Right to Information bill to be sent to cabinet for approval: Imran must appear in court to seek justice: Rashid

Terming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan a master of U-turns, Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on Monday that Khan should pursue his cases in an anti-terrorism court, in which he has been declared as proclaimed offender, instead of bashing others on the media.
Talking to media person after attending the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, the minister said that Khan should distance himself from promoting culture of violence, adding that he would soon be in hot waters over his anti-government campaign. He said that Imran was master of U-turns, adding Imran's threats should not be taken seriously.
"For the sake of his party's name Imran Khan must appear in the court to seek justice instead of making hue and cry on the media and in public gathering in an uncivilised manner," the minister added. Replying to a question in the pretext of recent visit of new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Pakistan, the minister said that Pakistan and Afghanistan were ready to address each others' concerns and wanted to expand co-operation in future, as both the neighbouring countries have now realised the concerns of each others.
He maintained that the Afghan President wanted to expand regional co-operation for economic development, adding that Pakistan also believes in the same vision as no economic progress was possible without peace. Meanwhile, during the Senate Standing Committee meeting it was decided that the draft of Right to Information (RTI) Bill should be tabled in the next meeting of the cabinet for approval by all means.
The committee recommended that a letter should be written to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the early approval of the RTI Bill from the cabinet. The committee which met with Senator Kamil Ali Agha in the chair directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to table the draft of the Bill for its approval in the next cabinet meeting. During the meeting, the Senate committee members expressed annoyance over delay in the passage of the said bill from the cabinet as they were of the opinion that the committee had handed over the bill to the ministry on July 15, 2014, for its approval from the cabinet.
Secretary Information Muhammad Azam told the committee that the summary for the approval of the bill has been forwarded to the Cabinet Division and after cabinet's approval the bill will be presented in parliament.
Assuring the committee that the drat of RTI would be tabled before the cabinet in its next meeting, Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid blamed the anti-government sit-ins of PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) a major reason behind delay in the matter. He added that the government's focus was diverted after August 14 due to the sit-ins which created a political crisis in the country. He maintained that now the bill has been sent to the Cabinet Division and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister has assured him that the bill would be tabled for approval in the next cabinet meeting.
The minister told the meeting that the draft of the proposed RTI bill was appreciated by the PM and some of the ministers as all of them after reading the draft lauded the efforts of the committee for making such a viable bill. Besides, the committee issued directives to the government to take steps for immediate implementation on the code of conduct approved by the committee for regulation of the electronic media.
The Secretary Information replied that the implementation on the code of conduct delayed as the government was striving hard for creation of consensus over the issue that was why its implementation was delayed. Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that owners of electronic media houses were of the view that the compulsion of electronic media were not addressed in the code of conduct as they said that in the print media there was time for reaction while in case of electronic media they have to telecast news immediately with little time for remedy. Rashid made it clear that the government was not back-tracking from its commitment of its implementation and was trying to create consensus.
Principal Information Officer Rao Tehsin Ali Khan briefed the committee about the policy of issuance of advertisements to local and regional newspapers. He said that no complaints were received about issuance of advertisements to dummy newspapers. The committee directed that payments of dues should be stopped to those newspapers which were not paying salaries to their employees. The committee expressed concern over telecast of an anti-Pakistan Indian film on cable on November 15 and directed for action against the cable operators responsible for this act.