ISLAMABAD: A newly proposed media regulator will be able to impose fines of up to Rs250 million, or roughly $1.5 million, on Pakistani media outlets that violate rules, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said in comments broadcast on Monday.
The proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance, 2021 — which will oversee films and monitor electronic, print and digital media, including Web TV, over-the-top content platforms and news websites — has rattled journalists and rights advocates who fear it could be used to stifle dissent and free speech and institutionalize censorship.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) currently has the authority to impose a maximum fine of Rs1 million, an amount that was not large enough to deter media organizations from breaking rules, Hussain said in an interactive session with digital broadcasters.
“We are taking the fine to Rs250 million,” he said. “So, the maximum fine that can be imposed on any organization will be 250 million rupees.”
At present, Hussain said, there were seven laws to regulate media in Pakistan: “Social media was dealt by PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority), press by the Press Council, electronic media by PEMRA, labor regulations by ITNE (Implementation Tribunal for Newspapers Employees) ... newspaper registrations by ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation).”
But in order to implement the laws, they needed to be converged, the minister said.
“So, we are repealing all these laws and creating the Pakistan Media Development Authority,” Hussain said. “We are dissolving PEMRA, ITNE, Press Council as well as the censor boards.”
The censor boards, he said, would be replaced by a central board of film censors.
Hussain said the government hadn’t included the provision of imprisonment in the new proposed law. “The only action that authority can take is to impose fines.”
The government was also creating a Media Complaints Commission and a Media Tribunal: “An individual can lodge a complaint with the Media Complaints Commission and the commission will be bound to announce its verdict in 21 days. The verdict could be appealed in a Media Tribunal.”
The minister said the commission would have four members each from the government and media bodies, who would work under a chairman.
He said media “tycoons” did not want the government to create a media tribunal because it would also entertain the complaints of their employees.
“But we are bent upon creating it because otherwise this is an owner-centric media,” Hussain said.
He also criticized PEMRA for its lack of investment in media development in the country, despite being a rich state organization.
Under the new law, Hussain said, a development wing for the capacity-building of journalists would be created.
Media bodies have criticized the government’s proposal.
In a joint statement issued this month, the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) rejected the proposed PMDA, calling it a “draconian” law and describing it as “an attempt to tighten the federal government’s control over the media.”
Proposed new regulator could impose fine of $1.5 million on Pakistani media — information minister
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Proposed new regulator could impose fine of $1.5 million on Pakistani media — information minister
- Says government will set up Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance, dissolve existing regulators and censor boards
- Proposal has rattled journalists and rights advocates who fear it could be used to stifle dissent, institutionalize censorship
Pakistan says it struck TTP, Daesh militant camps near Afghan border, Kabul alleges civilian deaths
- Islamabad says it targeted seven militant hideouts in “retributive response” to attacks
- Afghan Taliban accuse Pakistan of bombing civilians in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Saturday it carried out “intelligence-based selective targeting” against militant camps near the Afghan border after a series of attacks inside the country, while the Afghan Taliban accused Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the assault.
Pakistan has faced a renewed surge in militant violence in recent months, particularly in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and two major attacks in the capital, Islamabad. Authorities say many of the attacks have been carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied groups that Islamabad alleges are operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul denies this.
According to Pakistan’s information ministry, recent incidents included a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, separate attacks in Bajaur and Bannu, and another recent incident in Bannu during the holy month of
Ramadan, which started earlier this week. The government said it had “conclusive evidence” linking the attacks to militants directed by leadership based in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan in a retributive response, has carried out intelligence based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban ... and its affiliates and ISKP [Daesh] at the border region of Pakistan
Afghan border with precision and accuracy,” the Pakistani information ministry said in a statement on Feb. 21.
The statement, which did not specify the exact nature of the attacks, said it had hit camps of the “Fitna al Khwarij (FAK),” a term Pakistani authorities use for the TTP, as well as the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), the regional affiliate of the Daesh group.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to take action against militants it says are using Afghan territory to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan. The latest statement said Kabul had “failed to undertake any substantive action” despite prior requests.
In an X post, Kabul government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces had violated Afghan territory.
“Pakistani special military circles have once again trespassed into Afghan territory,” Mujahid said. “Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children.”
The Afghan Taliban’s claims of civilian casualties could not be independently verified. Pakistan did not immediately comment on the allegation that civilians had been killed in the strikes.
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have escalated since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021. Pakistan says cross-border militant attacks have increased since then and has accused the Taliban of failing to honor commitments under the 2020 Doha Agreement to prevent Afghan soil from being used for attacks against other countries. The Taliban deny allowing such activity and have previously rejected similar accusations.
Saturday’s exchange of accusations marks one of the most direct confrontations between the two neighbors in recent months and risks further straining already fragile ties along the volatile border.
