ISLAMABAD: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is said to have taken the
handwritten draft of the resolution against the media from the
Speaker's chamber to his residence for "editing" on Thursday afternoon
and returned it after making some required additions with clear
instructions to hand over the final draft to MPA Sanaullah Mastikhel
on Friday for approval by the Punjab Assembly. It has now been
revealed that the District Coordination Officers (DCOs) were used to
make all MPAs of the Punjab Assembly reach Lahore to attend a "special
session" of the assembly on Thursday. Even the name of MPA Sanullah
Mastikhel, who is now being made the scapegoat by the top guns of the
PML-N, was chosen by none other than CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif to
present the resolution in the provincial assembly. Moreover, two
foreign countries were also taken into confidence on the crackdown
plan against the media. This inside story was revealed to our sources
by one of the top insiders of the PML-N, who was an integral part of
the plot to target the media. According to him, even harsher measures
against the media were in the offing but the move backfired.
After the passage of the resolution, the next plan was to stop
official advertisements to the media and to issue all official
advertisments only on the Internet in addition to asking the federal
government to bring in more stringent laws to tighten the noose around
the uncontrolled media through the PEMRA.
In this regard, it is said that the Speaker Punjab Assembly had made a
secret telephone call to a top gun of the PPP having close friendship
with President Asif Zardari to move similar motions against the media
in the Senate, the National Assembly and three other provincial
assemblies. The Speaker, according to informed sources, made this call
in the presence of Law Minister Rana Sanullah, Deputy Speaker Mashood
and some members of the provincial assembly.
The crackdown plan was kept top secret. However, some powerful circles
in the media got wind of the strategy to cripple the media. In
particular, heavy damage was to be inflcited on one media group.
According to credible information, the plot was finalised on Thursday
in the Speaker's chamber in the presence of 17 MPAs belonging to PPP,
PML-N and PML-Q. Sanaullah Mastikhel, being the most experienced
parliamentarian, was especially asked to participate in this meeting.
Others included Dr Tahir Javed, Shaukat Bhatti, Ali Noor Niazi,
Nawabzada Shams Haider, Miss Sameel Kamran, Zulfikar Gondal, Ch Abdul
Waheed, Col Shujaa Khanzada, Mohsin Leghari, Ch Zaheeurdin and Rana
Sanaullah.
At one point during the meeting, Sanullah Mastikhel appeared not
willing to condemn the media for raising the issue of fake degrees
since he had been fighting a long legal battle against his political
opponents in Bhakkar, MNA Rashid Akbar and others, on the same issue
and the case was still pending in the Supreme Court.
As these MPAs were busy giving final touches to the draft resolution,
the Speaker was informed that Shahabz Sharif had reached his assembly
chamber and had summoned all of them for a word. The CM stopped them
from tabling the resolution on Thursday, saying he wanted to make a
speech on the water issue so the resolution should be tabled on
Friday.
However, he took the handwritten draft to his residence where he made
the necessary changes after consulting his close aides and then handed
it over to Col Shujaa Khanzada, who subsequently handed it over to
Sanaullah Mastikhel to be tabled in the assembly.
The Speaker suspended the rules of business on Friday to allow
Sanaullah Mastikhel to table the resolution. In the meanwhile, CM
Punjab Shahbaz Sharif also reached the assembly and witnessed the
whole drama enacted in the Punjab Assembly.
This correspondent made a call to Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel to get his
point of view but he refused to offer any comment. But a top PML-N
leader claimed that the party had already made its position clear that
it was not its policy and that action would be taken against the mover
of the resolution.
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