NA body pays homage to Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting performed a ‘Dua-e-Maghfirat’ for the departed soul of great Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mian Javed Latif, MNA.

Inspector General of Police, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) briefed the Committee regarding murder attacks on former Chairman PEMRA/senior journalist Absar Alam, and journalist Asad Toor. He also briefed the committee regarding registration of the FIRs against journalists Hamid Mir and Asma Sherazi.

After detailed briefing by Inspector General of Police (ICT), the Minister of Information and Broadcasting directed the secretary, Ministry of Interior to take up the issues of Absar Alam and Asad Toor, and submit a final report to the Committee at the earliest.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting briefed the Committee about draft proposal regarding Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), merging Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Press Council of Pakistan, (PCP), Central Board of Films Censors (CBFC), Press Registrar Office, Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees (ITNE) to regulate electronic, print, digital media and films under single regulatory authority, the PMDA.

He further briefed the Committee that the Pakistan Electronic Media Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA Amendment Act 2007, the Motion Picture Ordinance 1979, the Press Council of Pakistan Ordinance, 2002, the Press, Newspaper, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance, 2002, and Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1973 are to be repealed.

After having a detailed deliberation regarding, “Proposed draft of Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA); the Committee appointed a Sub-Committee under the convenorship of Marriyum Aurangzeb, Kanwal Shauzab, and Dr Nafisa Shah, MNAs as its members.

The Committee deferred the government bills, namely, The Motion Picture (Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Pakistan Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and a Private Member Bill, The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulator Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (moved by UzmaRiaz, MNA) and calling attention notice No 29 regarding increasing obscenity on TV channels (moved by Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and other MNAs) till its next meeting due to paucity of time.

The meeting was attended by Nasir Khan Musa Zai, Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Akram Cheema, Aftab Jehangir, Javaria Zafar Aheer, Syma Nadeem, Kanwal Shauzab, Rana Iradat Sharif Khan, Nadeem Abbas, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Maiza Hameed, Saad Waseem and Zulfiqar Ali Behan MNAs (Naz Baloch and Dr Nafisa Shah, virtual presence) and Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Minister for State, Information and Broadcasting, and Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, MNA/mover, besides senior officers from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Interior, PEMRA, Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Police Department, Islamabad.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021