Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday urged the media to exercise caution when discussing matters related to Pakistan’s foreign policy amid the ongoing Middle East war, claiming some analyses had triggered “unease” from “friendly countries.”
Addressing a joint press conference alongside Information Minister Ataullah Tarar and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, he noted escalating tensions in the Middle East following joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran and its retaliatory actions on Gulf states housing U.S. bases. He said the prevailing situation called for care in narratives propagated on “social media, electronic media, and print media.”
The Constitution of Pakistan and the country’s foreign policy must be kept in mind when expressing views on this situation, he maintained. He further claimed some of the analyses from Pakistani media had caused “unease on diplomatic fronts from at least a friendly country or some other corner.” This, he said, had raised questions on whether the narrative was an individual stance or a national policy.
Reiterating that Pakistan was pushing for a “diplomatic solution” to the ongoing conflict, he said care must be taken on the narratives being spread on broadcast and print media as well as social media. “Pakistan is a responsible state and a nuclear state. Pakistan has an essential role in the region; it has its own identity and its own stance in terms of its defense and foreign policy,” he said.
Noting that Article 19 of the Constitution guaranteed freedom of expression, he emphasized that it carried a caveat of “reasonable restrictions” under the law. “You have the fundamental right to freedom of expression, but you must be careful when it comes to the glory of Islam, the integrity, security and defense of Pakistan or any part thereof, and friendly relations with foreign states,” he said.
The law minister maintained it was the right of every Pakistani to “express their opinion,” but stressed that this did not mean they could abandon the limits laid out in the Constitution. “As far as Pakistan’s foreign policy is concerned and its relations with the Gulf … we cannot speculate if Pakistan is with Iran, then what could it mean for its relations with Saudi Arabia … or if we are with the U.A.E., then what does that mean for our relations with Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“Leave that to the state to decide,” he continued, urging people to have “faith” in the state’s decisions.
“Such analyses must be made with utmost caution,” he reiterated, maintaining “such discussions do not fall under freedom of expression.”
The law minister noted that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has held multiple calls with his counterparts in the region over the conflict. He said Pakistan would continue to “play its part” in coordination with “brotherly countries” to resolve the situation, reiterating that the media must recognize the extent to which the Constitution allowed them to speak on Pakistan’s foreign policy.
The information minister, meanwhile, regretted that online content creators were “sensationalizing” issues of foreign policy. “Pakistan has its foreign policy, and it maintains a balance in terms of the relations we share with our respective Muslim countries,” he said, calling on media to not “discredit” such ties for the sake of views or personal interpretations. The issue, he stressed, must not be viewed through “the same dynamics as that of local politics.”