Press trust of india
Lahore, August 16: Amid a war of words raging between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the government of Pakistan has apparently ‘relaxed’ the media regulatory authorities’ ban on Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, allowing him to appear on private TV channels to advocate the cause of Kashmir.
Since the violence erupted in Kashmir, Saeed is back on private TV channels, advocating for Kashmiris and bashing the Narendra Modi government for its role in the killing of ‘innocent’ Kashmiris. He has appeared on a couple of talk shows on news channels, mostly Neo TV, during the last one week or so.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in November last year had restrained all Pakistani television channels from “all kinds of coverage of JuD, its front Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and about 60 other proscribed organisations and their leaders”. FIF is also getting electronic media coverage for its activities.
PEMRA has taken no notice of violation of its order by the private TV channels with regard to Saeed, suggesting that the Nawaz Sharif government has ‘silently’ lifted the ban on Saeed and his organisations to appear on the Pakistani TV channels.
A source in PEMRA said it had received complaints about Saeed’s appearance in the TV talk shows despite the ban. “The matter was brought to the knowledge of PEMRA chief Absar Alam but he did not order issuance of show-cause notice to the private channels , suggesting there seems to be a direction from the information ministry in this regard,” he said.
