The ban that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had imposed on the country’s media the previous year will soon be lifted. This announcement was recently made by Information Minister, Sherry Rahman who has introduced a parliamentary bill proposing to end the ban on live broadcasts. The bill also proposes to do away with rules pertaining punishments for journalists who defame the president, the government or the army.

 

The emergency rule levied on Pakistan in November 2007 had strictly banned radio and TV news and any criticism of the government. The restrictions, furthermore, consisted of imprisonment as well as fines for those reporters engaging in live programmes or any publication which the army and the government found offensive. Speaking about the lifting of the media ban in Pakistan, Minister Sherry Rahman said that the amendments will remove the entire apparatus of restrictions imposed on the press.

 

Ms Rahman underscored that the Pakistani media will be free to broadcast. The house will be put in order and the press permitted to broadcast not just live telecast but all that they feel fit to broadcast, said the minister. Pakistan’s President Musharraf had put ban on the live broadcasts by several private channels after their televised rallies in support of the chief justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry and criticisms of the president and army.