ISLAMABAD: The information ministry has suspended Assistant Director Saadullah Mahar after the development surfaced that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government had planned a law to control the print media.

According to a notification issued from the information ministry on Monday, an enquiry committee has also been constituted over the 'Pakistan Print Media Regulatory Ordinance, 2017'. The enquiry committee is headed by External Publicity Wing Director General Shafqat Jalil.

The committee will send findings to the information secretary within three days, the notification reads. Until then, two senior officials of the ministry, Nasir Jamal and Tahir Hussain, have been made the officers on special duty.

The notification states that neither State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb nor the information secretary issued any directives for the formation of a law to regulate print media.

However, the development sent alarm bells ringing within the journalist community who accused the government of not taking them into confidence for planning any such law.