PML-N President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has written a letter to NA Speaker Asad Qaisar and highlighted atrocities being committed against media in Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 9th, 2020) PML-N President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif urged National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar to constitute a parliamentary committee to investigate cruel policies and injustice against media outlets in Pakistan here on Tuesday.
In a letter to NA Speaker Asad Qaisar, Shehbaz Sharif highlighted the blatant violation of the law, Constitution and democracy in Pakistan as well as injustice being made against media outlets in the country.
The Opposition leader 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 Channel 24 was shut down, leaving around 1,000 journalists jobless in the country. Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, the owner of Geo and Jang group, was suffering in jail for last more than 100 days.
Shehbaz Sharif said the media was put in a very tough situation, similar to other industries in the current government’s tenure.
Shehbaz Sharif 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.
Lawsuits, he said, were moved against media owners who did not stop from criticizing the government, pointi gout that major example of this injustice against media was the arrest of Geo Jang owner Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman.
He also said that the country’s lawyers community also condemned the government’s policies of curbing media.
“Only banning Channel 24 is not the issue rather it is the government's intolerance that has damaged freedom of press,” said Shehbaz Shari in letter written to NA Speaker Asad Qaisar. 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 express, access to information in the country,” said Shehbaz Sharif. He also emphasized that the media was the fourth pillar of the state in democracy but the PTI government destroyed media and its freedom.
According to the channel’s website, its license was cancelled as the PEMRA objected to the category of the license. 24 news has alleged that the authority did not even pay heed to its ‘principal stance’, calling the move illegal.
The PML-N leader further said that the acts baton-charging, firing and pelting of stones was undemocratic and unconstitutional.
The PML-N president wrote that he was demanding, as a representative of the opposition, that the ban on Channel 24 be lifted immediately.
Shehbaz also demanded that the Jang Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman be released immediately from his illegal detention.
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.
The PML-N president recommended the parliamentary committee listen to the complaints of media representatives and journalist organisations and provide their suggestions on the matter.
