Pakistan govt impose restrictions on electronic media

Islamabad, June 5 (UNI) Pakistan government has imposed fresh curbs on the electronic media in an apparent bid to regulate coverage of the ongoing judicial crisis in the country.

The move sparked protests from journalists, politicians and lawyers, who gathered outside the Prime Minister's secretariat yesterday and condemned the government for imposing new restrictions on the media.

The new curbs came as President Pervez Musharraf, who repeatedly expressed displeasure over what he and his government called a media campaign to malign national institutions including the judiciary and the armed forces, promgulated the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory (PEMRA) Authority Ordinance (2007).

The ordinance authorises to confiscate the equipment of broadcasters and seal the premises without consulting a council of complaints.

The council was envisaged in the amendments passed in February last. The amendment increased the fine for violators from Rs 1 million to Rs 10 million.

''This is a black law and we do not accept it,'' Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist (PFUJ) representative C R Shamsi told UNI at a protest rally of journalists, which reached the Prime Minister's secretariat after breaking the security cordon.

He said this draconian amendment is aimed at stifling voice of the fast-growing electronic media, which has refused to succumb to government's pressures.

Journalists, who were later joined by torch-bearing sympathisers from political parties and non-governmental organisations, also raised slogans against General Musharraf.

The decree followed controversial directives issued by the Pemra on Saturday, barring television networks from airing talk shows and carrying out live coverage of events relating to the judicial crisis.

UNI