ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Nisar A. Memon has said that the government believes in freedom of expression.

“Transparency has been and continues to be the hallmark of the government,” he said, adding that the Freedom of Information Act would help promote transparency and good governance in the country.

Mr Memon was talking to a joint delegation of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), headed by their respective presidents, which called on him and Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights Dr Khalid Ranjha at the Ministry of Information and Media Development on Thursday.

During the meeting they also discussed the proposed amendments in the Act.

The amendments suggested by the representatives of the newspaper organizations were reviewed in detail.

An understanding was reached between the two sides on almost all the major points and it was decided to constitute a committee to sort out the remaining ones.

A part from APNS President Hameed Haroon and CPNE President Mujibur Rehman Shami, other members of the APNS and CPNE, who attended the meeting, were Arif Nizami, Zia Shahid, Mehmoodul Aziz, Jamil Athar, Arshad Zuberi, Pir Sufaid Shah, Zahid Malik, Syed Fasih Iqbal and Dr Tanvir A. Tahir. Whereas Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood, Joint Secretary Fazalur Rehman Malik and Principal Information Officer Akram Shaheedi assisted the government side.