JournalismPakistan.com
May 21, 2021

ISLAMABAD— Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has welcomed the Journalist Protection Bill, urging the government to grant more powers to the commission that would hear complaints of media persons.

PFUJ President Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary-General Nasir Zaidi said they had some reservations, observations, and recommendations. But they termed the draft of the bill much better than the ones prepared in the last 15 years.

“This is the result of our continuous struggle for such a law for journalists’ protection and press freedom,” the PFUJ leaders said. However, they pointed out that there were certain clauses that needed to be improved or amended.

They said that the commission was not fully empowered and demanded inclusion of PBC, HRCP, NCHR and other stakeholders. They also asked for including freelancers under the definition of a journalist.

They expressed reservations over the method to appoint the commission’s chairman. "We had demanded that a judge of the Supreme Court or a retired judge of the apex court be appointed as the chairman of the commission but the government has set different terms and conditions for the chairman’s appointment.

“We believe that these terms and conditions should be changed because if the chairman is appointed in this manner he would be subservient to the government and his impartiality would be open to question. Besides more stakeholders should be inducted into the commission so that it is balanced.”

PFUJ said that despite these shortcomings, the bill was a positive step. The union leaders hoped that their points and suggestions would be incorporated.

The two leaders also requested the government to call the other stakeholders to appear before the committee of the parliament so that these proposals could be discussed and incorporated in the draft.                                         

They urged both treasury and opposition parties to fully support recommendations made by PFUJ before it is tabled in both the houses of the parliament with strong support for its adoption by national assembly and senate.