January 22, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 12, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 21: The Sindh High Court on Monday disposed of as withdrawn two petitions seeking resumption of transmissions by two television channels.

Appearing for the Independent Media Corporation (Pvt) Limited and the Birds (Pvt) Limited, owners of Geo News and Geo Super, Advocate Mohammad Ali Mazhar informed a division bench that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority had asked the cable operators to resume airing the transmissions on Monday evening and he was under instructions from his clients to withdraw the petitions.

The statement was confirmed by Pemra counsel Kashif Hanif. Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui had no objection to the disposal of the petitions. He said he hoped that the channels would adhere to the code of conduct subscribed to by the petitioners.

The bench, which consisted of Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Rana M. Shamim, said the media should be particularly cautious about reporting judicial proceedings. It regretted that a private channel reported ‘complete strike in the SHC’ even as they were hearing cases last Thursday.

The bench had previously dismissed the petitions as not maintainable under the Provisional Constitution Order of Nov 3. The petitioners went in appeal to the Supreme Court, which remanded the petitions for hearing on merit as the emergency had been lifted in the meantime.

Two channels of the chain were allowed to operate pending the appeal while the remaining two were due to resume transmissions on Monday.

Election appeals

An SHC bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justices Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi adjourned the hearing of three appeals moved by candidates against the decisions of election tribunals to Jan 28.

The appellants are Imdad Ali Khan Sarki, Roashan Din Junejo and Ahmed Yar Khan.