Team up with PBA or we will take a decision, SC tells govt

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) to resolve the issue of formulation of a code of conduct for the media and give its view on the legal draft prepared by the committee constituted by the prime minister on the matter.
A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed resumed hearing on implementation of media commission recommendations as well as formulation of a code of conduct for the media.
In pursuance of the court’s earlier order, the PBA Chairman, Mir Ibrahim Rehman, appeared before the court on notice and submitted that he had assumed the charge as the PBA chairman in January 2015. He, however, contended that the respective committee did not contact him on the issue.
At this, the court directed him to resolve the issue of finalisation of code of conduct for the media after coordinating with the said committee. The court directed him to give his viewpoint on the legal draft prepared by the committee constituted by the prime minister to formulate a code of conduct for the media. The PBA chairman requested the court to direct the government to work along the lines of Supreme Court appointed media commission, the exhaustive work done by Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and Javed Jabbar. Justice Javad Khawaja remarked the government should work with PBA on mutual basis and work together otherwise the court would decide for both of them.
The court directed the government and the PBA to hold a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on June 4 and for consultation with the committee constituted by the prime minister headed by Irfan Siddiqui and move forward for the formulation of a code of conduct for the media.
During the hearing, counsel for Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Zulfiqar Malooka informed that in pursuance of the court’s direction, details pertaining to issuance of licences and names of the owners and directors of TV channels had been uploaded on the website of Pemra.
He further said that information regarding the names of owners and directors at the time of granting licence as well as the current details of heads of TV channels had been uploaded on the Pemra website.
The counsel for Pemra further submitted that in pursuance of court’s another direction, they had submitted a reply containing details of employees of Pemra, their perks and privileges as well as details pertaining to fees paid by the TV channels to the authority.Meanwhile, the court after accepting the Pemra reply adjourned the hearing till June 16.