Senate's Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Friday issued directives to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to table the draft of Freedom of Information law before the committee within 15 days. The directive was issued during the committee meeting chaired by Kamil Ali Agha at the Parliament House while examining the proposed code of conduct of Pakistan Electronic Regulatory Authority (Pemra).
The committee was informed that the draft of the law had been finalised and presented to the former information minister for approval. The committee hoped the caretaker minister, being himself a journalist, will play his role for early enactment of freedom of information law. Chairman Pemra Chaudhry Rashid Ahmed presented the details of the draft prepared by Pemra and the code of conduct issued by Election Commission regarding election coverage.
On the agenda item related to dubbed dramas being telecast by various television channels, the committee directed the Pemra to implement the recommendations of the National Assembly and Senate committees. The committee was informed that Pemra has written a letter to Advertisers Association which has sought time till April 10 while Pakistan Broadcasters Association has not given any reply. The committee deferred agenda item related to allocation of advertisement quota to national and regional papers till the next meeting so that the members could study the document provided by Press Information Department (PID).
Managing Director Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Muhammad Khalid Sarwar briefed the committee on the state of the affairs of the news agency. While commenting on the issue, the committee called for further steps to streamline the affairs of the APP. The committee directed the management to prepare a working paper on the APP affairs so that its problems could be resolved. It further said that the working paper should also cover legislative aspects to improving the working of the national news agency.
The committee advised the APP management to ensure that in future inductions in the agency are made on merit and in a transparent manner. Regarding acquisition of DSNG by the APP, the committee said that being the premier news agency, it should be well equipped to meet its professional requirements.
The committee praised the efforts of the news agency regarding balanced and positive coverage of the political activities and upcoming general elections. The committee chairman Kamil Ali Agha said that induction of staff in violation of rules could destroy the institutions and it was necessary to find a way to stop such practices in the past. The meeting was attended by Senators Farhatullah Babar, Saeed Ghani and Shirala Malik. Senior officials from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Pemra, APP and PID were present in the meeting.