GUJRAT: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday endorsed the reservations of the media against the Peca amendments as genuine, deploring President Asif Ali Zardari did not honour his commitment regarding the legislation.

Speaking to media persons in Jhelum, the JUI-F leader said the input and the consent of journalists should have been considered before passing this bill.

Maulana Fazl claimed that he had talked to the president of Pakistan via telephone to request him to take the journalist community into confidence over the law.

According to the opposition leader, the president had assured him that he would talk to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi upon his return from the US.

However, the president later signed the law and did not honour the commitment, which was highly deplorable as this should not have happened at such a level, the JUI-F leader added.

He suggested that the input of the journalist community should have been considered in the law that had a wide and direct impact on the media. He said the reservations regarding the misuse of the bill were justified in light of the history of such occurrences.

JUI-F leader Senator Kamran Murtaza said a delegation of journalists had met Maulana Fazal in his presence and sought his support, after which the JUI-F chief had made a phone call to President Zardari seeking his intervention.

He claimed President Zardari had assured the Maulana of taking up the matter with the interior minister, but the president did not even wait for Mr Naqvi’s return, which apparently showed that the president might have signed the bill “under pressure”.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2025