Caretaker Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Senator Nisar A Memon on Monday urged the national media not to become a victim to the designs of the people who wanted to target the federation of Pakistan.
"Pakistani media should not become a prey to the people who are trying to make President Musharraf controversial. By such a design they want to target the federation of the country as the President is symbol of the federation and he unites the federating units," he said while talking to a media delegation from Myanmar.
The Minister said that President Musharraf is a visionary leader who introduced freedom laws in 2002, helped the media growth by bringing in Pemra Ordinance in the year 2002 and now there are 48 private television channels licensed to work freely besides 32 other foreign channels with landing rights in the country.
"No one can imagine that Pakistan till year 2002 had only 5 channels while the number in mere 6 years is touching 50 digit. This boom in the media industry is a credit for President Musharraf who has abolished all media curbs.
The media is totally free as there is no press advice or censorship from the government. Rather the media is being encouraged to have self-regulation as freedom always brings responsibility," Memon said.
"The Islamabad Media University is another brainchild of President Musharraf aimed at providing training and skill enhancing facilities to the journalists' community to meet the growing needs of the market," he said adding that the varsity would also provide grooming facilities to the journalists of the entire region, including Myanmar.
The Minister said the people of Pakistan stand by President Musharraf who is fighting the national cause on all fronts. He said the country was passing through a very challenging phase as general elections are being held on February 18.
Senator Memon said Pakistan was a responsible nuclear state with a strong command and control system. "We have a policy of keeping a minimum deterrent level," he added.
The Minister said Pakistan has a strong economy and it wanted healthy ties with all its neighbouring countries including Myanmar. "But these ties should also carry reciprocity," he said. Memon said that the visionary economic policies initiated by President Musharraf helped instant growth of the economy. Pak-Iran pipeline agreement would be supplementing our energy needs in this regard, he added.
He said that the country was facing international terrorism as some 'misguided' people had infiltrated through borders to fan extremism in the country and Pakistani forces were going all-out after the militants.
"Our forces are quite capable to fight the scourge of terrorism. All forms of extremism are condemnable and the Muslim religious scholars have declared that suicide bombings have no space in Islam," he said adding that Islam and Buddhism are religions of peace and they promote respect and love for the humanity.
The Minister added that the Election Commission of Pakistan was an independent institution mandated to hold polls while the government machinery was alert to facilitate the polls process by creating a conducive environment so that the elections could be held in a peaceful and safe environment. The Information Minister said President Musharraf had brought in National Reconciliation Ordinance and one of its clauses empowers the returning officers to announce and issue a signed copy of the election results to make the polls more credible and transparent.
The delegation made queries on the current political situation of the country. They appreciated the cultural heritage of the country and expressed desire to send more delegations to visit Buddhist preservations in Pakistan.
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