The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on PTI chairman Imran Khan’s plea against the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (Pemra) decision to bar all satellite TV channels from broadcasting his speeches and press talks. The judgment will be announced by Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza.

On Sunday, the media regulator had slapped a ban on Imran’s speeches and press talks with “immediate effect” after he had lashed out at former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa for what he called “protecting incumbent rulers in their alleged corruption cases”. Subsequently, the PTI chief approached the court. He argued that Pemra’s order was “purely driven out of vengeance”.

As the LHC took up the petition on Thursday, Justice Mirza asked how such a ban could be imposed on the head of a political party. “This is against freedom of speech,” he remarked. However, Pemra’s counsel argued that the matter should be heard by a full bench. “I request the court that this is not its jurisdiction,” the government lawyer also said. On the other hand, Imran’s counsel contended that Pemra’s ban on the former prime minister’s speeches and live talks was a violation of fundamental rights enshrined under the Constitution. He also requested that the court should set aside the authority’s order.

In the petition, Imran named Pemra and the authority’s director (operations, broadcast media) as respondents. The plea pointed out that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had set aside a similar prohibition order in the past. The petition said that Pemra had issued the order “in excess of the jurisdiction vested in it and without having regard to the constitutional rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution”. It further contended that the authority was not empowered to issue a blanket prohibition order, which appears to be “in violation of the principle of proportionality”.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP