15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 14: The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors on Friday established its 'Press Freedom Monitoring Desk' at a ceremony where Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim formally inaugurated the watch-dog by pressing a knob of a computer.

The PFMD, which will operate from the CPNE Central Secretariat in Karachi, will keep a record of violations of press freedom and recommend appropriate actions to the CPNE.

Besides, it will serve as a watch-dog and work in coordination with national and international media organizations to ensure appropriate response to any breach of press freedom by government or political/religious/ social quarters.

In his brief speech, Justice Ebrahim remarked that the credit for freedom of press prevailing in the country went to the working journalists. "The surest guarantee for the freedom of press is that all democratic institutions should work under the constitution.

If you don't have a democracy-based constitution, you will not have freedom of press," he pointed out, and added that the freedom of press could become meaningful only when Section 499 of the PPC was dropped, contempt law amended and the Access to Information Act was implemented. Access to information, he stressed, was essential to ensure freedom of press.

Federal Minister for Information Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, who was chief guest at the ceremony, reiterated the government position that there was no restriction on the freedom of press.

"The press is free to write whatever it likes," he said, but cautioned against irresponsible reporting on sensitive matters, including sectarian issues. He said lack of objectivity in reporting or writing on such issues could create an unrest.

He asked media people not to "fabricate" news just to achieve their own objectives. Citing the prevailing circumstances, he stressed the need for appreciating any appropriate measures taken by the government and identifying any flaws in its working.

He contested the claim about unfair release of advertisements by the government, pointing out that over the past several years, his ministry had released over 80 per cent of the total advertisements to the major newspapers.

"The record pertaining to the previous year also shows their share as 82.3 per cent, even then the owners of these newspapers appeared not satisfied." Shaikh Rashid called for a dialogue to find a solution to the issues concerning journalists.

"I am not a hypocrite. While I am supposed to safeguard the interests of the newspaper owners, it is also my duty to look into the matter of Seventh Wage Award," the minister said.

CPNE President Arif Nizami said the setting up of the PFMD would strengthen freedom of press. He criticised the use of advertisement as a lever to curtail freedom of press.

PFUJ President Ahfazur Rehman said that low-paid workers could not wage a struggle for press freedom. He also criticised the new trend of hiring people on contract basis and asked the CPNE to also arrange for necessary training of journalists. Earlier, CPNE Secretary General Jabbar Khattak, highlighted the objectives of the PFMD.