PML-N announces full resistance to Media Authority Bill

Irfan Siddiqui, a PML-N senator and a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Information, announced his full opposition to the Media Authority Bill inside and outside Parliament.

In a statement, Irfan Siddiqui said that the government’s proposal to set up a Media Development Authority was tantamount to further intimidating the already pressured media and suppressing freedom of expression.

He said that the establishment of the Media Development Authority was not a bill for the development of media but for the destruction of media.

On the other hand, all journalists’ organizations, including the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, have also rejected the Media Authority Bill.

Earlier, More than 600 employees of the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) also rejected the draft of the Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance.

PEMRA employees have written a letter to the Federal Ministry of Information stating that there is no need for new authority in the presence of PEMRA and other agencies. The future of 600 PEMRA employees is in jeopardy due to the new ordinance.

The letter said that PEMRA has not taken a single penny from the federal government to date, adding that the issuance of the proposed ordinance would completely end the autonomy of the regulatory system.

PEMRA employees have demanded the federal government to empower PEMRA instead of creating new institutions.