KARACHI, Nov 14: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to provincial and federal attorneys for November 16 in a petition questioning a ban on four television channels.

The bench, which consisted of Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Abdur Rehman Farooq Pirzada, earlier asked the petitioner Independent Media Corporation’s counsel, Mohammad Ali Mazhar, to produce the licence that allowed the channels to air their transmissions. It also wanted to know whether the petitioner was aggrieved by the new Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority ordinance or sought a direction to cable operators.

The petition was earlier taken up on Monday by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Mahmood Alam Rizvi. The bench adjourned its hearing to a date in office and it was assigned to the new bench when the petitioner moved an application for urgent hearing.

Meanwhile, the bench also allowed a 70-year-old woman, Ms Zainab Bano, to travel abroad for medical treatment. She submitted through advocate Raza Hashmi that she was prevented from flying to London for her treatment by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials after she had obtained a boarding pass at the Karachi airport on Sept 14. They said her name appeared on the exit control list as a director of a defaulter concern.

Advocate Hashmi argued that there was no justification for the travel ban as even the articles and memorandum of association of the concern mentioned her as a housewife, a pro forma director, who had nothing to do with the actual conduct of the concern’s business. She needed urgent treatment and may be allowed at least one-time exception.

The bench allowed the petitioner to proceed to London for a month subject to her furnishing surety amounting to Rs1 million to the SHC nazir.