ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), have rejected the PTI government’s newly proposed media ordinance and termed it ‘draconian’.
Taking to Twitter, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said that the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) Ordinance 2021 is a plan for institutionalising censorship. “Under the new ordinance, media outlets will “either become state mouthpieces or go under”, she added.
“There will be no onus on the Govt to provide warning or rationales for clampdowns. The law may even extend control to digital platforms,” the PPP senator added.
2/2There will be no onus on the Govt to provide warning or rationales for clampdowns.The law may even extend control to digital platforms.This is a plan for institutionalising censorship. Media outlets will either become state mouthpieces or go under. #notogaglaws #notoPMDA
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) May 31, 2021
Meanwhile, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb called the ordinance a “draconian, authoritarian, repressive and punitive” instrument to “suppress constitutional freedom of expression of print media, electronic media and online citizen journalism”.
1/2Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance is a #draconian #authoritarian,repressive&punitive instrument to suppress constitutional freedom of expression of print media, electronic media, and online citizen journalism.
— Marriyum Aurangzeb (@Marriyum_A) May 31, 2021
Other bodies also rejected Ordinance
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) have also rejected the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) Ordinance, 2021.
“The proposed law is draconian in scope and devastating in its impact on the constitutional principles and guarantees for freedom of expression, media freedoms, and the right to information as well as the profession of journalism,” they said in a joint statement.
They said the proposed ordinance reflects a mindset hostile to the concept of people’s freedom of expression and right to information and warned that upending the current media regulatory regime, as proposed in the law, will destroy all public media as it exists in Pakistan today.
The proposed ordinance
The ordinance proposes to repeal all current media-related laws, including the Press Council Ordinance, 2002, the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance, 2002, the Newspaper Employees, (Conditions of Service Act), 1973, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002, as amended by the Pemra Amendment Act, 2007, and the Motion Pictures Ordinance, 1979.
