ISLAMABAD, March 9: The Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) at a meeting on Friday adopted a resolution urging the government to repeal the Defamation Act of 2004 in order to provide a conducive atmosphere to media personnel to perform their professional duty in a better way.

The council also took a number of other decisions at the meeting. Its members later called on President Asif Ali Zardari in the Presidency and apprised him of the performance of the council which was formed in 2002 but made effective in January last year.

“The laws which are being amended were enacted by the Musharraf regime,” Nasir Zaidi, a member of the council, said.

The council comprises representatives of the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and government officials and legislators.

During the meeting, the PFUJ complained that it had no representation in the court of inquiry.

According to the PCP’s spokesman, the council urged the governments Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to enact the Law of Access to Information in the provinces. It also called upon the federal government to implement the law in all federal departments in letter and spirit.

The PCP demanded amendments to section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 502-A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

It approved a modus operandi for lodging complaints at the council’s office.

It decided to launch a campaign to create awareness about the code of ethics through pamphlets, booklets, posters and websites and asked media organisations to display the code in their offices.

The council decided to set up its regional offices in all provincial headquarters in a phased manner. It reviewed the progress of establishment of an endowment fund announced by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The council approved the name of Altaf Ullah Khan, Chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in the University of Peshawar, as its member, as required under the Ordinance, 2002.

The council authorised a committee to set up complaint and appellant committees and inquiry commissions to dispose of complaints.

The meeting approved draft regulations authorising the PCP to take suo motu notice of matters pertaining to freedom of the press. People can file complaints through email, fax or by post.

During the meeting with PCP members, President Zardari reiterated his government’s commitment to development of the media and freedom of information.

PCP chairman Shafqat Khan Abbasi informed the president that the main objective of the council was to safeguard freedom of the press and implement the code of ethics.

The PCP delegation included Aayesha Ikram, director of Higher Education Commission; Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami, chief editor of daily Pakistan, Lahore; Majid Nizami, chief editor of Nawa-e-Waqt Group of Publications; Wamiq A. Zuberi, editor of daily Business Recorder; Siddiq Baloch, chief editor of daily Balochistan Express, Quetta; Ghulam Nabi Mughal, chief editor of Frontier Post, Karachi; Bachal Leghari, editor of Nawa-e-Waqt, Karachi; Iqbal Jafri, editor of Nawa-e-Waqt, Islamabad; and Nasir Zaidi, editor of the News, Islamabad.

Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, Farhatullah Babar and MNA Yasmeen Rehman also attended the meeting.