ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said that the Journalist Protection Bill will soon be tabled in the parliament for approval.
In a tweet on Tuesday, the information minister said that the draft bill has been finalized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Human Rights Division.
The minister said that protection of the rights of journalists and media workers is a priority of the government.
“We will continue making efforts for independent and responsible journalism in the country,” he added.
Two weeks ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its Global Impunity Index 2020 where it spotlighted countries where journalists have been slain and their killers set free.
Pakistan is the ninth worst country on the list, just rising up one place from 2019, when it was the eighth worst country. Somalia, Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan are on the top of the list, in that order, because of war and political instability.
The CPJ report found that corruption, weak institutions, and lack of political will for solid investigation were some of the reasons why countries including Pakistan, Mexico, and the Philippines have impunity.
In the case of Pakistan, there are 15 unsolved murder cases of journalists. According to the CPJ database 61 journalists have been killed in attacks since 1992.
Separately, while talking to a local news channel, the information minister said that political parties were dragging feet from Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
He said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was not supporting Nawaz Sharif’s narrative which he had adopted against the national institutions
He also said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was showing that it had believed in supremacy of law, but Nawaz was absconder declared by the courts.
The information minister said that Nawaz Sharif was trying to create unrest by giving anti-Pakistan statements from abroad, adding that PML-N had ruled the country from many years but failed to improve capabilities of the institutions and destroyed them through nepotism and redundant policies.
Replying to a question, he said that all political parties should show responsibility regarding implementation of standard operating procedure (SOPs) of coronavirus during their political public gathering, adding that coronavirus pandemic was increasing day by day so everyone should have to take it serious otherwise the deadly virus could spread at large scale in the country.
