Islamabad: Former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has approached the Lahore High Court against the PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) ban on broadcasting his speeches.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) registrar’s office decided to hear the petition. It will be heard by Justice Bilal Hassan today. PEMRA and the Authority’s Director (Operations, Broadcast Media) are the respondents in the petition.
Islamabad police failed to arrest Imran Khan last day. Following this, PEMRA banned satellite television channels from telecasting Imran’s speech live on Sunday night. After this, Khan approached the High Court.
Imran Khan’s speeches were banned for broadcasting because he made provocative statements against government institutions. The ban applies to all live and recorded speeches and press conferences. In this regard, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued instructions to satellite television channels.
Broadcasting hateful, defamatory and unnecessary statements against the country and government institutions is a violation under Article 19 of the Constitution, the regulatory body’s order said. Khan’s broadcasts are now under a total ban as he has criticized the government over baseless allegations that it planned to assassinate him.
Imran Khan makes baseless allegations in his speeches and statements. Continually blaming government institutions has been observed by spreading hate speech through inflammatory statements against government institutions and officials. This is likely to disturb the public peace. This is a serious violation under Article 19. – PEMRA said in a statement.
The authority has also warned that the license of TV channels will be suspended in case of non-compliance with the law. This is not the first time that PEMRA has banned TV channels from telecasting Khan’s speeches.