September 22, 2006	Friday	Sha'aban 28, 1427

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LAHORE, Sept 21: Cable operators were allowed on Thursday to resume transmission of ARY channels in the Punjab after four days’ reportedly on the intervention of PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Official sources told Dawn that the ban on the relay of the channels was lifted after ARY digital network chairman Haji Muhammad Iqbal met Chaudhry Shujaat in Islamabad.

It was however could not be confirmed whether Haji Iqbal also met Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who had reportedly refused to lift the bar on the network’s channels until its representatives called on him and requested the same in person.

Haji Iqbal, who arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday, is reported to have had several meetings with the top officials of the federal government and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to discuss the issue.

Sources said that Chaudhry Shujaat had conveyed to him the reservations of the provincial government, especially those of the chief minister, over the way the network had dealt with the issue of police highhandedness with journalists and other matters like the coverage of the ruling party. The sources said that some senior officers of the federal government had also played their role in getting the ban lifted.

Earlier, an ARY Lahore spokesman had claimed that its management would not request the Punjab government to remove the bar.

The Punjab government had on Sunday night stopped the cable operators across the province from airing ARY channels, alleging that the network was “campaigning against the provincial government” following the torture of three TV journalists by the police.

The Punjab government which made the cable operators stop relaying the channels through the district police officers, opted the same course of action to restore them.

“The whole episode has put a question mark on the role of the Pemra in such issues. It has exposed the ineffectiveness of the authority, which must be reviewed by the president and the prime minister,” said some Pemra officials.

They said the Pemra had forwarded its report on the issue to the prime minister with the hope that the government would take some measures to empower the authority so that it could unilaterally resolve such a `crisis’ in future.

“This trend is also very dangerous for other private TV networks as any province can take such an action if it is not pleased with its coverage,” they warned. They said it was time for the managements of the private TV networks to shun their differences and devise a strategy to deal with such an onslaught.

Under the PEMRA laws, no provincial government is authorised to stop a TV channel from broadcasting. An action can only be initiated against a TV network for its involvement in anti-religion, anti-Pakistan propaganda or fanning sectarianism.

Earlier, advocate Tariq Aziz served a legal notice on the Punjab chief secretary requiring him to lift the ban on the Dubai-based television network within three days.

The senior lawyer said if the ban was not lifted within the stipulated period, he would be constrained to initiate legal proceedings against the unconstitutional act in the Supreme Court.

The notice said that broadcasting was a federal subject in terms of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Act and the Punjab government was not competent to impose a ban on the television transmission.

The ban imposed by the Punjab government contravened the Pemra act and articles 2-A (objective resolution), 14 (inviolability of human dignity), 18 (freedom of trade, business and profession) and 19 (freedom of speech and expression) of the constitution. The act showed a discriminatory attitude which was forbidden under article 25 of the constitution, read the notice.

The lawyer also stated that the ban on QTV, also run by the ARY, was not understandable as this was the only channel which propagated teachings of Islam. He said the ban on this channel clearly spoke of the mala fide intentions of the Punjab government.