Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting Senator Faisal Javed on Monday said Prime Minister Imran Khan believes in freedom of expression and no restriction on the free media.
He was chairing the committee meeting, underlined the need for holding fruitful consultation on Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) law. Faisal Javed called for incorporating the worthy suggestions of media into PECA laws.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Shahera Shahid informed the committee that the PECA law did not come under discussion at the ministry. It mainly came under the purview of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication.
Faisal Javed said the chairman of Joint Action Committee (JAC) had excused from attending the meeting. However, a committee had been formed since the media had expressed concerns over the PECA.
All the stakeholders should be heard, he said, adding the officials concerned of the IT and Law ministries would be asked to attend the next meeting.
Senator Maula Bakhsh Chandio appreciated the move of consulting all the stakeholders on the matters of sheer importance. Faisal Javed underlined the need for evolving consensus among the all stakeholders to curb spread of fake news in the country.
Senator Irfan Siddiqui inquired as to why the record of the prime minister’s speeches was not maintained currently. The chairman committee directed to release the record of all the speeches made by Prime Minister Imran Khan since 2018.
Secretary Information and Broadcasting told the committee that the ministry would formally request the press section of the Prime Minister’s Office for providing material related to the speeches, which would be submitted in the committee after its compilation.
Briefing the committee on the budgetary proposals for Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the financial year 2021-22 and 2022-23, the secretary said an amount of Rs1899.530 million had been allocated for some 15 projects for the current fiscal year. It was further apprised that out of the said 15 projects, 11 projects were likely to complete by the end of June 2022.
The meeting was informed that there had been suggestions for including the remaining four projects in the PSDP 2022-23. Three projects of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) and one foreign-funded of the Pakistan Television Corporation were among them. It was informed that all the new schemes were aimed at transforming the ministry’s departments and corporations on modern lines through up-gradation of equipment and technological advancement.
The Senators including Moula Bux Chandio, Anwar Lal Dean, Muhammad Tahir Bizinjo, Irfan Siddiqui, Naseema Ehsan, and senior officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting including Managing Director of Associated Press of Pakistan Mobashir Hasan attended the meeting.
