ISLAMABAD : The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) decided on Monday to immediately suspend the licence of ARY News for 15 days and imposed a fine of Rs10 million on the channel for maligning the judiciary.

According to the regulator, it had taken the decision to comply with the Lahore High Court’s decision of Oct 17, in a suo motu case against ARY News programme Khara Sach, hosted by Mubashir Lucman. The court had determined that the programme tried to defame the judiciary.

A ban was also imposed on appearance of Mr Lucman on any other electronic media channel in any capacity.

The press release issued by Pemra said the Authority reviewed the episode of Khara Sach aired on Sept 22, 23, and 24 and found the programmes in contravention of the Pemra Ordinance 2002.

The official statement by Pemra said: “Authority also noted that the channel has chronic history of non-compliance of Pemra laws, and the channel has failed to respond to show cause notice issued on this particular violation dated Oct 10.”

The channel was earlier called for a hearing on Oct 16, but neither the chief executive nor his any authorised representative appeared before the personal hearing committee.

Therefore, the Authority decided to suspend its licence for 15 days with effect from Monday (Oct 20). It was also decided that the fine of Rs10m had to be deposited before the expiry of the suspension period,

Otherwise, the statement added, the channel shall not be allowed to resume its transmission and its licence shall remain suspended till the fine is paid.

The meeting was chaired by Pervaiz Rathore, acting chairman of Pemra, and attended by Executive Member Pemra, Secretary Information, Secretary Interior and Chairman FBR.

Of the private members who attended the meeting, only Ashraf Gujjar supported the decision. The other four private members opposed the move.

Published in Dawn, October 21st , 2014