KABUL(SW):A number of media practitioners have vowed to work on a safety policy for the protection of working journalists.
At a press conference organized by a number of media houses and NAI, media developing organization, it was decided that once the policy was finalized it would be handed over to the government’s security organs. Speaking at the conference, Seddiqullah Tawhidi, Director for NAI, said that the government was responsible to ensure the security for journalists.
He said that the President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has officially nominated Gen. Qadam Shah Shahim, Chief of Army Staff, as a focal person in case journalists face any threats.
He added that at their first meeting with the Army Chief, it was decided that a policy should be developed for the protection of journalists and the security organizations should implement it.
He further said that this was the first time all media heads and directors came together to develop a security policy for journalists saying that such gathering never took place in the past and there was no coordination between the journalists, which led to a number of incidents in the past.
Sayed Haqiqi, one of the journalists at the meeting however, said that the measures taken by the journalist community were mainly reactionary. He added that it limits the freedom of media and reporters.
He feared that the new policy might pave the way for government institutions to force censorship in the future.
Afghanistan remains one of the dangerous countries for journalists. A number of journalists have been killed in Afghanistan in the past 14 years.
ENDS
