Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Press Trust of India M.K. Razdan has regretted the Pakistani authorities’ decision to expel two Indian journalists.
“We have been given no notice, no reason and no rationale for this virtual expulsion by the Pakistan government that keeps affirming that they want improved relations with India,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Washington, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters: “As a general principle, we support the ability of journalists to freely report on countries around the world, every country, and that would include Pakistan and that would include Indian journalists in Pakistan and Pakistani journalists in India. So that would be our general view, but I don’t know the specifics of the case.”
India and Pakistan allowed two journalists each from either country to be stationed in the other since 1974.
The number of Indian journalists in Pakistan briefly swelled to five, but was slashed back to two by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during her first term in 1988-1990 — a period coinciding with Pakistani support for terrorism in both Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly said he wants to improve relations with India, and vowed to guard media freedom. However, recent months have seen a sharp deterioration in relations between Pakistan’s military and the media, as well as simmering tensions with India along the Line of Control.
