LAHORE, July 1: The annual meeting of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) has reaffirmed its commitment to defend press freedom and pledged to unilaterally oppose the promulgation of any law by the government relating to the Press and defamation.

The participants, by a resolution unanimously adopted, called upon the government to early promulgate the package of laws agreed to between the CPNE and government. The package include a law for the Press Council, the Registration of Printing Presses and Periodicals and Freedom of Access to Information laws.

The meeting voiced its concern over the delay in the promulgation of these legislations, over which the CPNE had conveyed its agreement long ago.

The council also took strong notice of the high-handedness of police personnel against newsmen in different parts of the country, and called for an end to such acts as were violative of the guarantees on press freedom enshrined in the Constitution and reiterated by the government led by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The meeting, held on Saturday, also demanded the early holding and completion of a full-fledged judicial inquiry into the lathi-charge on newsmen in Faisalabad by a High Court judge and award of exemplary punishment to the policemen responsible.

The meeting, however, acknowledged the regrets over the matter expressed by President Pervez Musharraf himself and felt that police officials at different levels must be restrained by the senior executive officials from any form of violence against newsmen.

Zahid Malik, the outgoing secretary-general, read before the Standing Committee a detailed report on the CPNE working during the past one year.

ELECTION: The newly-elected council’s Standing Committee re-elected Mujibur Rahman Shami as president and Mahmudul Aziz as secretary general of the body.

The other office-bearers elected were Jamil Ather (re-elected), senior vice-president; Zahid Malik, vice-president; Shaheen Qureshi, joint secretary; and Amir Mahmood, financial secretary.