Pemra bars channel from commenting on SJC issue

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has issued a directive to ‘Neo TV’ for analysing and commenting on a reference pending before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

The authority contended this was a violation of the Supreme Judicial Council’s orders dated November 21, 2015. These orders, it emphasised, were sent to all television channels on November 23, 2015.

These orders did not allow for public reporting of references pending in the Supreme Judicial Council. Only the judgment could be reported. The violation by the channel occurred in one of its program on March 13, 2017. The host Fawad Chaudhry and guests Arif Chaudhry and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar analysed and commented on a pending reference.

The Pemra advised the channel to refrain from commenting on or analysing the conduct of the honorable judges or on pending references. “Only the Supreme Judicial Council has the right to decide on the honorable judges' conduct and not any anchor or analyst,” the regulator maintained.