Pemra seeks govts’, others’ help to halt Indian DTH’s illegal sale

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday sought help of the federal, provincial and AJK governments besides others including State Bank of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue and Federal Investigation Agency against illegal Indian Direct to Home (DTH) system being sold in the country.

Pemra also sought help from the Customs Intelligence, inspector generals of police, chief secretaries of provinces and Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to play their role in detecting this illegal business of Indian DTH system in their respective areas.

Pemra Chairman Absar Alam has written letters to the heads of the above mentioned institutions in which he said that illegal Indian DTH systems are being sold in major cities without any rules and regulations.

He said that the sale of Indian DTH was not only against national values but also violation of code of conduct of the Pemra. He said that due to this illegal business the national exchequer was suffering loss of billions of rupees every year. On August 31, Pemra had decided to take action against this illegal business and advised those involved to stop this activity or strict action would be taken against them.

Cable, TV operators, radio, channels, broadcasting illegal Indian TV content have also been warned to stop this practice by October 15 otherwise they will be dealt severally. The punitive action will begin from fine and may include suspension and revocation of the license after repeated violations.