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| India-Pakistan |
| Govt abandons draft of anti-press law amid uproar |
| 2017-09-13 |
| [DAWN] Amid pressure from media and civil society, the government on Monday abandoned the idea of promulgating the Pakistain Print Media Regulatory Authority (PPMRA) Ordinance 2017, ordering strict action against three officers for unilaterally moving ahead with the proposal. The repressive stipulations of the draft law aimed to regulate the print media by making it mandatory for newspapers to seek annual renewal of their licences and sought to give authorities power to raid media houses at will. The draft was on the agenda of the Press Council of Pakistain (PCP), which was scheduled to meet on Monday. But the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting intervened in the matter, requesting PCP Chairman Dr Salahuddin Mengal to drop the item from the agenda of the council’s 15th general meeting. Later, a detailed office order was issued by Information Secretary Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, which stated that PCP chairman Salauddin Mengal informed the secretary that the development of a draft PPMRA 2017 was initiated following a meeting with the information minister on March 3, 2017. |
| Posted by:Fred |