A constitutional petition seeking orders to the print and electronic media to stop publishing and airing “malicious and damaging propaganda” against the armed forces and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The petition was filed by former deputy attorney general Sardar Muhammad Ghazi under Article 184(3) of the constitution, making the government, through the information secretary, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), senior journalists Najam Sethi, Hamid Mir and Ejaz Haider, the Geo Tv Network through its chief executive officer, Islamabad, and the editor of the Daily Tribune, Islamabad as respondents.
The petitioner requested the court to order the government and PEMRA to take action under the relevant laws and rules against the respondents, particularly Sethi and Mir, for violation of law, particularly PEMRA laws, rules and codes of conduct. He also requested that Sethi and Mir should be banned from the air for six months as provided by the PEMRA rules.
He also requested the court to initiate proceedings to cancel the licence of Geo Tv Network and the declaration of Daily Tribune for allowing such programmes/articles to be aired/printed in their channels/newspaper. He also requested the court to fine Geo Tv Network, which had aired malicious stories against the armed forces and the ISI.
The petitioner requested the court to declare that the freedom of press and expression was not absolute and it was subject to restrictions and limitations as mandated by Article 19 of the constitution.
He stated that a section of the print and electronic media, particularly the respondents, had launched a “calculated campaign to defame, degrade, demoralise and lower the respect and dignity of the armed forces and ISI” deliberately and with ulterior motives.
The petitioner stated that it was a recent phenomenon that a section of the electronic and print media had “girded their loins to launch a bitter attack – touching the boundaries of disloyalty to the state – against the army and the ISI”.
He also referred the contents of an open letter addressed to ISI Director General Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, stating that the author of the letter was Haider, who had given the verdict that the ISI had mercilessly tortured and killed a number of journalists, including Saleem Shahzad. He said Haider has not been able to produce a shred of evidence, documentary or otherwise, to connect the spy agency with the heinous crime. “The contents of the letter are highly alarming,” the petitioner stated.
