ISLAMABAD: The 30th meeting of the Council of Complaints, Islamabad was held at Pemra Headquarters Islamabad on December. 30-31, 2015.
The meeting was chaired by Prof Shamim Humayun, chairperson along with other members including Prof. Dr. Maqsood Jafri, Dr Shah Jahan Sayed and Adil Anwar.
Chairman Pemra Absar Alam greeted the council members and asked them to hold regular meetings for speedy disposal of public complaints against electronic media. The chairman resolved to offer maximum facilitation and support to the councils for adjudicating electronic media related complaints at earliest possible, says a Pemra release.
In two days consecutive session, the council deliberated about 34 agenda items while providing fair opportunity of hearing to both complainants and respondents.
Salient recommendations of the council are;
The council afforded last opportunity of hearing to M/s Galaxy Broadcast Network (Pvt.) Ltd,/(Channel-92) amid their non-appearance despite summoned twice on violation of programming mix.
Fine of rupees one lac was recommended against M/s Aurora Broadcasting (Pvt.) Ltd. for not observing approved programme mix by Dawn News English channel.
Revocation of licences of M/s Tilton (Pvt.) Ltd, (Sohni Dharti) and M/s Rohi Entertainment Company (Pvt.) Ltd.,/Rohi TV was recommended due to default and non-compliance to Pemra laws.
A complaint lodged by a citizen against Geo News, ARY News, Express News, Samaa News and others for maligning the Armed Forces of Pakistan was deferred being the subjudice matter before the Lahore High Court.
On another complaint against M/s Hum Network for illegal change in management, the council recommended bringing Pemra laws in conformity with the Listed Companies Ordinance.
Senator Abdul Rehman Malik’s complaint against News One TV channel alleging false allegations against him and his political party was dismissed as not being pressed after multiple opportunities of hearings to complainant.
Meanwhile, Amjad Ali Afridi, Secretary to the council apprised the council that 12 out of 25 cases decided in the last meeting have been implemented/disposed of that included the renewal of licence matter relating to M/s WorldCall (Pvt) Ltd, Bol News & Bol Entertainment, complaint of the Geo TV against some cable operators, complaint of the Tahafuz e Zindagi Foundation against TV channels for crime shows, complaint of Collective Organisation for Music (Right) in Pakistan (COMP) & All Music Performers Pakistan Society (AMPPS) against TV channels for airing excessive foreign content, M/s Central Media Network (Pvt.) Ltd,/ Value TV for violation of programming mix, and the complaint of HUNCH Welfare Foundation against indecent and anti-national Indian content.
The council also noted implementation position on the complaints of M/s Total Care against programme GEO FIR, vulgarity on TV channels, complaint of Provincial Disaster Management Authority against Dawn TV and compliance with the directions of the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad in writ petition titled Iqrar-Ul-Hassan Vs. FOP. The council also recommended to transfer the complaint of Mehfooz Yar Khan, authorised President of Amnesty International against Television Media Network (Pvt.) Ltd. (TMNL) for airing excessive foreign content to Council of Complaints Karachi as the complainant resides at Karachi.
On the request of relevant parties, the council deferred the complaint of Hafiz Ehtasham against ARY News for airing false news and the complaint of Aviation Division for taking disciplinary action against Mubashir Luqman of ARY News for maligning the government functionaries, till next meeting.
Similarly, the complaint of Akhtar Shah (Advocate) against Hamid Mir (Anchorperson) Geo News for his conduct during the programme Capital Talk was disposed of as the complaint has already been taken up by the Council of Complaints at Lahore. While the complaint of Human Rights Cell against ARY Music Channel was dismissed due to non-appearance of complainant.
A complaint of assistant professor, Political Science, LUMS Lahore against the programme titled “At Q with Ahmed Qureshi” aired on Express News for maligning him was deferred till next meeting.
Roze TV was ‘censured’ for inviting a banned outfit individual in its talk show and was also advised to install time delay mechanism at earliest. A similar advice for all TV channels was also recommended to abstain from projecting banned outfits and individuals.
Case against Capital TV for telecasting programmes in violation of Section 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan was adjourned till next meeting. Similarly, the complaint lodged by Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, MNA/Parliamentary Secretary Finance & Economics against Geo News for false & derogatory breaking News against him and his family was also deferred till next meeting.
The apology of Channel-92 was accepted in complaint lodged by Akhtar Javed, Deputy Director (Monitoring), MOIB&NH for misreporting about Wapda and Pepco while a similar complaint against Dunya News was deferred till next meeting on request of the channel.
The request of M/s Bangial (Pvt) Ltd, Rawalpindi for issuance of tehsil-wise cable TV licence for Tehsil Sohawa, Jehlum was disposed of with recommendation to issue the licence to the company.
The council also recommended immediate action to close illegal broadcasting business in Lahore in the name of SABZBAAT/SBN.
It may be mentioned that the Council of Complaints are notified by the federal government at all provincial capitals and one each at federal capital and Multan comprising eminent citizens to review and redress any sort of public complaints against electronic media.
