Draft Defamation Law not media-specific: Ranjha
ISLAMABAD- Federal Minister for Law Dr Khalid Ranjha has said the draft Defamation Law is not media-specific and aimed at protecting the rights of all sections of the society.
The law minister said that the apprehensions of the journalist community, All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) and Council of Newspapers Editors (CPNE) about the draft law were ill-founded.
“The present government believes in the freedom of the Press and the Press is enjoying unprecedented freedom,” he said. “The draft Defamation Law is open for discussion for which a consultative process has been initiated,” he said, adding that the law had been sent to the Bar for comments and consultations with the Press were in progress. Any proposal or suggestion to further improve the law would be welcome, he said.
“Defamation Law is not a new law; the laws dealing with defamation have been in the field for over 100 years as the law of the Torts and now they are given cover by Criminal Procedure Code, Pakistan Penal Code, Evidence Act etc,” he said, but added that these laws only dealt with the criminal side and the new law would cater for the civil side.
The draft Defamation Law is a part of government effort to upgrade the legal system of the country, he said, adding that the new Defamation Law would clear many ambiguities in the present laws.
“Presently if someone has to file a defamation suite, nobody, even the bar, is not aware of the proper course to be taken,” he added. The law minister said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had given a loan for the improvement of the legal and judicial system of the country; and under this agreement, the government was introducing Freedom of Information Act and Defamation Law. The law minister said that under the Asian Development Bank loan agreement, the government was also appointing female civil judges in all districts of the country.
Source: The News
Date:6/13/2002
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