No space for evils in Pakistan

No space for evils in Pakistan

The trend to put bars on information appears to be increasing in Pakistan with every passing day. In the recent past, the cable operators, following the order of all-time bosses, took the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) off air in protest of broadcasting
a documentary which deals with some aspects of the country’s role in the war on terror.

In the recent move, a local NGO filed a petition with the Sindh High Court (SHC), making parties the cable operators and PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority).

The court has accepted the petition for hearing under which the cable operators removed the foreign channels on its list. It didn’t seem that the cable operators removed the channels by acting on their own, after the NATO/ISAF air strike that mounted the
aggression among the people last month, and concurred with the airing of BBC’s documentary which indicated connections between Taliban and the Pakistani security agencies.

It appears to have whipped the cable operators into a kind of patriotism, which motivated them off air the channels, as this charge is hardly a fresh one. PEMRA, the government-owned regulatory authority emerges to have done nothing at all to resolve the
issue. There are apparently no legal grounds behind the decision taken by the operators in this regard.

Fox News, the only West-based news channel, is still on offer for most cable operators, but not the BBC, to which people consider the most neutral broadcaster.

Without any doubt, it is most chaotic situation, as tens of thousands of viewers across the country have been left on the pity of cable operators. They are deprived to make their own choice with regards to what they observe and to access crucial information.

According to the basic human rights, it is vital for citizens to have an access to information. There is no need of such bans, permitting the viewers watching news channels to simply switch away from a broadcaster they would consider inappropriate to watch.
It only requires a tiny finger’s movement to flick a button on the remote control.

It is even more ridiculous that the decision to shut the foreign channels was taken by cable operators themselves. There are a series of queries including where was PEMRA and why were no questions raised by the government?

The off airing of BBC is a continuation of the trend as the censorship has become too frequent in Pakistan.

It should not be practiced at all and necessary steps should be taken to permit the foreign channels to go on air without further hindrance. Otherwise Pakistan will move for further isolation.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=6538

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Dec 19 2011. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry