Javed Latif should clear his position on PMDA: Farrukh

ISLAMABAD, Sep 1,2021- Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib Wednesday asked National Assembly Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting Chairman Javed Latif to make his position clear over the proposed framework of Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA).

He said the committee was set to discuss the proposed initiative in its upcoming meeting and his party President Shehbaz Sharif had already rejected the initiative in a presser the other day.

“With grave concerns, it is stated that the opposition leader, being your party leader, has blatantly rejected the proposed framework of Pakistan Media Development Authority in a press conference without reading and carefully looking into the details of the proposed framework of Pakistan Media Development Authority,” read the letter wrote to the NA body chairman by the minister.

In the correspondence, Farrukh told Javed Latif, who is from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, that statement of his party’s president undermined his position and authority since he was the chairman of committee which would be discussing the concept and framework of the PMDA, which was still under consultative process with the stakeholders, in the next meeting .

“Your position on the subject matter needs clarification in view of the above apprehensions before proceeding further into the matter,” he asked.

He said Shehbaz Sharif’s tirade against the PMDA, which was aimed to ensure media development, empowerment and freedom, gave lopsided and myopic perception utterly in contradiction to the norms and principles of parliamentary oversight and democracy.