Press freedom, civil liberties go together: Sanjrani

ISLAMABAD, May 03 (APP):Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani while felicitating the journalist community on the eve of World Press Freedom Day on Friday said media was an important pillar of the state.

He said that the press gallery in the Parliament reminded of the transparency and accountability by the public. The media workers were executing their duties while endangering their lives and many of them were working in an insecure environment.

“At the time, when we are paying a rich tribute to the services of media professionals, I will ask the government to play its role for resolving the issues of payment of their dues and protection of their jobs.”

Sanjrani while presiding over the Senate session remarked that journalists had their hands on the pulse of the society. “They can mould the society towards any behaviour they intend to through the medium of mass communication. A free press can therefore be a guarantor of a flourishing society,” he added.

The Senate chairman underscored the need to look inwards on this day and strive to fill in the existing gaps. May 3 which was proclaimed as World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom, to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay glowing tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while discharging their duties.

Sanjrani observed that Pakistan had come a long way when it came to struggles for press freedom and independence.