June 08, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 7: Another petition challenging amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday. It requested the apex court to declare the amendments illegal and unconstitutional.

The government of Pakistan and Pemra have been made respondents in the petition filed by Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) president Mohammad Afzal Butt through senior lawyer and former Supreme Court Bar Association vice-president Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry.

This is the second petition questioning the restrictions imposed on the electronic media through the promulgation of an amended ordinance by President Gen Pervez Musharraf. The first petition was filed by head of the PML-N’s Human Rights Wing, Barrister Zafarullah Khan.

The petition said that amendments to the Pemra Ordinance, 2003 militated against articles 2-A, 4, 5, 8, 9, 19, 23 and 24 of the Constitution, and hence these should be declared ultra vires and against the spirit of Pemra Ordinance, 2002.

It said the amendments needed to be examined by the apex court to save, protect and enforce fundamental rights of the public at large enumerated in the Constitution. “Amendments to the Pemra Ordinance, 2002 through Ordinance 2007 are against the spirit and teachings of Islam and amount to negation of truth and fair information to the public at large.”

The petition alleged that the respondents were trying to justify unconstitutional and mala fide amendments on one pretext or the other. The ordinance was meant for total control on the electronic media and elimination of private channels’ existence. The purpose of the amendments was to deprive the people of Pakistan of information through independent media and benefits of rule of law, it added.It said the government did not like the coverage of events unfolding since March 9, including public protests against the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, events in Waziristan, Wana and Balochistan and illegal abduction of innocent citizens by police, agencies and the FBI, because it exposed government’s claims of enlightened moderation.