The Sindh High Court has restored the ban on broadcasting Imran Khan’s speeches once again. The court suspended an earlier decision to suspend the notification of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banning the broadcast of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s speeches in the media.
A two-member bench of the high court suspended the single bench’s decision and restored PEMRA’s ban on broadcasting Imran Khan’s speeches. PEMRA’s order banning Imran Khan’s speeches has been restored. The court has suspended the decision of the single-member bench on an appeal filed by the media regulatory body. On Nov 14, the Sindh High Court had suspended the prohibition imposed by PEMRA on broadcasting Imran Khan’s speeches in the media.
The media watchdog had imposed a ban on airing former prime minister Imran Khan’s statements and speeches on May 31. The prohibition order had stated that Imran was “levelling baseless allegations and spreading hate speech through his provocative statements against state institutions and officers which is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order and is likely to disturb public peace and tranquility”.
The PEMRA had said the airing of hateful, slanderous and unwarranted statements against state institutions was “in sheer violation of Article 19 of the Constitution and a judgement of the Supreme Court”. It was observed that such content was telecasted by TV channels without effective utilisation of time-delay mechanism, in violation of the provisions of PEMRA laws as well as judgments of the apex courts, the media regulator added.
