How Axact CEO secured TV license: a disturbing tale

KARACHI: Many would be surprised to know how Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, the CEO of Axact, secured license for a TV channel.

Axact had bought a TV license but one of the intelligence agencies of the country did not give security clearance to its directors. As a result, the Interior Ministry withdrew the NOC but the channel managed to secure a stay from a court.

Two years went by but the government or its departments did not approach the court over the stay order.

Later, Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh came up with a new idea. He went ahead and bought an old channel and became its new owner, successfully dodging the mandatory requirement of going through the process of security clearance.

According to the regulations, whenever someone buys a license for a channel he becomes legally bound to go through security clearance. The same regulation applies when ownership of a channel changes hands.

The security clearance answers the following questions:

- whether the owner is operating against the national interest?
- whether he is involved in any kind of suspicious activities?
- whether he is facing a court case?

But, Axact CEO Shaikh did not go through this process.

This gives rise to a number of questions:

Is there some sort of a strong lobby that has tied the hands of the government to do due diligence? Who is responsible for this situation? Who should be held accountable?


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