The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday directed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to depute an officer – not less than rank of director – to explain under which authority it imposed a ban on programme ‘Live with Dr Shahid Masood’ for 45 days.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzaib issued notice to PEMRA for August 17 after hearing the arguments by Faisal Chaudhry, counsel for the petitioner in an appeal moved by ARY Media Communications.
Faisal argued that PEMRA violated its rules – saying that until any complaint, no action would be taken – while banning the programme. He further said that as per law, the authority could only impose a fine – maximum to Rs10 million – or could warn the respondents instead of banning telecast of the programme.
The counsel said that his client on July 19 also wrote a letter to the PEMRA chairman in response to the imposed ban and said that his programme never targeted any judge or citied any name and denied the allegations. He further requested to set aside the orders.
Dr Shahid Masood on his show on June 22 accused SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of taking a “bribe”. According to a statement on PEMRA’s Twitter account, Dr Shahid implied that the son of the chief justice had been kidnapped because the chief justice did not fulfil his promise after receiving money.
Dr Shahid claimed that the alleged deal between CJ Shah and the bribes had been struck in a Gulf state.
