The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday, suspended Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) ban on ‘Channel 24 News’.
According to details, PEMRA had suspended the license of Channel 24 News on Friday citing that the channel was airing illegal transmission of news.
PEMRA had contended that it the license was originally issued to Central Media Network Pvt which then changed its name illegally to ‘24NewsHD’.
During the hearing, Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi of the LHC suspended the PEMRA ban and issued notices to the regulatory authority as well as the federal government, directing them to submit their replies on Wednesday (tomorrow).
Read More: PEMRA issues notices over the issue of fake news
The development comes as Central Media Network challenged the suspension of its license by PEMRA in LHC contending that it was served with a show-cause notice by PEMRA on May 5, and that its representative had attended the hearing on June 1, which was followed by the channel’s license suspension on the orders of Chairman PEMRA, claimed the private channel.
Prior to this, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) had warned off protests and demonstrations against PEMRA, whereas PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal had also criticized the federal government for using PEMRA for political purposes.
It is to be noted that President PML-N and the opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has written to NA Speaker Asad Qaiser seeking the formation of a committee to heed to the complaints and reservations of media organizations.
