PEMRA ban on Imran: IHC issues detailed order

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a written order regarding dismissal of Pemra’s notification for a ban on live coverage of PTI’s chairman Imran Khan’s speeches.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued a three-page judgment on Tuesday, which stated that the TV channels were bound to stop the coverage of prohibited content through the time-delay policy.

The order said that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) was bound to implement the directives of the Supreme Court about it. The authority could take legal action against TV channels for airing the prohibited material.

The court further said that the Pemra lawyer couldn’t satisfy the bench regarding imposing a ban on coverage of a certain person under section 27. The lawyer had adopted the stance that the authority as a regulator had instructed the TV channels to implement a time-delay policy.