Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu yesterday said the government had no plan to curtail freedom of the press, but said antiquated acts and policies needed to be updated.
“We have initiated a move to update the Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act 1973 as it was formulated 41 years ago,” the minister said at a press conference at the Press Information Department in the secretariat.
The minister refuted media speculations that the ministry might amend the act in secret. “There is no secrecy in the activities of my ministry, and any changes and updates to the law will be done with the consultation of stakeholders... Extremists and terrorists carry out their plan secretly,” he said.
Inu said the Department of Films and Publications (DFP) sent a proposal to the ministry which included a provision that deputy commissioners (DCs) would have the power to cancel the declaration of newspapers for publishing anti-state material or material that hurt religious sentiments.
“We have not taken it into consideration because there are contradictions in the proposal, and we have sent it back,” Inu said adding, “I can make assurances that DCs will not be given the power to cancel the declaration of newspapers.”
At a media conference held at the secretariat on Tuesday, Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali said an act was being formulated which would limit journalists’ freedom. Asked about the social welfare minister’s statement, Inu said that his statement was not the government’s position.
The information minister said the government initiated the move to update the laws because the media had flourished in recent times. The existing law’s sections relating to fees and ownership needed to be updated, Inu said.
The information ministry formed an eight-member committee, headed by an additional secretary, on January 1 to review the laws related to printing and publishing. On February 24, at its first meeting, the committee decided to update The Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration) Act, 1973.
On March 18, the DFP sent a draft of the Printing Presses and Publications (Declaration and Registration) Act 2014 to the committee.
According to the draft, deputy commissioners would have the power to cancel a newspaper’s right to publish if it was deemed to carry anti-state or anti-religious news. The draft said such a decision could be implemented through the court or the ministry.
From 1974 to 1990 the provision that enabled DCs to cancel newspapers had been applied controversially.
The committee held a meeting on April 28 and decided not to formulate a new law, instead update the 1973 act.