ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Wednesday that all jour
nalists were part of her team irrespective of their affiliation with the government-run or private media cells.
In a statement, the minister termed the incident outside the Supreme Court unfortunate.
She said that she was striving to settle the matter amicably. She said that State Minister for Information Technology (IT) Anusha Rehman was a responsible mem
ber of federal cabinet and that she believed in freedom of expression and independence of media.
She was referring to a row that broke out between PML-N ministers and jour
nalists outside the premises of the Supreme Court during recess in Wednesday’s hearing of the Panamagate case.
The minister said that she had advised both parties- jour
nalists and ministers – to settle the matter through dia
logue.
The minister reiterated that the government believed in independence of me
dia, saying “an independent media was a pre-requisit
e for true democracy”.