ISLAMABAD, July 24: Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Mr Nisar A. Memon said on Wednesday that press laws will soon be submitted to the cabinet for its approval.

In a meeting with the representatives of APNS and CPNE, he asked the delegation to give its views on the proposed Defamation and Freedom of Information Act, to be promulgated in due course of time.

The ministry provided copies of the proposed laws to the APNS and CPNE office-bearers, who promised to give their views and suggestions within 10 days after having gone through each provision of the laws.

The interaction between the ministry and the representatives of the press is always helpful in improving the government-press relations, the minister said.

The APNS and CPNE representatives appreciated the open environment in which the discussion took place and the positive role played by the ministry in improving the press-government relations under the leadership of Information Minister Mr Nisar A. Memon.

The minister assured that the government of President Pervez Musharraf was committed to the cause of press freedom and will continue to stick to this policy in this regard in spite of the sometimes “undue” and “unwarranted” criticism by the media.

The APNS and CPNE representatives agreed with the minister that the freedom enjoyed by the newspapers at present “is unprecedented” and far better in qualitative terms than ever exercised by them in Pakistan’s history.

Mr Hameed Haroon, the APNS president, and Mr Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami, the CPNE chief, appreciated the direct contact between the government and the newspapers’ representative organizations which will go a long way in addressing the media-related matters on rational basis.

The meeting agreed with the minister that “what the country needs today is the peaceful and congenial environment for the transition to the elected government in October, 2002.” The minister, it was noted, “is willing to play a role to bring all the stake-holders — the government, the press publishers and the journalists — together on one table to openly discuss the problems faced by the media and to find mutually acceptable solutions.

The meeting was also attended by Mr Zia Shahid, Senior Vice-President, APNS, Mr Jamil Athar, SVP, CPNE, Qazi Asad Abid, Secretary General, APNS and Mr Mehmoodul Aziz, Secretary General, CPNE, and Syed Fasih Iqbal.

Syed Anwar Mahmood, Secretary Information, Mr Akram Shaheedi, PIO and Mr Fazal-ur-Rehman Malik from the ministry of information were also present in the meeting.