ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s electronic media regulator earlier this week suspended the license of a top TV channel for its “willful defiance” of an order that banned former prime minister Imran Khan’s speeches.
The ban by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was imposed last Sunday and covered the airing of both recorded and live speeches by Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament last April.
The ban followed a speech by Khan in which he criticized Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government and Pakistan’s powerful military establishment. The former premier, without offering proof, has accused ex-army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa of playing an active role to remove him from office, a charge the military and government have both denied numerous times.
In a copy of the order seen by Arab News which was released on Sunday, PEMRA said ARY News had aired clips of Khan’s speech from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore on its 9:00 p.m. bulletin the same day. “ARY News aired referred content in willful defiance to the Prohibition Order,” it said.
PEMRA mentioned that the channel’s senior executive vice president, Ammad Yousaf, had shared the regulator’s order banning Khan’s speeches on his Twitter account.
“Foregoing in view, the competent authority i.e. the Chairman PEMRA in the exercise of powers vested in Section 30(3) of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007, hereby suspends broadcast satellite TV Channel license conferred to M/s ARY Communications Ltd. (ARY News) with immediate effect, till further orders,” the media regulator said.
Yousaf reacted to the development on Monday, accusing PEMRA of “being selective” and banning only ARY’s transmission while other channels also ran Khan’s speech.
Former information minister and a close aide of Khan, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, also condemned the move by referring to it as an “unacceptable situation.”
In a separate statement, Hussain said Lahore police has registered criminal cases against him and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi for holding a press conference “critical to the government.”
“Imran Khan is booked in 75 cases and now the party leadership is also booked under several cases,” he said, adding that the ruling coalition government “has turned Pakistan into a new North Korea.”
“Constitution and laws are practically under siege and even superior courts’ judges are facing threats and blackmailing by the ruling junta,” he added.
In August last year, Pakistani authorities revoked a broadcast permit for ARY, days after it was taken off air following an interview during which an opposition party official allegedly incited troops and officers against the military leadership.
The development came after ARY TV aired an interview with Dr. Shahbaz Gill, a close aide of Khan and the chief of staff for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf opposition party.
In the interview, Gill urged Pakistani troops and officers to refuse to obey “illegal orders” from the military — remarks that were seen by authorities as incitement to revolt. He was subsequently arrested on treason charges, which carry the death penalty in Pakistan. Gill is currently out on bail.
The TV station’s news director, Ammad Yousaf, was detained following the interview but then released after an outcry from media watchdogs, rights defenders and top opposition leaders.
Khan came to power in 2018 with what his opponents said was the help of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has ruled the country for half of its 76-year history. Both Khan and the military deny the 2018 elections were rigged.
After his ouster in a no-confidence vote in Parliament last April, Khan has blamed now retired army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, claiming the general took part in an alleged US plot to oust him. Washington, the Pakistani military and the government have denied the charge.
