August 12, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 9, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: The coalition government on Monday brought a second bill to the National Assembly to lift the media curbs imposed by President Pervez Musharraf last year, at the start of a session seen preparatory to his planned impeachment.

The Press, Newspapers, Newspapers, News Agencies, and Books Registration (Amendment) Bill, introduced by Information and Broadcasting Minister Sherry Rehman, will automatically go to a house standing committee for vetting before adoption.

The first bill, seeking to remove the harsh curbs ordered by the president for the electronic media after imposing a controversial emergency on Nov 3, 2007 was introduced in the lower house in April and is yet to be passed.

The new bill is meant to repeal the restrictions imposed on the print media such as empowering district coordination officers to suspend declarations of newspapers for violating clauses aimed at censoring their content. “The draconian laws that threatened coercive actions against the press will be removed via this bill to begin the process of providing a free press in Pakistan, a statement accompanying the draft said.

“We are committed to revoking all draconian measures taken during the nine years of an authoritarian rule,” Ms Rehman said in a statement.

She said clauses of the ordinance being amended were meant to stifle the press by imposing censorship under the “ever-convenient pretext of sovereignty, integrity and security of Pakistan”.

The media, she said, was already following self-regulatory orders when amendments were unjustifiably slapped on them.

The minister said this was unacceptable because the executive could not be given discretionary powers to shut down media outlets without any solid justification and the print media was never consulted while drawing the set of rules guiding their content. “The biggest flaw with these amendments is that they came from a non-representative structure. They, therefore, neither reflected the will of the people nor did they promote their interest.”

Ms Rehman said the government was revoking all amendments made in the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance of 2002.

“We are removing the broad censorship measures that sought to curb freedom of expression on the excuse of protecting national interest. These restrictions gave the authorities a free hand to harass the print media every time the regime got negative coverage. Journalists were arrested and media houses were threatened to be closed down if they did not follow the rules that were promulgated without taking the parliament into confidence.”

She said revoking the previous government’s amendments in the 2002 ordinance “not only signifies the government’s resolve to keep its commitment to the public, it is also meant to safeguard the interest of the media”.

She added: “A free media is the most important pillar of democracy and our government believes in facilitating the media in their endeavour to provide objective and quality information products. At the same time, we expect the media to demonstrate an element of responsibility in their coverage of all issues and provide an impartial and fair analysis of the developments in the country.”

APP adds: Ms Rehman informed the National Assembly that a proposal to set up ‘evening courts’ was being considered by the Law and Justice Division. “But it is still in the initial stage.”

Answering a question by Dr Donia Aziz during the question hour, she said the proposal would come before the cabinet for approval.

Replying to a question posed by Rubina Sadat Qaimkhawani, Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said that PIA had been forced to revise its fares to remain competitive in the market to offset the constant increase in international oil prices and inflationary costs.