Media coverage of full court reference: Politicians, journalists and lawyers decry ‘discrimination’

Demand inquiry into favouritism displayed by the top court staff.

ISLAMABAD:

Journalists, politicians and lawyers have decried ‘discrimination’ by the Supreme Court on Wednesday after the court staff gave only one news channel access to the full-court reference in honour of outgoing chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The ‘discrimination’ led to calls from all news channels – save for the one favoured by the top court staff – for appropriate action against those responsible for ‘violating the fundamental rights of journalists’.



Reacting to the incident, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said the behaviour of the top court staff was “really not appreciable”.

“This incident has created a great problem for the Supreme Court… we have also heard that the move may have violated the Constitution,” he said.



“Action must be taken against those responsible for the incident,” said Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Babar Awan.

The Supreme Court administration also drew fire from the legal fraternity over the ‘discrimination’.

“Giving only one channel the right of coverage is discrimination beyond comprehension… under Article 25 of the Constitution, all citizens of Pakistan enjoy equal rights,” said Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui.



Prominent lawyer Khalid Ranjha said all news channels should have been given the chance to cover the event.

“It seems the entire episode was pre-planned,” said lawyer and PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan. “That particular channel tried to present the outgoing chief justice as a hero and was given special permission to cover the full court reference,” he said.



“Had this been done by some public institution, a suo motu action by the chief justice would have immediately followed,” Ahsan added. He urged the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to take up the issue to satisfy ‘overlooked’ news channels.

He clarified that the association’s perceived rant against journalists was due to a misunderstanding. “We are not against media. We apologise for hurting their feelings.”

The Pakistan Bar Council also demanded an inquiry into the incident and gave a 24-hour ultimatum in this regard.



Media persons also came down hard on the SC staff. Senior TV anchor Nadeem Malik regretted the ‘partisan attitude’ of the Supreme Court administration. “Favouritism must be avoided when dealing with important events [like the full-court reference],” he said while demanding an inquiry into the incident.

Others accused the top court staff and the management of the favoured news channel of a conspiracy. “This was planned and was aimed at obliging the said media group,” said the Islamabad bureau chief of ExpressNews Amir Ilyas Rana.

“We asked the Supreme Court administration about arrangements for the coverage of the full court reference and other related events, but the whole day was spoiled following the mistreatment,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2013.