CPNE standing committee meets
ISLAMABAD: The Standing Committee of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) has urged Prime Minister Gilani to develop a consensus of all parliamentary parties on the Freedom of Information Act so that print and electronic media could have access to news and information.
The demand was made at a CPNE meeting held under the chairmanship of President Jameel Athar Qazi, said CPNE Secretary General Ilyas Shakir in a statement issued here on Tuesday. The committee also lauded the prime ministerÃs announcement wherein he said that his government believes in the freedom of press and recognises the media as the fourth pillar of the state.
The CPNE expressed satisfaction over the statement and voiced the hope that the administration would fully implement it and avoid placing any curb on the right of expression.
The meeting of the CPNE standing committee stressed upon the prime minister to develop a consensus of all the parliamentary parties on the Freedom of Information Act and later get the act passed from both houses of parliament. The meeting said that without free access to information, no institution of accountability and impeachment can play its due role.
The meeting also reviewed the situation after the CPNEÃs December 30 elections and gave approval to measures being taken on the judicial front. During the meeting, the participants welcomed the intentions of the other faction of the council to rejoin the CPNE. They also lauded Balochistan vice president Anwar SajdiÃs announcement to part ways with the other group.
It was said that the CPNEÃs standing committee had rejected the president and secretary generalÃs unconstitutional acts during its Nov 29, 2010 meeting, adding that the existing body declares all these decisions as requirement of the constitution.
The meeting declared that the number of CPNE members would remain the same as were before the Nov 15 meeting, saying any move to extend the numbers would never be accepted. Those who had left the CPNE and joined the other group before Nov 15 but now willing to rejoin unconditionally would be welcomed, the meeting decided.
On the occasion, Ilyas Shakir presented a list of names, which had been proposed for various committees of the CPNE. The standing committee has given authority to its president and secretary general to constitute the committees within a week. A draft on constitutional amendments was also presented before the meeting.
Those newspapers and magazines that are willing to become a member have been directed to send their applications to Secretary General Ilyas Shakir.
The meeting was attended by CPNE President Jameel Athar Qazi (Roznama Tijarat, Roznama Juraat), Senior Vice President Qazi Asad Abid (Ibrat, Hyderabad), Secretary General Ilyas Shakir (Qaumi Akhbar), Joint Secretary Javed Mahar Shamsi (Kaleem, Sukkur), Treasurer Muhstaq Ahmed Qureshi (Nae Ufaaq, Karachi), besides members standing committee including Mumtaz Tahir (Aftab, Lahore), Waseem Ahmed (Awam, Quetta), Pir Sufaid Shah (Wahdat, Peshawar), Mehtab Khan (Ausaf, Lahore), Syed Fasih Iqbal (Balochistan Times, Quetta), Younus Riaz (Beopaar, Karachi), Abdur Rasheed Ghazi (Daily Business Port, Faisalabad), Najamuddin Sheikh (Diyanat, Sukkur) Mukhtar Aaqil (Juraat , Karachi), Sardar Khan Niazi (Naya Rukh, Karachi), Rukhsana Soulat Salimi (Nikhar, Islamabad), Mohsin Jameel Baig (Online), Syed Munir Jillani (Paigham, Faisalabad), Qudratullah Chaudhry (Pakistan, Lahore), Gohar Zahid Malik (Pakistan Observer, Islamabad), Umeequr Rehman Saifi (Saadat, Faisalabad), Humayun Gulzar (Sayadat, Bahawalpur), Bari Malik (Wattan, Peshawar), Altaf Hassan Qureshi (Urdu Digest, Lahore), Sheikh Danish Iftikhar (Asas, Islamabad), Abdul Wadood Qureshi (Rawish, Islamabad), Tahir Mughal (Nawai Pak, Islamabad), Professor S B Hassan (Investment and Marketing), Mukhdoom Arshad Hussain ( Juraat, Rawalpindi), Tazeem Akhtar (Azkaar), Hafiz M Iqbal (Insaf) and Ghulam Akbar (Al-Akhbar).
Source: The News
Date:1/12/2011
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