ISLAMABAD:The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday strongly condemned the May 9 arsons and attacks on the state institutions, terming them a heinous conspiracy to destabilize the country.
The committee, which met with Javaria Zafar Aheer in the chair, observed that its all members stood with the nation, its armed forces and national institutions.It opined that May 9 would always be remembered as a black day in the country’s history as on that day sentiments of the families of martyrs and Ghazis were hurt while Pakistan’s image in the comity of nations was tarnished.
Javaria Zafar said a heinous conspiracy was hatched to create differences among the masses and the national institutions, and destabilize the country.
Discussing the “The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill, 2023”, the committee observed that in principle it had no objection to the three proposed amendments but the members would like to go through the entire bill before approving it.
Javaria Zafar stressed the need for early enactment of the bill to ensure protection of the media personnel.
Considering “The Press,Newspapers, News Agencies, and Books Registration ( Amendment) Bill, 2023”, the committee called for getting input from the Ministry of Law and Justice before its approval.
Member of The National Assembly (MNA) Muhammad Jamaluddin briefed the committee about his bill named “The Indecent Advertisements Prohibition ( Amendment) Bill, 2022”.
He said the objective of his bill was to protect the ethical values of the young generation by banning indecent content in the media.
Officials of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) told the committee that indecent content was already covered under its law and code of conduct.
MNA Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro said certain advertisements fantacized the people about things which had a negative impact on the health of the consumers and should be banned.
She suggested that social media should be regulated as very dangerous ads were shown on it.
Later the committee approved the bill with the observation that it would help control indecent content in the media.
During discussion on the concerns of journalists for which they walked out from the NA’s Press Gallery on June 15, 2022, the committee was informed by Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Islamabad Police Syed Shahzad Nadeem that top priority was being attached to the security of media-persons as they realised that the matter was linked with freedom of expression.
MNA Nafeesa Shah said during the previous regime, attacks and abduction of media persons was a matter of routine. She said with the change of regime things had improved but still there was need to take more steps in that regard.
The meeting was also attended by MNAs Zulfiqar Ali Behan, Armaghan Subhani, Maiza Hameed and Kiran Imtiaz Dar, while Jamaluddin and Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali attended the meeting as bill movers. Senior officials from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and its attached departments were also present in the meeting.