PMDA an attempt to throttle free media: PPP, PMLN

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leaders have strongly criticised the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA).

Discussing the proposed law in a Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, hosted by Munib Farooq, PMLN Senator Musaddiq Malik and PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar slammed the government for not tabling any final draft of the proposed PMDA before any parliamentary panel. Senator Khokar said the government was bent on turning a concept paper into a law without any parliamentary oversight. The government is hell bent on destroying the freedom of expression, he said.

Senator Malik said Pakistan was being enlisted among the ‘eight media predators’ at the global scale. He said several drafts of the PMDA are being pushed as final documents, all of which have been rejected widely by the media.

Critical of the draconian media curbs put in place by the government, they deplored that during the tenure of the PTI government, Pakistan has been relegated as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Senator Khokar said Islamabad has become the most feared city for working journalists.

Taking part in the discussion, Minister for State Farrukh Habib said the final draft of PMDA would soon be tabled in parliament.

He also claimed that the draft of the law has been widely discussed with the media organisations.