PESHAWAR: Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Siraj-ul-Haq has said that restrictions on free press will never be accepted. Haq urged media organisations to devise a code of conduct to ensure the press freedom and curb the menace of fake news.
During his meeting with a delegation of Joint Action Committee, comprising Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), he assured full support for media freedom in Pakistan.
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The delegation included Mian Amir Mahmood, Dr Chaudhry Abdul Rehman, Naz Aafreen Sehgal, Shehab Zubair, Azhar Abbas, Kazim Khan, Ejaz ul Haq, Shakeel Masood, Ayaz Khan, Irshad Ahmed Arif, Sarmad Ali, Mian Tahir and Muhammad Usman. Secretary General Jamaat-e-Islami Amir-ul-Azeem, Secretary Information Jamaat-e-Islami Qaiser Sharif, Deputy General Secretary Muhammad Asghar were also present in the meeting.
Assuring full support to the Joint Action Committee of Journalists, Haq said condemned the government’s tactics of restricting freedom of expression and suppressing the media. He also appreciated the Islamabad High Court for stopping arrests under PECA amendment act.
He said that it beyond comprehension that PECA ordinance has been issued without defining and interpreting “fake news”. Haq said that under the PECA law, anyone can be punished even before his conviction. He said that during the current government tenure, thousands of journalists have lost their jobs.
The JI chief urged the media organizations to introduce their own code of conduct. “We are not in favor of setting up government regulation committees for electronic, print and digital media. The media should devise their own code of conduct to ensure press freedom and stop the menace of fake news.”
Earlier, Federal Minister for Information Technology and senior leader of Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Syed Aminul Haq on also asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to withdraw the “controversial” Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) amendment ordinance. In a letter, the leader of the ruling coalition party said that the ordinance has been issued without taking the stakeholders into confidence.