Senate body wants forensic audit of Pemra officials’ phones – Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Friday ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to assist its members in a forensic audit of the mobile phones of the president of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), as well as its officials , for allegedly blocking the media coverage of opposition parties.

The Senate Human Rights Committee confronted Pemra officials for being used as a vehicle and its powers as a tool to undermine the operation of article 19 of the Constitution.

The president of the PPP committee, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, said that the forensic audit of mobile phones would help determine whether Pemra officials had received and implemented illegal orders.

Form a subcommittee to investigate and fix the responsibility of blocking the media coverage of opposition parties

Two video clips were also played during the meeting in which a news channel and a famous presenter complained that Pemra pressured them not to broadcast a press conference from an opposition leader.

A Pemra representative, however, denied the accusations and said he had no knowledge of any pressure or instructions transmitted to the media to impose censorship.

Lawmakers noted the growing concern expressed by various media and human rights organizations about reducing the space of freedom of expression in Pakistan.

Khokhar said the worry is not without merit. He cited the President of Justice of Pakistan (CJP) saying: “Such a loss of political space may not be good for the future of the country as a constitutional democracy. The reports of increasing censorship are disturbing and such practices are a serious threat to the democratic system itself. The rights of constitutionally guaranteed citizens should never be compromised by short-term political and government advantages. ”

He also cited the observations of the CJP: “It was in this environment that Parliament must live up to the circumstances and address this growing concern. As noted correctly, no true democracy can prosper or function or even be called democracy, without a free press and freedom to express its opinion on matters not only of a political nature, but also in another way. "

The members of the committee noted that it was in this spirit and with this foresight that the editors of the Constitution recognized freedom of expression as a fundamental right. They argued that their intention to safeguard this right was in clear and categorical terms, unequivocally announcing through Article 8 that any law incompatible with fundamental rights should be considered void.

Members gave examples of denying media coverage to Maryam Nawaz and also of a recent interview by Asif Ali Zardari who could not air.

PML-N Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq noted that Pakistan could not complain in international forums about violations of the rights of cashmere when it could not safeguard the right of its own citizens to express themselves freely.

Senator Dr. Jehanzeb Jamaldini drew attention to the media blackout of Baloch political figures such as Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Dr. Abdul Malik.

By not satisfying the committee and its concerns, the committee concluded that there was sufficient evidence to infer that the president of Pemra and certain officials had acted beyond his mandate and in complete violation of article 19 of the Constitution.

A subcommittee was formed to specifically investigate, determine responsibility and determine whether the president of Pemra was guilty of misconduct in the light of the laws. The committee will also ask if other Pemra officials were also guilty of misconduct and whether they should proceed against them for enforcing and implementing illegal orders. The subcommittee is expected to finalize its report within a month.

The committee also felt that a separate letter would be written to the CJP urging its intervention to safeguard the operation of Article 19.

“Finally, these findings should circulate in all media organizations / journalists. It should be noted that the human rights committee has taken note and dealt with the matter and a subcommittee has been formed to further investigate and fix the responsibility and any future harassment or illegal orders by Pemra should be reported immediately to the subcommittee. "he said. director.

Published on Dawn, October 19, 2019