Azam Chaudhry, a journalist and the President of the Lahore Press Club alleged that he got fired from his job as an analyst at Pakistan Television (PTV) over asking Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a critical question on media freedom in the country. He said that he hired and dismissed by PTV on the same day, without any written notification.
Chaudhry raised the issue of media restrictions during a press conference at the Punjab Governor’s House on June 30. He said that his question represented the concerns of the entire journalist community, who were facing widespread bans and censorship in Pakistan. He asked the prime minister when and how the media restrictions would lifted, and why political parties like PML-N and PPP did not support freedom of expression.
Prime Minister Shehbaz responded that he was against restrictions and referred the matter to the information minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb. He said that he did not want to dwell on the past, but he was aware of what had happened. He assured Chaudhry that his valid concerns would addressed.
However, Chaudhry claimed that he fired from his job at PTV after the press conference. He said that he was hired as an analyst by PTV, but he was dismissed without any explanation. He said that he was a victim of media suppression and intimidation.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb denied Chaudhry’s allegations and said that he was not a PTV employee and had never been a PTV employee. She said that he was only a member of an issues-based analyst pool for PTV, and he had not been removed from this pool or asked to leave. She said that the government had invited him to the press conference and answered his questions in detail, and there was no attempt to silence him or his views.