‘Indian TV content damages Pak culture’

ISLAMABAD:PAKISTAN’S chief justice Saqib Nisar on Wednesday made it clear that the Supreme Court will not allow Indian content to be shown on Pakistani television channels as it “damages our culture”.

A three-member bench, under the chief justice’s stewardship, was hearing an appeal filed by the broadcast media regulator, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), against an earlier decision to ban the broadcast of Indian content on TV channels in Pakistan.

Pemra’s counsel Zafar Iqbal Kalanauri apprised the bench that foreign content had been banned on court orders before a high court issued a stay order against it. The conversation then focused on a local film channel, Filazia.

Pemra’s chairman Saleem Baig told the court that 65 percent of the content shown on Filmazia is foreign and at times it goes up to 80 per cent.

At this, the chief justice remarked that “we will not allow Indian content to be aired on (Pakistani) channels”.

The Pemra counsel explained to the chief justice that “Filmazia is not a news channel but it is an entertainment channel; it does not do any propaganda”.

“It is, however, damaging our culture,” the top judge countered.

In 2016, 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 over Pakistani content and artists.

In 2017, the Lahore High Court had lifted the Pemra-imposed ban, declaring it null and void as the federal government had no objections regarding the same.

In October 2018, the Supreme Court had reinstated the ban on the transmission of Indian content on local TV channels, setting aside the high court’s orders.

In a related move, the electronic media regulator has advised TV channels to observe decency in all their non-news content.