August 27, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 28, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 26: The Network for Consumer Protection on Tuesday described the recent strike of cable operators as unilateral, immoral and uncalled for, and called for ending it immediately.

Dr Zafar Mirza of The Network, in a statement on Tuesday, said the strike had directly hit the subscribers, who had been paying the operators a sizable amount every month, even for a frequently interrupted and below quality service.

The strike is immoral because cable operators failed to take the consumer into confidence, he said. After the strike, the consumers complaints cell of the Network has received a number of complaints by the subscribers, who opposed the demand of the cable operators to allow screening of advertisements during their transmission.

“This demand is just outrageous because the consumer is already taxed by unethical advertisements on the electronic media,” Dr Mirza said and added that such a demand could not be accepted without first working out a code of ethics and a national advertisement policy for the electronic media. As for the cable operators grievance that the Pemra was interfering in their affairs in the name of a regulatory framework, he said this issue should be looked into and resolved.