IHC to hear plea today against disruption of Geo News transmission

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will today (Tuesday) hear a petition submitted a day earlier against the closure of Geo News on cable and the relegation of the channel to lower numbers.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah will preside over the hearing of the plea submitted through Barrister Jahangir Jadoon by Raja Ahsan Mahmood Satti.

The petition has nominated the cabinet secretary as a party to the case, as well as the IT minister and the prime minister’s special assistant on information.

The plea also nominates NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Chairman Saleem Baig. Through the petition, it has been argued the court should declare the act of controlling media “illegal” and that Geo News should be returned to the channel placement it was on before the arrest of Jang Group and Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The petitioner has argued that the closure of Geo News is a bid to silence the media and control it, which is against the Constitution. Those made party to the petition should be stopped from harassing the media houses, the petition pleads.

Also read: Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman’s arrest challenged in Lahore High CourtOn March 13, cable operators throughout Pakistan started receiving orders to immediately shut down Geo TV broadcast or relegate the channel to the last numbers. The instructions were issued right after Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan concluded her press conference pertaining to the arrest of Jang Group and Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

It was reported that the closure came following directives from Pemra, but the Pemra chairman himself denied he had issued any orders to that effect.

The NAB had on Thursday arrested the Editor-in-Chief of the Jang and Geo Media Group in connection with property allegedly bought illegally from a government entity more than 34 years ago. The property was, in fact, bought from a private party and all evidence of this was given to the NAB and legal requirements fulfilled, such as duty and taxes.

According to the Group’s spokesperson, the Editor-In-Chief’s appearance before the NAB was in relation to a call-up notice for the verification of the complaint, yet an arrest was made. The IHC’s recent judgment against NAB’s violation of the country’s law and a violation of NAB’s own rules has been committed, the Group’s spokesperson said.