Pemra clarifies warning notice issued to HUM TV, ARY and Geo

Earlier this week, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) issued a warning to Geo, HUM TV and ARY over airing 'indecent content', but didn't give an explanation why the said channels had been served the notice.

After the issue was released Senator Sherry Rehman and journalist Zahid Hussain questioned the regulatory board's decision.

In response, Pemra released a statement and shared clips of the respective channels on Thursday to better explain why the channels had been issued a warning.

Addressing the senator in the press release, the statement said, "This is to clarify that PEMRA issued warning to the above mentioned for violating various clauses of PEMRA Ordinance and Code of Conduct 2015," and provided the following reasons.

HUM TV's Kitni Girhain Baaki Hain

An episode from the show featured a conversation between a prostitute and her client. Pemra's objections were: "No content is aired which contains anything indecent, obscene or pornographic", or "is presented in a manner which may be disturbing", or "distressing to children", or "against commonly accepted social values", or "is vulgar or abusive" and offered the video clip to elucidate their decision.

Geo Entertainment's Khali Haath

The channel's episode which aired on August 7 shows three men in a room with open alcohol bottles, while one man is seen carrying a glass with alcohol. Pemra reasons that it violates their Code of Conduct and explained that Geo was issued a notice because, "No content is aired which 'depicts behaviour such as smoking, alcohol consumption, narcosis and drug abuse'"

ARY Communication's broadcast of Van Wilder: Freshman Year (on HBO)

The film features several sexually explicit scenes, of which Pemra released a montage on its Facebook page. ARY Communications, which is the sole landing rights owner of HBO, was warned for violating clause 3 (1) (e) Pemra Code of Conduct 2015 that prohibits content that is "indecent, obscene or pornographic".

However, Pemra's treatment of the press release did not garner a positive response from the people.