NAB lodges complaint against anchor

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday lodged a complaint with Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) against anchorperson Mubasher Lucman.

The programme of the anchor was aired on Wednesday, June 28, from 10:03 to 10:53pm. In a letter addressed to chairman Pemra, NAB has termed the programme as absolutely false, baseless and concocted, which casts aspersions on chairman NAB and the Bureau as an institution. The complaint further stated that the TV channel by airing such a false and defamatory programme against chairman NAB and NAB as an institution had deliberately made an attempt to tarnish the respect and image of both the chairman and Bureau. Moreover, the channel without obtaining official point of view of NAB has also violated Pemra's Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015.

The complaint said the primary duty of a reporter/host is to place right information and statistics before airing any programme and has to verify pros and cons of the story. But, in the said programme, the host went on air without verifying record and levelled allegations.  "The channel management and host of the programme are in material breach of, inter alia, section 3(1), section 4(9) and section 22(1), (3) and (4) of the Electronic Media Code of Conduct notified by the Government of Pakistan in 2015," the complaint said. The Bureau has sought an immediate necessary action against management of the channel and host for violating Pemra's code. In fact, the complaint said, the host and management of the channel have failed to fulfil their legal.