A sub-committee of National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage on Friday urged the police and media houses to take steps for beefing up security of major press clubs in the country.
The meeting held under the chair of Naeema Kishwar Khan, MNA also took exception to the fact that the government employees were found working as journalists in both print and electronic media.
It also directed the Information Ministry to ensure that no government employee gets NOC for launch of a newspaper or magazine.
The meeting was given detailed briefing on the investigations of attacks on media persons since 2011 to till date from the provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and federal capital.
The meeting was also briefed about the criteria to provide compensation to deceased families of the media persons.
Information and Broadcasting Additional Secretary Muhammad Azam Khan said that for provision of more secure environment to the media persons, the government was establishing a commission which would propose measures to be adopted by the government to protect journalists in the field and ensure their well-being. He said the present government wanted to make Pakistan a journalist-friendly country where media should feel safe and secure during their professional assignments.
The committee expressed its displeasure over the submission of replies from various departments as this makes the meeting fruitless.
MNA Azhar Jadoon said that the committee directives should be implemented in letter and spirit.
Naeema Kishwar hoped that in future the concerned department should submit replies in time. The committee directed the police to conclude investigation into cases of journalists martyred during past few years. It also issued directives to Islamabad Police to provide security to National Press Club.
The representative of National Police Bureau said that replies from police departments of Balochistan and KPK were received on Thursday. However, he said that now focal persons have been appointed in all provincial IGP offices to resolve this problem.
KPK Information Secretary Nasir Khan informed that the provincial assembly has passed a bill a few days ago for creation of endowment funds for journalists and Rs 50 million have been allocated for this purpose. Moreover, he said that media towns would be built in three more cities of the province.
