10 February 2005	Thursday	30 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Feb 9: The participants of a round-table conference organized by the Citizens' Media Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday stressed the need for circulating the proposed amendments to Pemra Act for public opinion before sending it to the National Assembly.

The conference was held with the theme "From scarcity to abundance: New horizons, new hazards" on the occasion of the Electronic Media Freedom Day. The participants noted with concern that despite passage of 28 months, the standing committee on the subject had not met because there was no agreement on its chairman.

They supported the need for community-based public service media for which the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatroy Authority(Pemra) had not invited licences yet. It was stressed that money must not be the only consideration while issuing licence for community-based channels.

The conference, which was attended by representatives of civil society, electronic media regulatory body, welfare organizations, lawyers, representatives of channels and cable operators and students, referred to the 12 basic questions raised by the commission's convener, Javed Jabbar.

The convener had asked whether the recent expansion in the number of channels genuinely increased the range of choice for citizens and strengthened freedom of expression or those were more of the "older versions".

Javed Jabbar pointed out that the absence of a representative body of official and private electronic media channel owners and operators on the lines of the All-Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) resulted in considerable difficulties.

The conference also expressed concern over maltreatment and killing of journalists, maltreatment of lady doctor in Sui. Concern was also expressed at the tendency to treat the Pemra as a department or an affiliate of the federal government.

In the inaugural session, media commission's chairman Nasim Hassan Shah dealt with legal aspect and examined the framework in which the electronic media was operating in Pakistan. He pointed out the legal dichotomy with regard to electronic media in the country.

In this context, he referred to the rules under which PBC, PTV and Shalimar company were operating besides the laws for private channels. He said that such a situation was contrary to the principles of equity and equality. He called upon the civil society to play its due role by conducting public debate on the issue.