NA panel on information: Safety of journalists in conflict areas discussed

Information Ministry’s DG said Rs500m was released to CPNE

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Friday discussed the need for ensuring safety to journalists and media personnel, particularly those performing their duties in conflict zones.

Chaired by lawmaker Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage met to discuss the implementation status of the recommendations made by the special committee to investigate threats to journalists and media personnel in its report, which was submitted to the lower house of parliament on March 13, 2013.

Back then, the special committee was chaired by Ahsan Iqbal, who was in the opposition during the previous term of the NA.

Key findings and recommendations of the special committee were presented at the meeting by Nasir Jamal, the director-general of the information ministry.

Jamal also spoke about the consultative process with representatives of media houses and other stakeholders on a Media Protection and Welfare draft bill. Though the process of legislation is only half-complete, he said, it is expected to be resumed within a week as a PFUJ body would be in place following its election scheduled to be held on August 25-27. According to him, consultation on the Right to Information bill is already complete. He assured the committee that the draft bill will be brought before the committee within the stipulated time.

Discussing initiatives taken for the security of media houses, he said that steps were being taken to ensure their safety, adding that funds were being transferred to the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) for the creation of an endowment fund.

He said a cheque of Rs500 million had been released for the endowment fund, which would include payment of compensation for those injured and killed in the line of duty in terrorist attacks.

The information ministry had asked for Rs224 million from the finance ministry, which were included in the endowment fund.

The committee was also informed that the families of the cameramen and reporters killed in the Quetta bombing would be given Rs2.5 million per head and those injured would be given Rs500,000 per head in compensation, which would be distributed by the federal minister for information.

Representatives of media associations, including CPNE and All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), called for an insurance scheme and financial security to their families in case of an eventuality.

An APNS representative stated that the security situation vis-à-vis journalists in the twin cities is far better, but there is a need to provide the same level of security to media persons in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2016.