Differences emerged among the members of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) as 10 members of the body met on Friday to review the reference submitted against Geo News by the Defence Ministry.
The body decided to forward the reference to the Law Ministry, and meet again on May 16 to decide the matter in the light of recommendations of the ministry.
A PEMRA press statement said that two members of the committee, Israr Abbasi and Mian Shams insisted on taking up the case against Geo News on the basis of fact-finding committee’s report without adopting procedure and seeking legal opinion from the Ministry of Law which was not endorsed by the majority members. In response, both members boycotted the proceedings and left while announcing to resign from the Authority’s membership.
The statement said that all other members unanimously held that the fact-finding report of the committee against Geo News shall remain intact but the decision on the report shall be taken after the legal opinion of the Law Division. It was also agreed that the recommendations of the Councils of Complaints would also be taken into account while deciding in the matter pertaining to Geo News.
