Parliamentary body set up to address journalists' issues

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 2 September 2020

A six-member parliamentary body has been created to tackle the challenges faced by journalists in Pakistan. The committee will also investigate the recent abduction of journalist Matiullah Jan.

Summary

ISLAMABAD—A six-member parliamentary body has been established to look into and address journalists’ problems.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday, according to a press statement issued by Parliamentary Reporters Association.

The meeting chaired by PMLN MNA Mian Javed Latif discussed the kidnapping of journalist Matiullah Jan from Islamabad and the delayed legislation on the protection of journalists. The committee issued directives for sharing the report on Matiullah’s abduction in three weeks.

The six-member sub-committee will have three members each from the National Assembly and Senate. From the National Assembly, three MNAs—Rana Iradat Hussain, Naz Baloch, and Aftab Jehangir Siddqui have been nominated for the sub-committee. It was decided to contact Senator Faisal Javed, who heads Senate’s Committee on Information and Broadcasting for the three members from the Upper House of the parliament.

Matiullah told the committee that he had been the target of attacks since 2017. However, he added no one was arrested. He said that a sub-committee of the parliament should be established to collect information about incidents of harassing journalists and share them with the respective houses.

DIG Operations Waqaruddin told the meeting that NADRA has been unable to identify persons seen in the footage of Matiullah’s kidnapping. He said the footage had been sent to Punjab forensic laboratory. He also asked the committee to make all relevant institutions binding to cooperate with police in the investigation of Matiullah’s abduction.

The meeting was informed that the draft law on the protection of journalists has been delayed because of two drafts prepared by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Human Rights.