INFORMATION Minister Sherry Rehman withdrew the Press Registration rules on Sunday, hardly a day after their introduction by the government. Though the ordinance was promulgated back in 2002 to gag the media, and revoked in the aftermath of the elections, the PPP-led government, to everyone's surprise, brought it back on the statute book on Saturday. It was quite shocking that a government that was wedded to the idea of press freedom should have introduced the rules for this law. There were many conditions in it that restricted the freedom of the press, foremost being that every three years a media organization had to obtain a fresh registration certificate for their declaration to remain valid. Besides, there was also a clause that made the publication of new newspapers more difficult. On Sunday, the notification was withdrawn at the intervention of Sherry Rehman. Herself being a respected journalist, she had all along promoted press freedom. Her pledge that a new set of rules after consultation with relevant stakeholders like CPNE will be introduced ought to be welcomed. True, there should be regulations in every civilized society but in case of media the government has to be mindful of certain factors. In Third World countries there is a tendency to react sharply to media criticism. In gagging the media, the government limits its own ability to correct itself because the media pinpoints its flaws.