The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is writing letters to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and media representative bodies, asking the private media to avoid carrying the statements of banned outfits.
“This ministry, however, is addressing a letter to the All Pakistan Newspaper Society, Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors, Pakistan Broadcasters Association as well as PEMRA to advise their respective private channels and newspapers not to carry the statements of banned outfits’ spokespersons,” according to the concise statement of the ministry submitted in the Balochistan High Court on Wednesday.
The concise statement has been submitted by the Ministry of Information in compliance with the BHC’s April 9 judgement.
According to the statement, the ministry, in consultation with the Election Commission of Pakistan, had recently finalised a code of conduct for the print and electronic media as well as for the political parties wherein a ban had been imposed on hate literature and its propagation which negatively impact the social and political order in Pakistan.
The minister for information and broadcasting and the secretary of the ministry along with PEMRA and the Federal Press Information Department already held numerous meetings with the All Pakistan Newspapers Society and Pakistan Broadcasting Association, bringing them home the importance of restraining the media from publishing and broadcasting the statements and hate material issued by the representatives of banned outfits as per law of the land, it added.
In this regard, PEMRA had specifically imposed financial penalties on a number of channels for violating the terms and conditions of their licences, whereby they were supposed to observe an acceptable code of conduct per the relevant law, the statement said.
The ministry believes that the organisations banned under Section 11-B of Anti Terrorism Act 1997 should not be allowed to use print and electronic media for propagation of hate literature and negative material which is considered unlawful under the relevant laws of the land.
