Civil-army drive against Indian DTH from 15th: Pemra

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to put an end to India’s illegal DTH business. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Chairman Absar Alam has told The News that from October 15, civil and army intelligence, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will launch a joint operation clean-up India’s illegal DTH business.

Those doing this illegal business are taking billions of rupees from Pakistanis and putting it in the coffers of Indian seths, he said. The Pemra chairman said the Pakistani channels are facing huge losses due to the operation of this illegal business. He said illegal Indian DTH is tarnishing the culture and social values of Pakistan. He said a powerful mafia is involved in this business and the previous governments had not taken any firm action against it. He said the present government had formed a strategy to stop this illegal business and operation clean-up will start after October 15.

Absar Alam said Pemra teams will be backed by intelligence agencies, the SBP and PTA in their action against leaders of this powerful mafia. He said that they will not only eliminate this illegal business but will also not allow it to rear its head in the years to come.

The Pemra chief said the government will use modern ways to make this operation a success and they will not relent after a thaw on LoC. He said the strategy to counter this business was neither a reaction to the Uri incident nor to the unrest in Indian held Kashmir (IHK).

He said they have launched this operation out of patriotism and he is glad that the government and all the state institutions are assisting Pemra in this regard. He said the Pakistani DTH will reign in future.