ISLAMABAD: Officials at ARY News, a major private Pakistani news channel, and an association of internet service providers, said on Monday the channel had been taken off air by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, though PEMRA said it was unaware of the development which occurred soon after ARY aired a segment considered critical of the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
ARY News is widely considered partial to ex-premier Imran Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, with criticism of the Sharif government’s political and economic polices a regular feature of news bulletins and current affairs shows.
On Monday, the channel aired a segment in which two hosts and an advisor to Khan alleged that Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party had activated a “strategic media cell” to malign the PTI and its chairman and build a public narrative that the party was against Pakistan’s all-powerful army. ARY had previously also made the accusations in June.
Soon after, officials of the channel said it had been taken off air in a number of cities.
“Just cause we reported a true story #ARYNews gets shut down,” ARY CEO Salman Iqbal said in a Twitter post.
“On the orders of PEMRA, cable operators across Pakistan have started removing ARY News from their cable network. Watch ARY News Live on Youtube,” Ammad Yousaf, senior executive vice president of ARY News, said.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) confirmed to Arab News the suspension of the channel’s transmission across Pakistan, saying it was done on instructions from PEMRA.
"We have received verbal instructions from PEMRA about an hour ago to off air ARY News," Wahaj Siraj, convener ISPAK and co-founder of Nayatel, a major internet service provider, told Arab News. "No reason is given to us to off air the channel, and this is being done almost across Pakistan now."
"We have sent emails to our customers about the development. We don't know as to when we will be able to restore the service,” Siraj added. "If we get any revised instructions from PEMRA to restore the service on our network, we'll be able to do it in 20 to 30 minutes.”
A PEMRA director, Umair Azeem, expressed ignorance about the development when contacted by Arab News.
“This is not in my knowledge,” he said.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment on whether the government was behind the bloade of ARY.
The development comes in the wake of an online smear campaign against the military and its officers after any army aviation helicopter carrying a senior commander and five others crashed on a mountain during a flood relief operation last Monday and all onboard were killed.
Following the incident, a social media campaign targeted the deceased officers and included hashtags against the military.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called the campaign “horrifying” and said it reflected that the minds of young Pakistanis were being poisoned. The army’s media wing has also rejected the “regretful” social media trends, saying they had caused anguish among the families of those who had died as well as in the army as an institution.
On Sunday, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said it was forming a joint investigation team to probe the smear campaign.
Members of the PTI have alleged that Twitter trends and anti-army posts are being pushed by the ruling PMLN, which the party denies.
Last month, police arrested, then released, Imran Riaz Khan, a TV anchorman, known for his blogs on social media and for publicly supporting ex-PM Khan. The arrest was over complaints accusing the talk show host of inciting hatred against the military.
The army has not yet commented on ARY being taken off air.
