ISLAMABAD  -  Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Saturday said a news story pub­lished by an English newspaper (not The Nation) re­garding Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s recent interaction with the media was “out of context.” Solan­gi, in a video message, contradicted the news statement attributed to the prime minister by Dawn newspaper on “one-party rule”.

According to Solangi, the publication of this news led to unnecessary comments from many journalists and cre­ated a false impression in certain sections of the media, suggesting that martial law was being imposed in the country. He emphasised that some journalists drew con­clusions from a statement that the prime minister had not made. Expressing his disappointment, Solangi point­ed out that this was not the first time Dawn newspaper had published an inaccurate news story. 

He also recalled a recent false news story by Dawn that had damaged the country’s image on the internation­al stage. Solangi lamented that a respected newspaper had been consistently publishing incorrect news. He un­derscored the media’s right to criticize but stressed that attributing statements to individuals that they did not make was not in line with responsible journalism and freedom of expression.