ISLAMABAD: The opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday urged NA Speaker Asad Qaisar to constitute a parliamentary committee to investigate cruel policies and injustice against media outlets in the country.

In a letter to NA Speaker Asad Qaisar, Sharif highlighted the blatant violation of the law, constitution and democracy as well as injustice being made against media outlets in the country.

He said that the matter was of great importance and urgent nature and was about unusual restrictions being imposed on media. He pointed out curbs on media and censorship on media content.

The move came a day after a private television channel was shut down, leaving around 1,000 journalists jobless in the country.

Sharif said the media was put in a very tough situation, similar to other industries in the current government's tenure. He pointed out that a strategy was made to ban publication of columnists to add pressure on the media, accusing the government of having journalists it did not like terminated from their jobs. He said that only banning a private TV channel is not the issue rather it is the government's intolerance that has damaged freedom of press.

He termed the government's move as terrorism and alleged that it was silencing the voice coming out against it.

"The constitution has guaranteed freedom of expression, access to information in the country and freedom of press," he maintained. He also emphasized that the media was the fourth pillar of the state in democracy but the PTI government destroyed media and freedom of press.

The opposition leader asked the speaker to form a parliamentary committee to resolve issues related to the rule of law. He added that the committee should investigate the injustices being done to the media industry.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020