NEW YORK
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog body, has called onPakistan’s interim government to reverse its decision to expel New York Times bureau chief Declan Walsh from the country.
“The expulsion of Declan Walsh shows just how much the authorities fear independent media coverage,” Bob Dietz, CPJ’sAsiaprogramme coordinator, said in a statement on Friday.
“The vagueness and the late-night delivery of the expulsion order smack of a need to intimidate foreign and local journalists on the eve of historic elections that could herald the growth of democracy inPakistan. Instead, Walsh’s expulsion only mars the event, and undercuts hopes for a free press.”
Walsh, a senior journalist who had been coveringPakistanfor the Times since January 2012, was handed a two-sentence letter early Thursday ordering him to leave, the newspaper said.
Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson protested the expulsion in a letter toPakistan’s Interior Minister, Malik Muhammad Habib Khan, the newspaper said. Abramson described Walsh as a ”reporter of integrity who has at all times offered balanced, nuanced and factual reporting onPakistan.”
She called the accusation of undesirable activities ‘vague and unsupported’. AFP adds: The New York Times said itsIslamabadbureau chief was ordered to leavePakistanfor unspecified ‘undesirable activities’ in the country.
An expulsion order was delivered by police to Walsh’s home at12:30 amThursday, according to the Times.
“It is informed that your visa is hereby cancelled in view of your undesirable activities,” the order stated, as cited by the newspaper.
“You are therefore advised to leave the country within 72 hours.” The order means Walsh, 39, must exitPakistanon the night of the elections.
Walsh has lived and worked inPakistanfor nine years, most of the time for The Guardian newspaper ofBritain. He was hired by the Times in January 2012. The journalist has written about the country’s political strife, insurgency and sometimes tense relations with theUnited States.