Peace talks with Taliban: Journalists protection on agenda, says CPJ

PM tells CPJ team that the govt was establishing a commission to propose measures to protect journalists in the field.

ISLAMABAD: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has assured its top officials that the government would include “protection of journalists as a negotiating point in upcoming peace talks with the Taliban.” PM Nawaz spoke out in support of journalists under attack, particularly in Balochistan and Fata, said the CPJ board member Kati Marton after she led her team in talks in Islamabad. “His commitment is encouraging and unprecedented in Pakistan’s history,” she said in a statement. Meanwhile state owned news agency APP reported that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the CPJ team that the government was establishing a commission to propose measures to protect journalists in the field.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.