Mallika Dureja
ARY News reported on Sunday that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned the broadcast of “live and recorded” speeches and press conferences of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on all satellite TV channels with immediate effect.
“It has been observed that Imran Khan [Chairman of the PTI] in his speeches and statements is continuously levelling baseless allegations against state institutions and spreading hate speech through his provocative statements against state institutions and officers, which is detrimental to the maintenance of law and order and is likely to disturb public peace and tranquilly,” the PEMRA said.
According to PEMRA, broadcasting “baseless allegations, vile, slanderous, and unwarranted statement” against state institutions and officers was in direct violation of Article 19 of the Pakistani Constitution and a Suo Moto case ruling by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC).
The authority added that after analysing the content of Imran’s speech, it was determined that the content was broadcast live by licensees without an effective time delay mechanism, which is a violation of Pemra laws and disobedience to court orders.
“The competent authority, i.e., Chairman PEMRA, in view of the above-mentioned background and reasons, in exercise of delegated powers of the Authority vested in Section 27(a) of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by the PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007, hereby prohibits the broadcast of live speech of Imran Khan on all satellite TV channels with immediate effect,” the authority added, according to ARY News.
PEMRA further directed all satellite TV channels to ensure that an impartial Editorial Board is formed in accordance with Clause 17 of the Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisement) Code of Conduct 2015 in order to ensure that no one uses their platform to utter statements “that are derogatory and against any state institution and hateful, prejudicial to the law and order situation.”
It warned that legal action would be taken in accordance with PEMRA law if the directives were violated.
Imran Khan stated on Sunday that “those in power” were responsible for the assassination attempt in Wazirabad. He specifically identified Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and an intelligence official, according to the Dawn newspaper in Pakistan.
