Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Tuesday vowed the “proactive implementation” of the journalist safety law to ensure freedom of media in the country.
Speaking at an event conducted to mark the ten years of the UN Plan of Action organized by the Journalist Safety Forum, PM Shehbaz said termed free media and freedom of expression the important pillars of a state.
He said that media freedom and democracy reinforced each other, expressing his government’s resolve to support an environment free of intimidation and harassment of journalists.
“My government believes that no journalist or human rights activist should be called out in the line of duty,” PM Shehbaz said. He expressed his firm resolve to facilitate the proactive implementation of the “Journalists Safety Law”.
PM Shehbaz said that the journalists of the country, over the years, contributed greatly to press freedom and mentioned that Hamid Mir, as the chairperson of the Journalist Safety Forum, faced difficult challenges, including an attempt on his life.
PM Shehbaz also termed the killing of prominent journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya an “extremely sad incident”, adding that soon after the incident, he spoke to the government of Kenya and also wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to form a judicial commission.
On requests of the media community, PM Shehbaz assured to look into the Section 6 of the Act to prevent harassment and intimidation of journalists.
With additional inputs from APP.
