LAHORE, Aug 31: Speakers at a seminar said it was not for courts or the governments to decide code of ethics for the public. The seminar titled ‘Intellectual Vigilantism in the Name of Piety’ conducted at the Safma auditorium was addressed by rights activist Hina Jilani, columnist Kamran Shafi and Imtiaz Alam.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Director IA Rehman, JUI-F leader Hafiz Riaz Durrani, Director of Punjab University’s Institute of Communication Studies Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz, Mohammad Tahseen and Muhammad Azeem also spoke.

Ms Jilani said: “Many people are trying to turn a non-issue into an issue so that they can increase the sphere of their influence.”

She said taking the issue of media’s code of ethics to the Supreme Court would not work because the court had no right to define such a subjective issue. The government’s or the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter would not satisfy everyone.

She said: “The spread of incitement and hate through news channels is also a very obscene and immoral thing but no one acts against those who commit these acts.”

She said Pakistan’s biggest problem right was not obscenity, but the crimes against women and minorities. It is not the courts or the government’s right to impose any subjective religious ideology, she said, adding government’s job was to help the people and improve the overall situation of the country, not tell us how to live.

Mr Shafi said: “The media is indeed indirectly inciting hatred against the minorities. We have the example of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s interview with Amir Liaquat Husain in which he made offensive statements against minorities.”

He said such hateful statements reflect the mindset of the people who make them. He said everything should not be decided by the Supreme Court as it was mainly the duty of parents and society to teach tolerance and decency to the people.

Mr Alam said: “There are many problems about the content. However, obscenity and immorality issue has been used as an instrument to intimidate and pave the way for religious intolerance and fascism.”