Islamabad : Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting has emphasized for strengthening of Press Council of Pakistan in-terms of human resource, finances and technology in order to capacitate the Council to effectively regulate the print media sector. The Committee also asked the Ministry to pursue holding of an early meeting of the Committee appointed under the Advisor to the Prime Minister for examination of the pending liabilities of all organizations of the Ministry. The Committee met under the Chairmanship of Pullain Baloch, MNA.
The Chairman Press Council of Pakistan apprised the Committee on working and performance of the Council. He informed that the Council comprising of media fraternity, parliamentarians, government officials and civil society was fully functional and had been actively engaged in monitoring the print media sector, complaint resolution and creating awareness amongst the public. Apprising the Committee about the constrains, he said that a dedicated office premises and lack of funding, human resource and technological infrastructure were factors impeding PCP’s progression and sought Standing Committee’s support in that regard.
The Committee appreciated the performance of the Council, however, asked to assert its role in terms of freedom of expression and to address the issue of disinformation and misinformation. The Committee also suggested to devise a complaint resolution mechanism in terms of non-payment of salaries to the print media workers. The Committee also recommended to the Ministry to devise service rules of the employees of PCP.
The Committee while talking up compliance of its previous recommendations directed Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation to keep the Committee abreast with the development on its PSDP project in Karachi. The Committee was apprised that a technical Committee constituted on the direction of Standing Committee was already deliberating on the issue and its third meeting was scheduled in early next month. The DG (PBC) assured that the PBC Engineers with the support of other technological organizations, the project would be completed with indigenous resources.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
