31 July 2004	Saturday	13 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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ISLAMABAD, July 30: Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Friday said the objectionable clauses in the recently- introduced amendment bill to defamation laws suggesting punishment for journalists will be removed and will not be tabled in the National Assembly till a consensus is reached.

The assurance came from the prime minister at a meeting with the representatives of journalists, who boycotted the morning proceedings of the National Assembly to protest against the inclusion of reporters, editors, publishers and even distributors in the defamation laws.

The government on Thursday introduced a bill to increase the imprisonment and fine for any person, held responsible for defaming any other person. "In case of libel, publisher, editor, reporter and distributor shall be severally and jointly liable for an action for defamation under ordinance," says the proposed amendment.

The bill proposes to increase the imprisonment from three months to one year and fine from Rs50,000 to Rs300,000. The prime minister said the amendment to the defamation laws was aimed at purging politics of allegations and character assassination.

The prime minister expressed his ignorance about the inclusion of the controversial clauses of the bill when his attention was drawn towards his own statement which he made on Wednesday announcing that press freedom would not be affected by the amendment bill.

He endorsed the demand of the journalists that any person who levelled allegation against anybody should prove his assertions and the reporter concerned should not be held responsible in such a case.

Mr Hussain assured the journalists that the issue of the 7th Wage Board Award would be taken up in the next cabinet meeting. The prime minister said that when Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed returns from China, he would ask him (the minister) to bring the issue of linking advertisements with the implementation of the wage award before the cabinet.

Earlier, reporters walked out of the press gallery against the proposed amendments to the defamation laws and non- implementation of the wage board award soon after start of the National Assembly session.

The prime minister sent Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao to the journalists. However, after refusal by the reporters to end their boycott, the prime minister convened a meeting with the journalists' representatives in his chamber.

They told Mr Hussain that they would never accept the amendment and termed it an attempt to curb press freedom. They criticized the government for justifying the punishments on the basis of Islamic teachings as the bill stated that "scandalizing public figures" amounted to "eating flesh of one's brother".

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