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No plan to put restrictions on media: Qaim

By Razzak Abro

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Thursday said the Pakistan People’s Party-led government does not intend to impose restrictions on the media, but the media should also act professionally and make a code of ethics for itself.

Speaking at a press conference at the newly established media cell of the party, he said the government is not going to make laws for imposing restrictions on the media.

However, making a reference to an anchorperson of a private TV channel, he said irresponsible attitude is unacceptable and using the media for personal revenge is wrong.

Shah termed President Asif Ali Zardari’s speech at the PPP’s foundation day rally in Karachi as a “policy speech”, and said political parties take such decisions collectively and democratically. The chief minister said besides party workers, common people also participated in the rally.

He said that the media did not mention the number of participants of the rally but in his view it was in lakhs. The chief minister said every year the party organises its foundation day public meeting in Hyderabad but this time it was held in Karachi because the city is the media and commercial hub. He said around 75 percent of the participants of the rally had come from different areas of Karachi.

Talking about his party’s reconciliation policy, the chief minister said it has helped to extend the level of understanding among different political parties, despite experiencing controversies and differences. The PPP has showed much tolerance, he said, adding that the party can ignore the mistakes (of its allies) but not blunders.

Referring to the cases withdrawn under the NRO of the PPP leadership, he said everyone knows these cases were framed in 1996. He said the people also witnessed that a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court had set aside the judgement against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari in two corruption cases, and the judges had to tender resignations over their bias verdict.

Shah said everybody can counter allegations in politics, but the PPP does not want confrontation. He said his party has respect for the PML-N because it’s also a major party like the PPP and therefore cooperation by the PML-N is expected for the sake of democracy.

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