The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday imposed a ban on the transmission of Indian content on local television channels, setting aside an earlier verdict by the Lahore High Court (LHC).
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a case filed by the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content on Pakistani television channels in the SC Karachi registry.
“They are trying to [obstruct the construction] of our dam and we cannot even ban their channels?” the top judge fumed as he ordered the broadcast of Indian shows to be “shut down” before adding that the authorities should “only air appropriate content”.
In 2016, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a complete ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.
The decision was largely seen as a tit-for-tat move after similar actions were taken by some channels and the entertainment industry in India against Pakistani content and artists. In 2017, the LHC had lifted the ban, declaring it null and void as the federal government had no objections regarding the same.
Published in Daily Times, October 28th 2018.
