NA body dissatisfied with Pemra’s performance

ISLAMABAD: Expressing total dissatisfaction with the working of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting Thursday formed a seven-member sub-committee to review its performance.
The committee members, irrespective of the party affiliation, appeared fuming at Pemra for closing its eyes on the ‘persistent bashing’ of political leaders on private TV channels. They alleged the regulatory body had failed to ensure implementation of the Pemra rules as well on the media houses.
The panel, which met here at the Pemra headquarters, noted that the authority’s performance, particularly with reference to the strict implementation of the code of conduct and the council of complaints (CoC) was dismal.
Legislators cautioned that if the authority continued with poor performance and the channels also did not stop flouting the code of conduct, privilege motion would be moved and not only Pemra chairman, but also the owner of a channel, producer and anchorperson would also be summoned.
The committee chairman, Muhammad Aslam Bodla, made it clear that they would not take up any other item, listed on the lengthy agenda in protest over poor performance of Pemra. There were a total of 13 items on the agenda.
The sub-committee, to be headed by MNA Imran Zafar Leghari of PPP, has been asked to furnish its report on the performance o of Pemra within a month.
The requests by some committee members that one month would not be enough were ignored by the chair.
There was complete consensus among the committee members that a thorough review of the performance of Pemra was imperative, as it failed to regulate the channels, which continued to defame politicians.
The forum pointed out that the code of conduct, announced after due deliberations to ensure decency and quality content on TV channels had been totally set aside but even then Pemra looked the other way.
Similarly, on the authority’s Council of Complaints, the committee members again expressed dissatisfaction. A one-page report on the actions taken on the light of complaints also displeased the members, who charged the council appeared to be dormant.
Daniyal Aziz, who was present in the meeting as a special invitee, unleashed scathing attack on Pemra and certain TV channels. He alleged TV anchors used derogatory and filthy launguage in their talk shows that needed to be halted.
Those who came hard on Pemra included Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, Talal Chaudhry, Maryam Aurangzeb, Perveen Masood Bhatti and Waseem Akhtat Shaikh of PML-N, PPP’s Amir Ali Shah Jamote and Dr Muhammad Azhar Jadoon and Naeema Kishwar of JUI-F.