Pakistan media watchdog bans TV channels from airing ex-PM Imran Khan’s speeches

Citing a threat to national security, Pakistan’s electronic media watchdog on Saturday ordered TV channels to refrain from broadcasting or rebroadcasting press conferences of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to a report in Dawn, Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) warned that it will suspend the broadcasting licence in case of any violation.

“In case of any violation, the observed licence may be suspended … without any show-cause notice in the public interest along with other enabling provisions of law,” it said in a notification.

Describing his comments during the pressers as “hateful, slanderous, and vilifying”, the notice issued by the PEMRA said Khan has “made aspersions against the state institutions by leveling baseless allegations for orchestrating an assassination plan”. 

It added that airing such content was likely to create “hatred among the people” or disturb the law and order situation. The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician suffered a bullet injury in the right leg when two gunmen fired a volley of bullets at him in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province, where he was leading a protest march against the Shehbaz Sharif government.

The former PM, in his first press conference on Friday since the attack, accused PM Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and a senior intelligence official who he identified as Major General Faisal Naseer — without giving any evidence — of hatching a plot to eliminate him, and demanded their immediate resignations to ensure a fair investigation.

Khan also asked Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take note of the alleged involvement of a military officer and appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to provide him justice.

Source - The Indian Express

-Agencies