April 21, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 20: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman has said that the government is committed to freedom of expression and it will take all necessary steps to address concerns of the media.

Speaking at a reception she hosted for journalists here on Sunday, she said the government was pursing a policy of reconciliation enunciated by slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto to take the country out of the crisis it faced.

Replying to a question about recent incidents of violence in Karachi, she said Pakistan People’s Party activists had always been the main victims of terrorist activities in the city.

She condemned the attacks on former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim and former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi just before the installation of new governments in Sindh and Punjab.

Ms Rehman said the PPP was against confrontation among institutions and it wanted to take the democratic process forward with its policy of reconciliation.

“Our country is facing multi-dimensional problems of law and order, shortage of flour and price hike. We want to take the country out of these crises by keeping the ship straight and steady to avoid confrontation between different forces,” she said.

The minister said media-persons had always played a responsible role but they needed to be more careful and “report complete quotes instead of out of context sentences for making spicy headlines as it was observed in the case of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s recent interview”.

Ms Rehman said that after doing away with the ‘black’ Pemra laws, the government would prepare a code of ethics in consultation with media representatives.

The minister said the government was determined to resolve the issue of implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award and it would take all the stakeholders into confidence for the purpose.