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Lahore High Court issues notice to Pemra on petition challenging ban on Indian TV content

Lahore High Court issues notice to Pemra on petition challenging ban on Indian TV content

The petition was against the 2016 circular Pemra issued to ban all Indian content
Updated 04 Feb, 2017

The Lahore High Court chief justice on Friday issued notices to the federal government and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on a petition challenging a ban on broadcasting Indian content on television.

M/s Leo Communications had filed the petition assailing a circular issued by Pemra on Oct 19, 2016 for being ultra vires of the authority’s rules and the Constitution of the country.

As the proceedings started, Taffazul Haider Rizvi advocate argued that the petitioner-company was granted a 15 years licence by Pemra in 2010 to operate a cable channel by the name of “Filmazia.” He said under the licence conditions, the channel was allowed to broadcast 10pc foreign content, including Indian. He said the channel became very popular, however, Pemra without any prior notice issued a circular on Oct 19, 2016 abruptly banned all Indian content on cable channels in Pakistan.

Mr Rizvi argued that without assigning any reason the sudden proscription sounded a death knell for the channel as it had made substantial investment in purchasing the Indian content and its ratings took a nosedive due to the ban. He said the government was indulging in ‘selective patriotism’ as Indian movies had been allowed to be screened across the country.

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah issued notices to Pemra and the federal government and sought replies about the justification of the impugned circular when Indian movies were already being screened. The counsel for Pemra and the government present in the court received the notices. The hearing was adjourned until Feb 9.


Originally published in Dawn, February 4th, 2017

Comments

A Feb 04, 2017 01:13pm
Good move
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Sameer Feb 04, 2017 02:46pm
Very little Indian content is worth watching...the rest is hopelessly devoid of any cerebral stimulation, message or learning. The governments handling of this issue, the selective banning and favoritism is highly disappointing.
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rahim Feb 04, 2017 05:17pm
The way to progress is not a ban. It's how we accept diversity in our society.
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Awesome Lyrics Feb 04, 2017 06:08pm
@Sameer So let the people decide what to watch and what not to watch! If the content of Indian movies and serials is so bad, it will fail miserably. Hence, they would not be a threat to local productions.
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Kuntavi Feb 04, 2017 08:20pm
God !! How could you watch these serials?? Even we Indians do not watch them!!
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Well wisher Feb 04, 2017 09:58pm
Money........ what about patriotism?
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nabeela Feb 04, 2017 10:48pm
All Indian content is stupid and boring in dramas. we are happy on the ban. Pakistani dramas are still best . we must promote our dramas and films. and why Indian films? they want to kill us and our media has inferiority complex to promote Pakistan/
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YASIR MIR Feb 05, 2017 05:49pm
I prefer Pakistanis' dramas over Indians bcz they show actual culture of the society and not artificial like Indian dramaas.
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Parmesh Marker Feb 05, 2017 10:03pm
Our government can lift ban on alcoholic drinks but they cannot lift ban on entertainment television channels. Digital Satellite Services offered through smuggled DTH (Direct-To-Home) sets like Tata Sky are equally illegal. These areas do cost PEMRA revenue, where PEMRA needs to take action but for years, PEMRA didn’t speak a word against all these moves.
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Sudhakar USA Feb 06, 2017 03:33am
While you are at it, could you pls. ban the serials in India too? We are tired of being brain dead watching this useless content. You can keep watching your own dramas and be equially retarded.
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Akil Akhtar Feb 06, 2017 08:31am
We seem to have nothing else to do....
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Akil Akhtar Feb 06, 2017 08:32am
Does india show Pakistani films and dramas freely....?
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Funny Feb 06, 2017 09:14am
Why nose dive loss on 10% content?
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SUHAS SENGUPTA Feb 07, 2017 04:01pm
@nabeela I don't know about you, but all hoopla about how we are better than the other is beginning to get tiresome. People on both sides are not just watching endless variations of familial politics, they are looking for a way to learn about each other.
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