Senate Standing Committee on Information & Broadcasting reviews Journalists Protection Bill

ISLAMABAD, August 06 (SABAH): Senator Syed Ali Zafar chaired the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting held on Tuesday at Parliament House.

The Senate Committee deliberated on the Private Member Bill titled “The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill, 2022.” Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, the bill’s mover, stated that the purpose of the bill is to protect journalists, their families, and their properties. The bill proposes the establishment of a Commission to provide immediate relief to journalists against torture and other calamities. Members of the PFUJ informed that the definition of “journalists” varies in different laws and should be standardized across all laws. The bill also proposes clauses to protect the sources of journalists. The Committee, after a detailed discussion, deferred further deliberation until the next meeting.

While discussing the Punjab Defamation Act, Senator Irfan Siddiqui asserted that the Committee has no right to review legislation passed by Provincial Governments, as the matter fall under the ambit of Provincial Governments following the 18th Amendment. Senator Syed Ali Zafar opined that the primary objective of this agenda is to conduct a comparative analysis of defamation laws currently prevailing worldwide. He emphasised that purpose of the law should be to balance fundamental rights and freedoms, rather than to diminish one at the expense of the other. The Committee decided to hold an exclusive session to discuss the impact of flawed defamation acts on society and freedom of expression.

The Committee was informed that a letter has been written to the Ministry of Human Rights to accelerate efforts to finalise the Journalist Protection Bill and its passage from the Parliament.

The meeting was attended by Senator Irfanul Haque Siddiqui, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Senator Sarmad Ali, Senator Aon Abbas, Senator Muhammad Tallal Badar, Senator Abdul Shakoor Khan, Senator Jan Muhammad, Senator Ashraf Ali Jatoi, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, Senator Zarqa Suharwardhy Taimur, Senator Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar Advocate, Secretary for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Ambreen Jan and other senior officials of relevant departments were also in attendance.

Speaking at the Committee meeting Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar asked the committee to fix a timeline for Journalist Protection Bill. The Minister briefed the meeting on Right to Access to Information (Amendment) Bill 2023 and Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2022.

He informed the meeting that the Journalist Protection Commission is working under the Human Rights Ministry. He expressed willingness to bring the Commission under his Ministry. He said for this purpose we already have sufficient funds.

Attaullah Tarar also informed the forum that a cabinet committee has been formulated to hold consultations with all stakeholders regarding Digital Rights Protection Authority. He also briefed the forum regarding prevalent criminalities in digital domain that are unacceptable.