Pakistan tables bill to remove media restrictions

Islamabad: The new government last week brought a bill to the National Assembly to kill a draconian gag imposed by President Pervez Musharraf on the country�s nascent electronic media under the state of emergency imposed in November that provoked an international outcry.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (Amendment) Bill, introduced by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ms Sherry Rehman on the second day of the first regular session of the lower house, will automatically go to a standing committee for scrutiny before being sent back to the house for passage, possibly very soon.

It came as the first legislative step of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani�s 12-day-old coalition cabinet for the promised undoing of the remnants of the president�s November 3, 2007 extra-constitutional emergency he imposed in his later-abandoned position of army chief and used also to suspend the Constitution for 42 days of its enforcement and sack about 60 judges of superior courts.

Questions raised

But the move could raise questions about the need to take a legislative path to undo an offshoot of the emergency that the coalition parties do not recognise as legitimate, particularly in respect of the removal of the judges they have vowed to restore merely through a National Assembly resolution within 30 days of the formation of their government.

Most of the deposed judges had lost their jobs for refusing to take a fresh oath under a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

At a press conference, Ms Rehman did not agree with the view that a November 3 presidential ordinance that made changes in the original Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance of 2002 had expired or become ineffective and said the decree had been protected by the approval of the emergency by the post-November 3 Supreme Court. She said another bill would be brought later to undo an emergency decree affecting the print media.

The PEMRA used the November 3 decree to keep major private television and radio channels off the air in Pakistan for varying durations from a week to more than a month, bar live coverage of events even during the campaign for the February 18 elections and ban some popular programmes and their hosts at the pain of cancellation of operating licences or punishments such as imprisonment and fine.

These moves led to worldwide protests by governments and human rights and media watchdog organisations.

Though the private channels have ignored most of these restrictions after the new government came into being, the new bill will undo the November 3 decree altogether after the draft is passed by the National Assembly and the Senate and formally assented to by the president.

The bill seeks to withdraw: Provision that made the owner of an offending broadcast station or cable network responsible along with the operator; increase of the limit of fine for contravening PEMRA laws from Rs 1 million to Rs 10 million; PEMRA�s power to revoke a licence; powers given to the PEMRA and its chairman to seize equipment or seal the premises of a licensee in a situation of emergency; prohibition of live coverage of violence and conflict, etc.

Committed to media freedom

Ms Rehman said that the PDA government was committed to implement its legislative agenda and that the repeal of November 3 amendments to the PEMRA law was the first step in that direction.

She said the cabinet would take up all issues and hopefully the process of reinstatement of deposed judges would be set in motion with the setting up of parliamentary committees next week.

Asked whether the presidency would not be annoyed by the repeal of PEMRA laws, she said the PPP-led government was committed to bring changes that would fit in democratic values without caring about annoying anyone.

Answering a query on whether the coalition government had accepted the November 3 changes in the Constitution as legal by bringing the repeal of changes in the PEMRA law to parliament, she said this question would be addressed in the coming days but that the government was determined to change the controversial code of conduct for media which was enforced as result of November 3 emergency.

She said the ordinance pertaining to the print media would also be taken up for repeal and that the issue was likely to be submitted in the next cabinet meeting for approval.

Referring to an ambiguity about who was responsible for the closure of some television channels in Karachi the other day, she said cable operators had admitted they were asked to do so but they were not ready to disclose by whom.

She said no cable operator would in future close any channel without assigning explicit reasons or it would be liable to receive a show-cause notice.

Asked about possible changes in the bureaucracy, she said the new government did not believe in witch-hunting and would not disturb any official abiding by laws and ready to accept its commands.

She, however, said a special audit of all the operations would soon take place in order to fix responsibility of any wrongdoings in the previous government.

The National Assembly on April 11 also began a debate on shortage of power in the country before being adjourned until 4pm on April 14.

The story had first appeared in Dawn.

Source: Pakistan Press Foundation

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