LAHORE, Sept 2: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has expressed concern over the cabinet’s approval of the draft of new defamation ordinance and the decision to set up a press council.

In a statement here on Sunday, PFUJ president I.H. Raashed said the draft of the defamation ordinance as outlined by the federal information minister on Saturday would further curtail the freedom of the press.

He said the government claimed to have maintained a complete freedom of the press during the past three years and an attempt to tarnish its image at the fag end of its tenure was unwarranted.

He said the ordinance would directly hit the working journalists. They would be held responsible for the publication of any libelous and slanderous material while the newspaper owners would get themselves wriggled out on the plea that they were not aware of it. He said the draft had proposed a harsh punishment in the form of payment of Rs50,000 as compensation to the persons defamed or three-month imprisonment in default of the payment of the amount. “How the working journalists or editors who are already poorly paid and that too very irregularly will be able to pay such a big amount.”

He said the draft had never been circulated for eliciting the public opinion nor that of the PFUJ, and it was strange how the APNS and the CPNE had approved such a black law.

He said the PFUJ had made it clear to the government that it opposed the very concept of the press council. He said the question of press council had been debated by the last biennial delegates meeting of the PFUJ which had unanimously voted against any such a body which could be used to further curb the press freedom.

He said there were already over a dozen laws on the statutes book of Pakistan which curtailed the press freedom in one way or the other, and there was no need for a press council which would be used to censure the journalists and punish them on one pretext or another. He said the press councils in many other countries had no powers to punish the journalists whereas the proposed council would have such powers.

He said like defamation ordinance and the PPPRO the drafts of which had been sent to the APNS and the CPNE, the PFUJ and APNEC had not been consulted as representatives of working journalists and newspaper employees by the government on the issue of press council. He said the PFUJ had its own code of conduct and was not bound to that of any other organization. The proposed council would follow the code of conduct drawn up by newspaper owners. He said the PFUJ would boycott the press council and would not nominate its representatives to it.

He urged the government to defer the matter of new press laws to the new elected parliament and continue to maintain its press freedom till its tenure was completed.