ISLAMABAD: An adjournment motion on the complaints of government harassment of Jang Group’s publications by the government stood talked out in Senate here on Thursday after Federal Information Minister Mushahid Hussain proposed a five-man committee to look into and resolve the controversy.

The federal minister spoke after about 40-minute hard-hitting speech of the Leader of the Opposition, Aitzaz Ahsan who by-passing the newspaper’s complaints, made the person of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a target of 17 charges.

In the last speech of the three-day debate which witnessed a few stormy interludes and often bordered on acrimony Mushahid Hussain Syed accused Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the Managing Director of the Jang Group, of blackmailing the government after his failure to obtain a license for a television channel. ,

The Mir, Mushahid asserted, had tried this with two previous governments also but had failed to realise his dream.

He said Mir had applied for the channels during the PPP government and before that General Zia-ul-Haq’s era assuring him to use it to educate people about Islamisation.

He said this had been his old wish to gain entry into electronic media and thus become a “media baron”.

Mushahid Hussain said the present government was committed to the freedom of the press which was its goal even before coming into the government. “We stand by this commitment but we cannot tolerate blackmailing, false campaigns and also tax-evasions.

The minister suggested that the Senate appoint a committee to look into the matter and resolve it as government was not in favour of wasting time on confrontations.

He said the committee should comprise Leader of the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, Leader of the, opposition Aitzaz Ahsan, Dawn’s Islamabad Bureau Chief Ziauddin, Editor of Urdu daily Ausaf, Hamid Mir and the Jang Group’s columnist Nusrat Javed. He said the committee members should act as “Media Ombudsmen”.

Earlier, he dismissed the list of charges Senator Aitzaz Ahsan read out against the Prime Minister saying there was nothing new and all those had already been denied whenever they were levelled.

The opposition, according to him, kept repeating these allegations hoping that people would start believing them.

He also refuted the observation of Aitzaz Ahsan that the Prime Minister had turned against all of his benefactors and had gotten rid of them.

On the contrary, he said Nawaz Sharif held late Gen. Zia in high esteem and visited the mausoleum of the late president quite often. “This was in sharp contrast to the character of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who had ditched his patrons.”

Mushahid Hussain rejected the allegation that the Jang Group had been asked to replace 16 journalists with the nominees of the government. He said all the meetings with Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman were held in the presence of other media executives like Hameed Haroon of Dawn and Mujib-ur-Rahman Shami and it could be checked with them.

Earlier in his opening remarks Aitzaz Ahsan agreed with PML senators that the question of freedom of press should not be mingled with the tax evasion or violation of newsprint control measures.

He said he stood behind the government in its crusade against the bank defaulters or tax-evaders and would support it even against the most powerful of the media owners.

But, he said, unfortunately it was not the case with the Jang Group. “There was no proof that the media house had evaded tax or violated any other law. What had happened was that it had exposed the government and also the Prime Minister. It had published stories about his properties in London, about the palace in Raiwind and now about the contract his family company clinched in Kenya.”

He also read out the names of industries which, according to him, the Prime Minister had admitted co-owning

” Despite owning 14 textile, sugar, paper and engineering companies, the Prime Minister had paid no income tax except for 1994-95 when he deposited Rs 477.”

He said it was ridiculous as even a junior journalist or a lawyer paid more income tax than this.

He said in case Nawaz Sharif’s earnings from these concerns was meagre as they were running in loss, how “can you manage and develop the economy of this country when you cannot manage your personal industry?”

Similarly, he said Ehtesab Cell Chief Senator Saifur Rahman who was instituting accountability proceedings against the opponents of the regime, himself had not paid income tax on the ground that his normal residence was not in this country.

“He is a senator. He is heading a government department. He has a company and building in Islamabad. Yet he does not live here. How is that possible?” Ahsan asked.

Unlike Wednesday night, Senator Saifur Rahman was not present in the House during the closing hours of the debate on adjournment motion.

APP adds:

Minister incharge Khalid Anwar, responding to question by Iqbal Haider told Senate on Thursday that Pakistan has signed cultural exchange programmes agreements with 61 countries and under this programme 56 students have gone abroad for higher education during 1996.

He was responding to a question by Syed Iqbal Haider.

Replying to a question by Jamiluddin Aali, Khalid Anwar said presently there are 18 posts of Pakistan Chairs Board to teach Urdu, Pakistan studies in foreign countries.

Source: Business Recorder
Date:1/29/1999