AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 127.11 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.06%)
BOP 6.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.05%)
CNERGY 4.51 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 8.55 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DFML 41.88 Increased By ▲ 0.44 (1.06%)
DGKC 87.50 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (0.75%)
FCCL 32.50 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.68%)
FFBL 64.99 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (0.29%)
FFL 10.36 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.07%)
HUBC 109.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.2%)
HUMNL 14.70 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.14%)
KEL 5.09 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.79%)
KOSM 7.56 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.34%)
MLCF 41.50 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.29%)
NBP 59.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-0.84%)
OGDC 192.39 Increased By ▲ 2.29 (1.2%)
PAEL 28.17 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (1.22%)
PIBTL 7.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.13%)
PPL 151.00 Increased By ▲ 0.94 (0.63%)
PRL 26.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.56%)
PTC 16.15 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.5%)
SEARL 83.90 Decreased By ▼ -2.10 (-2.44%)
TELE 7.77 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.78%)
TOMCL 35.49 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.23%)
TPLP 8.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.25%)
TREET 16.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.98%)
TRG 52.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-0.69%)
UNITY 26.40 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.92%)
WTL 1.27 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.79%)
BR100 9,991 Increased By 106.9 (1.08%)
BR30 31,161 Increased By 561.2 (1.83%)
KSE100 94,153 Increased By 797.2 (0.85%)
KSE30 29,174 Increased By 243.1 (0.84%)

A seminar held by the Pakistan Bar Council and the Lahore High Court Bar Association on Thursday rejected the government's decision to regulate social media. The seminar addressed by politicians, journalists, rights activists and lawyers also condemned self censorship enforced on mainstream media.

The seminar in a resolution passed unanimously said the current regulations if implemented would place further restrictions on the social media, curtail freedom of speech and violate people's fundamental rights and give state overreaching powers to penalize citizens on vague definitions of national security and interest.

It expressed concerns over safety of journalists and demanded a swift justice in all cases including murder of Aziz Memon who worked for KTN. It said all laws which curb freedom of expression under the pretext of national security needed to be repealed to guarantee citizens' right to freedom of expression and free speech.

The resolution further demanded of the government to abide by ILO convention in CPEC economic zones where labourers were not allowed to form unions or protest.

PBC Vice Chairman Abid Saqi, MNA Rana Sanaullah Khan, PPP Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira, Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement MNA Mohsin Dawar, Afrasiab Khattak and Ahsan Wayn of Awami National Party, veteran rights activist I A Rehman, journalist Imtiaz Alam and Ayaz Ameer, Muneezay Jahangir, advocate Hina Jillani were the prominent speakers.

Rana Sana said the freedom of expression was the basic right of life. He condemned the new media regulations by the government and said the attempt in fact meant to silence the dissenting voices. Rana Sana said the Bar made the country strong by inviting Dawar to the seminar and let him express his views.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

Comments

Comments are closed.