Senate body again recommends ban on Indian TV channels

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Monday asked the government to immediately ban Indian channels being telecast by cable operators across the country.

The committee, which met here with Senator Liaquat Ali Bangulzai in the chair, said that the cable operators were freely screening Indian films and dramas. It again recommended ban on the Indian channels until ban was withdrawn on Pakistani channels by the other side.

The meeting — held here to discuss the issues of the Press Information Department (PID) and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) — was attended by senators Tariq Azim Khan, Muhammad Ali Durrani, Haji Muhammad Adeel, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, S M Zaffar, Javed Leghari, Secretary Information and Broadcasting Ashfaq Ahmed Gondal, Principal Information Officer (PIO) Shabbir Anwar, Chairman Pemra Mushtaq Malik and senior officials of the ministry.

Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani was of the view that besides Indian entertainment channels, cable operators were also screening Indian movies, which should be stopped immediately.

Haji Adeel, however, slightly differed with other members, saying free flow of information was necessary in the modern age as a ban on Indian news channels could deprive the nation of knowledge of facts happening there.

The chairman Pemra informed the meeting that the Pemra believed in complete freedom of expression; therefore, it preferred self-regulation and monitoring of the code of programmes and advertisements by its broadcast/distribution licensees.

He said the Pemra had established a comprehensive monitoring cell in Islamabad to monitor the content of broadcast of the media and satellite TV channels round the clock. A daily monitoring report is being generated to ensure the compliance of the code of conduct by the satellite TV licence holders, he said, adding the Pemra had arranged mobile jammer equipments to stop unauthorised broadcast of FM radio channels in Swat. These equipment, he said, would be handed over to security agencies soon.

Earlier, briefing the committee on advertisement quota for newspapers, Principal Information Officer (PIO) Shabbir Anwar said under the rules all government departments were required to route their advertisements through the PID. He also said about 25 per cent quota for regional papers as per the presidentís order was endorsed by the cabinet.

He added that according to the existing practice, ministries and divisions not only selected the media on their own but also insisted that their recommendations should be upheld without any amendment.

He proposed all the public-sector advertisements be routed through the PID, which should be consulted before launching major advertisement campaigns.

Liaquat Bangulzai asked the ministry to take appropriate steps to make the organisation more efficient.

Ashfaq Gondal highlighted the main functions of the PID, which are media coverage for the government, facilitation and coordination of the media, dissemination of information to the public, research, reference and feedback service, support regional press through allocated quota of advertisements etc.

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