Omar Asghar Khan, federal minister for local government, labour & environment, while giving his key note address here on the occasion stressed that freedom of information is a prerequisite to ensure devolution of power to the lowest ebb of society. Corruption, manipulation, exploitation and coercion of the masses in the prevailing power structures, he also maintained, were not to end unless the flow of information is ensured. Likewise, free, fair and transparent accountability on an incessant basis would be achieved if we brought the information before public at large. 

He said that civil liberties, human rights and free press are the prime concerns of the present government. Also, it's for the first time that army and civilians are engaged with each other to break strongly entrenched power blocs, but he warned they could hinder the process initiated by this regime. He deemed it imperative that the civil society comes forward in these precarious times and puts pressures for the well being of the common people. 
He said we should talk about democratic rebuilding rather than restoration of the previous government that repressed the rights of journalists, NGOs and the civil society. 

He clarified that press advice is not a part of the present government's policy and he would discuss in the cabinet the few cases quoted by the journalists in this dialogue as examples of interference from the government.

He noted we should have to redefine the role of ministry of information, state manipulation of the newspapers and poor working conditions of the journalists at the policy level. He viewed that the government should stop advertisement quota of those newspapers that do not pay salaries to the journalists. However, he said, the big newspapers should implement the wage board award to set a positive example in this regard. 

He also said it goes to the credit of government that it has decided to establish district advisory boards to devolve power to the lower levels, with a web of village assemblies. He told that women would be given 30 percent representation in these assemblies. He also informed the participants about federal cabinet's decision to release funds to those Tameer-I-Watan schemes that have already done their 25 percent of work. 

Earlier, member Board of Governors JRC and senior journalist, Aziz Mazhar maintained that civic liberties were ensured by the politics and ban on politics would only bring adverse results.

Briefly describing the aims and objectives of JRC, he said that free flow of information and access of common man to information is a must for creating democratic order in

He observed that the common people in Pakistan are not yet free and they are not respected at the public offices. The problems of the people should be resolved with their consent for better results rather ruling them from above and multiplying the shackles of bureaucratic rule inherited by colonial legacy they are already in, he added.

President Press Club Saqlain Imam, while giving his presentation, thought that the press itself had become a threat to the freedom of expression in the country, to add to the manipulation and exploitation done by the newspaper owners.
He noted that after the military take-over, journalists in the country felt quite relieved as the previous government took every authoritarian measure in the name of democracy. He emphasised that democracy was an attitude that all of us needed to imbibe in ourselves to make an environment congenial for it at both macro and micro levels. He said that democracy couldn't be restored merely through legislation and decrees.

He also criticised the non-government organisations for their strong bureaucracies and an absence of democratic organisational culture despite their being the forerunners of democracy.

About the freedom of press sought by the owners' representative bodies like All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Mr. Saqlain maintained that the owners want freedom but they were not ready to share the same with their employees. He said that the journalists have become so used to press advice that during times when it is not dictated, the journalists wait for it to come.

Editor The News on Sunday (TNS), Beena Sarwar identified four variables that limit freedom of expression in Pakistan i.e. taboo subject for the journalists, self-censorship, problems in accessing information and state monopoly of electronic media.

She pointed out that although there is no intervention from the government as press advice, still there is dictation from various government PR agencies to overplay or underplay issues. She demanded that all information must be made open to the public. 

President Punjab Union of Journalists, Ruman Ehsan said that freedom of expression was priority of neither the democratic or autocratic governments. He observed the present government had given freedom of expression but access to information was, still, not granted. The foreign media, he said, was allowed to report freely as it happened lately in the case of the hijacking of an Indian plane but the local journalists were not given access to information.

He also noted that despite expanding media industry, the journalists were not being properly paid. Nevertheless, he lamented role of certain journalist groups who change their loyalties with a change in the government; still they are entertained by every regime. About seventy journalists and people from other walks of life attended the dialogue.