Senate Committee Passes Bill Regarding Protection of Journalists, Media Professionals

The Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting unanimously passed the Private Member Bill “The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill, 2022 on Wednesday with several amendments after examining all clauses starting from 20-D of the bill introduced by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla.

The bill was passed during the meeting held at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of the Committee Senator Syed Ali Zafar.

During the meeting, the minutes of the committee meeting held on July 10, 2024, were given approval, while the Private Member’s Bill for “The Right of Access to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2023” presented by Senator Dr Zarqa Suharawardy Taimur in the Senate session held on November 20, 2023, was also reviewed.

Similarly, the committee also discussed in detail the Private Members Bills titled, “The Right of Access to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2020 introduced by Senator Manzoor Ahmed in the Senate session held on 25th January 2021, and “The Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill, 2022 introduced by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla in the Senate session held on 31 January 2022.

In addition to the Private Member’s Bill for the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2022, the matters were reviewed in detail regarding the law of defamation, its objectives, and its future, in the light of Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

On the special invitation of the committee chairman, eminent journalists, besides representatives of electronic and print media also attended the meeting and gave their suggestions on the amendment bills.

Regarding the protection of journalists and media professionals, the committee agreed that journalists and media professionals are the fourth pillar of the state, so it is the responsibility of the state to protect them from physical violence, arbitrary arrests enforced disappearances, etc.

The committee unanimously approved the establishment of a Commission for the Protection of Journalists. The committee further suggested that media professionals and representatives of PFUJ along with the Ministry of Information prepare a draft and define the official definition of a journalist.

The committee also discussed the controversial Defamation Act passed by the Punjab Assembly, on which the committee chairman said that this law has nationwide implications, so it needs to be discussed in the committee.

Senator Pervaiz Rashid objected to this and said that a province has made a law, and we should listen to the Advocate General of Punjab. The committee suggested that the media professionals should submit the draft Defamation Act 2002 in this regard in the next meeting of the committee with the consensus of all the stakeholders.

Commenting on her Private Member’s Bill for Right of Access to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Senator Dr Zarqa said that she has read the drafts sent by the ministry, adding, that it will be reviewed in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and the draft will be provided in the next committee meeting so that the standing committee can review it in detail.

On which the committee chairman said that the officials of the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Law should review the bill with Senator Dr Zarqa and provide the draft to the committee.

Regarding Senator Manzoor Ahmed’s Access to Information Amendment Bill, the committee chairman said that Senator Manzoor Ahmed has requested to postpone it until the next meeting. The committee postponed this agenda until the next meeting.

The meeting of the standing committee was attended by the chairman of the committee, Senators Syed Ali Zafar, Parvaiz Rasheed, Muhammad Tallal Badar, Abdul Shakoor Khan, Jan Muhammad, Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardy, Saleem Mandviwalla, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Secretary Information and other high officials.