23 November 1994
A special meeting of journalists’ associations from SAARC countries was held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. The host organization was the Sri Lanka Union of Journalists. The opening ceremony was inaugurated by the President of Sri Lanka, while the second session was opened by the Minister of Information of Sri Lanka.
Representatives from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other countries of the region participated — a total of 21 delegates attended the event. The participants presented reports on the state of human rights and press freedom in their respective countries and discussed regional differences affecting media freedom.
The delegates from Nepal and Pakistan accused India of interfering in certain internal matters. The Pakistani delegate and President of the Pakistan Freelance Journalists Association (PFJA), Iqbal Yousufi, in his address, charged that India harasses Pakistani journalists after issuing them visas, creating difficulties for them through its administration and intelligence agencies.
Citing the arrest and torture of Mohammad Azhar Masood, editor of a Pakistani monthly magazine, who was detained in India the previous year and has been missing ever since, Mr. Yousufi strongly condemned the incident.
He added that no Indian journalist visiting Pakistan has ever been harassed or even questioned by Pakistani authorities. Mr. Yousufi said that if the Indian Embassy finds any journalist suspicious, it should simply refuse to issue a visa, instead of trapping journalists like prey, calling such behavior the worst form of diplomatic thuggery.
In response to Mr. Yousufi’s protest, six Indian delegates present at the meeting assured him they would raise the matter with their government. His demand received full support from representatives of all SAARC countries.
The five-day conference in Colombo was also attended by Aidan White, General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), along with representatives from Singapore’s journalists’ organization and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).
During the sessions, leading Sri Lankan intellectuals delivered special lectures on human rights, regional challenges, and the impact of local conditions on journalism.
