ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Murtaza Solangi, Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, and Parliamentary Affairs, stated on Tuesday that certain elements were simply spreading false information, claiming that “no foreign journalists and observers would be arriving Pakistan for coverage of the upcoming general elections.”
He was speaking at a press conference alongside Secretary Information and Broadcasting Shahera Shahid, Executive Director General External Publicity Wing Ambreen Jan, Principal Information Officer Dr Tariq Mehmood, and Director General Radio Pakistan Saeed Sheikh.
Many international media personnel had applied for visas to cover the elections, according to Murtaza Solangi, who added that 49 visas (for Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi) had been issued as of today, while 32 requests were being processed, and many more were still being received from various stations around the world.
He stated that 32 visa applications for election coverage had been received by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and were being processed due to India’s manual visa system for giving visas.
He stated that 174 requests for ECP Accreditation Cards have been received and processed for foreign media professionals and their Pakistani workers who are stationed in Pakistan.
In response to a media question, he stated that 25 applications were now being processed from the United Kingdom alone, 8 from the Russian Federation, 13 from Japan, 02 from South Africa, and 5 from the Commonwealth under the category of International Observers.
Accreditation cards had also been completed for local Pakistani media houses, according to Murtaza Solangi, who added that 6,065 journalists had been processed thus far, including 1200 from Lahore, 1470 from Karachi, 1050 from Peshawar, 600 from Quetta, 355 from Hyderabad, 250 from Faisalabad, and 290 from Multan.
He stated that circumstances in which the media seeks to cover cities other than Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi would be considered on a case-by-case basis, in cooperation with relevant ministries.
