APNS, CPNE team meets Shujaat and Shaukat | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

APNS, CPNE team meets Shujaat and Shaukat

ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said that the disputed amendments to the Defamation Ordinance 2002 are being withdrawn on his specific instructions.

He was talking to a delegation of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), which called on him in Islamabad on August 11 to discuss the prevailing press-government relations.

The delegation also called on Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

The delegation headed by APNS President Arif Nizami and CPNE Acting President Altaf Hassan Qureshi thanked the prime minister for sparing time to meet the press representative organisations, which was indeed long overdue.

They termed it a positive breakthrough and hoped that the dialogue process would continue in future.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, PML Secretary General Syed Mushahid Hussain, Senator Nisar Memon, Senator Tariq Azeem Khan, Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood and Principal Information Officer Akram Shaheedi attended the meeting.

The delegation included Hameed Haroon, Syed Fasih Iqbal, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, Dr. Jabbar Khattak, Zia Shahid, Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami, Mustafa Sadiq and Dr. Tanvir Ahmed.

The APNS and CPNE representatives conveyed to the prime minister their views on the Defamation Ordinance 2002, the Newspapers Employees Conditions of Services Act 1973, Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 and the Press Council of Pakistan.

The delegation also brought to the attention of the prime minister the issue of centralisation of government advertisements policy and its implications.

The Information Ministry explained that the practice of previous advertisement policy stands restored.

The delegation referred to the issue of government advertisements to Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation. Prime Minister Shujaat said that the matter would be resolved amicably.

The prime minister also appointed a committee to decide the issue of Daily Pakistan Islamabad. The committee consists of Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mehmood, Hameed Haroon, law secretary and Arif Nizami.
Source: Business Recorder, The News
Date:8/12/2004