Draconian laws regarding media promulgated by dictators should be amended: Marriyum

She said this while addressing the participants of a protest camp organized by media representative bodies outside the Press Club here Monday.

The minister suggested the formation of a committee comprising representatives of media and the officials of the ministry of Information to resolve the issue permanently.

She said the government had an abiding commitment and firm belief in the independence of media and freedom of expression and the decision to temporarily suspend the transmissions of the private channels was taken in the larger national interest, which was a very difficult phase for the government.

The minister said like protecting national interests and security, ensuring independence of the media and freedom of expression were also the responsibility of the government.

She said fulfilling that responsibility was a much greater obligation. She said besides amending the laws, positive cooperation of all the stakeholders to shoulder that responsibility was also very much needed.

Marriyum said the freedom of expression was contingent upon responsible behavior and there should also be laws for taking action against those who failed to fulfill that obligation.

The minister said the government as well as the opposition desired to strengthen democracy in the country though their approaches could be different, like the PML (N) stance to uphold the sanctity of the vote.

Marriyum said she was personally in contact with the media houses from 8.A.M till 2.PM and a time came when the content that the channels were telecasting regarding deployment of the forces and the operation could have sparked chaos and anarchy in the country.

She said even then the government tried to convince the channels to suspend live coverage of the operation and report the episode as a news item, but to no avail. Therefore, the decision to suspend transmissions of the channels was taken in the national interest.

The MOS said her doors were open for the media representative bodies as well as the journalists in their individual capacity.

The leaders of the PFUJ and RIUJ called off the protest camp on the assurance of the minister to make amendments in the PEMRA laws.