January 12, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 8, 1423

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PESHAWAR, Jan 11: Officials of Pakistan Electronics Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has assured the representatives  of the NWFP Cable Operators Association that the people responsible for damaging the system of OK Cable Operators would be arrested in a few days.

The association, which held its meeting with Pemra chairman Mian Javid here on Saturday, assured them that all possible help would be extended to cable operators so that they could air their transmission to the subscribers without interruption. The Pemra chairman heard the demands of the cable operators, said Sardar Irfan Ashraf, general manager of Pemra, Peshawar.

On the occasion, Pemra chairman also called on the NWFP home secretary and contacted the IG police to apprise them of the problems faced by the cable operators.

A member of the cable operators association told Dawn that they would wait for the police to arrest the culprits within the stipulated period given by the chairman Pemra and again suspend their transmissions if the people responsible for the incidents were not arrested.

Meanwhile, the cable operators continue to suffer at the hands of extremists elements, as they have started campaign to cut the cable wires and disrupt the transmission.

“We have yet to arrest any person in connection with the incident in which some miscreants damaged the system of OK Cable Operator in Nishtarabad area on Tuesday at 10pm,” said a police official of Gulbahar police station in whose jurisdiction the incident took place. According to him, they were investigating the matter and would be able to arrest the responsible once the investigations are completed.

The Nazim of the Tauheedabad Colony, accompanied by a few dozen zealots on Friday cut down the cable wires and suspended the transmission. They also announced complete boycott of the cable television network.

Following the destruction of the OK Cable Operators, the NWFP Cable Association had suspended its transmission throughout the province for an unspecified period on Wednesday, which was restored a day later, the association members held a meeting with the  local regional manager of Pemra, who assured them about the solution of their problems.