STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Journalists should continue informing the public and serving public interest even when authorities dislike their reporting, said Zaffar Abbas, editor of Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

“Our values are very clear that if anything is against democratic values, we will oppose it. Whether it is a civilian government or a military government, if they go after rights activists, we will oppose it,” he said while speaking at a programme titled “Journalists at a crossroads: Conversation with Zaffar Abbas”, organised by The Daily Star at its office in Dhaka yesterday.

“If there is a clash between the government’s version of national interest and our understanding of national interest, we will weigh the public interest and go for it,” he said.

Zaffar said journalists must remain confident that their goal is to defend free speech and inform people about what is wrong with society, the government and the authorities.

Speaking about Dawn’s liberal values in Pakistan, often regarded as a conservative Islamic country, he described the country as having a “deeply religious society”.

“When we talk about liberal values, we are not talking about anything against religion. It is about explaining what a civil society should be all about,” he said, adding that he was not challenging any religious narrative.

He said Dawn had openly supported equal rights for women and affirmative action on women’s rights and that the same principle applied to other fundamental rights.

“If rights are being taken away, we will write against that,” he said.

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