LAHORE, SEP 14 (DNA) – President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Mian Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that freedom of media is central to survival of democracy. Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, in a tweet, said that journalists of the country have waged a long and hard struggle to earn this freedom.

Shehbaz Sharif reiterated that all opposition political parties stand by the media bodies and said that together, we will thwart the government’s plan to take that freedom away. A day earlier, opposition termed PMDA bill as ‘black law’ and vows to stand with journalists.

 After NA session, Shehbaz Sharif said that we have staged a full scale protest in the Parliament against media bill. Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that if the black law is passed, we will support media in the court and in the streets against it.  He said that Shehbaz Sharif has brought us all together, we have come to express solidarity and we are all on the same page regarding freedom of media.

Addressing a sit-in of journalists, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), said that where there is a monarchy, there is no independent journalism.  He said that we stand together in the fight for the rights of journalists. = DNA

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