KARACHI: The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has congratulated Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and his party on their success in emerging as the single largest party in parliament in the July 25 elections.

“We hope that a new representative and responsible government formed through a democratic process will overcome the deficit of governance that Pakistan has been facing since its inception,” the APNS said in a statement.

The Society’s President Hameed Haroon and Secretary General Sarmad Ali welcomed the effort to form government through electoral process and expressed the hope that a consecutive third-time transfer of power would further strengthen democratic and constitutional process in the country, resulting in a culture based on universally accepted democratic norms of mutual tolerance and firm rule of law in Pakistan.

New govt to uphold press freedom, hopes APNS

The APNS office-bearers also firmly expressed their unqualified hope that during the tenure of a new government, the press and citizens of Pakistan would continue to strengthen their right to unfettered freedom of press, subject to reasonable restrictions as specified in Article 19 of the Constitution, and to an equally unfettered right of access to information as specified in Article 19A.

The representative body of the country’s newspapers reiterated its conviction that any existing constraints in the implementation of these basic constitutional rights, due to temporary exigencies, would be rigorously addressed by a new government in consultation with representative bodies of the print and electronic media.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2018