PMDA issue to be resolved soon: MNA

MARDAN: Federal Minister of State and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan said on Saturday that the issue of Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) would be resolved soon.

“Journalists don’t belong to any government because they work for people and country,” he said while addressing a function, organised to hand over Rs5 million cheque to the cabinet of Mardan Press Club.

Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, MPAs Iftikhar Ali Mashwani, Abdus Salam Khan, Amir Farzand Khan, Malik Shaukat, press club president Lutfullah Lutaf and general secretary Mohammad Riaz Mayar also addressed the event.

The federal minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and other cabinet opposed the restriction on converting one’s religion before the age of 18 years.

“If someone aged 14 years wishes to convert, he or she can’t be stopped,” he added.

He said there were several examples of religious conversion before the age of 18. He argued that Hazrat Hazrat Ali (R.A) became a follower of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) at the age of 9 to 11 years. However, he added, an issue was created in this respect in some districts of Sindh province and the prime minister has established a committee to resolve it.

Ali Mohammad Khan also said that the media played a key role in the success of PTI in the elections.

The speakers also paid tribute to senior journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai (late) and said that with his death, an era of journalism has passed. They said the death of Rahimullah Yusufzai has created a vacuum in the field of journalism.

At the end of the function, fateha was offered for the soul of the deceased journalist.

Ali Mohammad Khan later handed over a cheque worth Rs5 million to the cabinet of the press club.