Chairman Press Council of Pakistan Dr M Salah-ud-Din Mengal chaired the 13th General Council meeting of the Press Council of Pakistan here on Thursday. Mujibur Rehman Shami, Kazi Asad Abid, Aamer Mahmood, Wamiq A. Zuberi, Ali Kazi, Anwar Sajdi, Ibrahim Khan, Dr Shah Jahan Syed, Iqbal Jaffri, Khurshid Tanweer, Nasir Zaidi, and Acting Registrar PCP Ejaz Hussain Baqri attended the meeting.
The minutes of the 12thGeneral Council meeting were presented before the Council. All other agenda items of 13th General Council were also discussed in detail in the meeting which were approved by the Council. The Press Council of Pakistan in its 13th General Council Meeting discussed the formation of a probe committee formed by the Federal Government on the publication of news story in Dawn in its issue of 6th October, 2016. The Council unanimously resolved that this committee should not proceed against the newspaper or its staff and also not insist upon divulgence of its source of information in the conduct of its probe. The Council was of the view that matters such as these fall within the jurisdiction of the council and should have been brought before the Council in the event of any grievance as envisaged in the Press Council of Pakistan Ordinance.
The Council was further of the view that it is unfortunate that neither the Government nor any of its departments referred this matter to the Press Council of Pakistan. The Council appreciated all the efforts done by the Chairman PCP including publication of Annual Report 2015-16. The Chairman concluded the meeting with a vote of thanks to members of the Council.-PR