- New PEMRA chief says will ensure freedom of expression but would not compromise on writ of Authority
- Alam postpones bidding of DTH licences
The newly appointed Chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Absar Alam chaired the first meeting of the Authority at PEMRA headquarters since taking charge of his office on December 1.
The PEMRA chairman welcomed all the authority members and pledged to evolve PEMRA as a vibrant and effective regulator in all essence. He said that he believed in freedom of expression and speech as enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan and would, therefore, prefer consultative approach with all stakeholders so that the impending challenges, regulatory/tariff issues etc could be amicably addressed. At the same time, there would be no compromise on the writ of the Authority. The chairman said that PEMRA should not be perceived as some kind of martinet, imposing arbitrary sanctions on media.
Amongst other agendas, a very important and ongoing DTH project also came under threadbare discussion. The chairman told the authority members that he had been entrusted the charge of PEMRA at the time when besides other challenges and required initiatives, PEMRA was going to commence the biggest and most significant project of its history i.e. Direct to Home (DTH) project which involves multi-million dollars of investments and revenues. He said that he had hardly spent a few hours as the PEMRA chairman but was being asked to follow the bidding time line of December 7, 2015 for the DTH. He questioned how he would be able to take any decision/position on such an important and significant project unless he does not know or is briefed about the project, its committee, criteria, procedures, guidelines and other important legal matters. Therefore, in order to address these issues and to eschew foreseeable legal complications, he requested that the scheduled bidding may be delayed for him to fully understand the project.
The matter was also discussed with law experts present in the meeting including the Ministry of Law Secretary Justice (r) Raza Khan, former judge High Court Justice (r) Ijaz Ahmed Ch. and Ali Shah Gilani advocate.
The authority postponed the bidding scheduled to be held on Monday, December 7, for grant of DTH licenses. Further decisions in the matter will be taken in the authority’s next meeting. PEMRA directed to prepare a detailed working paper for consideration of the Authority keeping in view all legal aspects and security issues regarding the DTH project. PEMRA expressed its resolve to complete the DTH process at the earliest without compromising on law in a transparent and fair manner. It was resolved that all possible measures will be taken to ensure transparency.
PEMRA Executive Member Kamal Uddin Tipu, Ministry of Information Broadcasting & National Heritage Secretary Saba Mohsin Raza, Ministry of Interior Shahid Khan Secretary, PTA Chairman Dr Ismail Shah, FBR Chairman Nisar Mohammad Khan, Ashraff Gujjar, Nargis Nasir, Shaheen Habibullah and Ministry of Information Internal Publicity DG Nasir Jamal were also present in the meeting.
