcaster.
“He is and has only been a member of an issues-based analyst pool for PTV. He has not been removed from this pool and has not been asked to leave. Nothing of the sort has been communicated to him,” the minister said.
Aurangzeb’s clarification comes after several local media outlets reported that Chaudhry, who is also the president of the Lahore Press Club, was “told he was no longer with PTV”.
According to a report published in local newspaper, the journalist received the message after he attended a press conference in Lahore, where he had asked a question from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding “diminishing space for freedom of speech” in the country.
The report said Chaudhry had asked a two-part question from the premier in which he had pointed out restrictions on the media across the country and enquired when these curbs would end.
In response to the journalist, the premier had expressed his disapproval of the restriction but then deflected the query to Aurangzeb.
The media quoted Chaudhry as saying that “he was informed that PTV would be doing a panel program from the Governor House after the PM’s press conference, where he would also be joined by Sajjad Mir and Salman Ghani”. –Agencies
