IT may attempt to give the impression of being based upon sound reasoning, but the latest directive from Pemra is illogical and perverse.

In a circular issued on Monday to satellite television and FM radio licensees, the authority strictly directed them “not to give any kind of coverage to any proscribed organisation including Jamaatud Dawa, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation [and] Lashkar-e-Taiba in breach of obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions”.

Appended to the notice were the names of 60 banned organisations — including the LeT — and another 12 that have been placed on the watch list by the government.

The order, which cited legal provisions in the Pemra Act and the Electronic Media Code of Conduct pertaining to incitement of hatred and glorification of violence to shore up its argument, also stated that the JuD and FIF — which are on the government watch list — are iterations of the banned LeT.

It is well known by now that in the event of a natural disaster in the country, religious organisations — among them some whose disavowal of armed militancy is suspect — quickly mobilise their cadres to fan out across affected areas to undertake disaster relief.

Often, and unfortunately so, their experience in grass-roots activism gives them an advantage over government agencies in terms of effectiveness.

This is once again being witnessed in the aftermath of the earthquake that jolted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of Pakistan last month.

Reporting their activities cannot in any way be regarded as incitement to, or glorification of, violence — which is where the Pemra directive defies reason.

It is possible that this ‘ban’ emanates from the authority’s overzealous application of the legal provisions pertaining to media conduct. It may even stem from the establishment’s desire to excise indications of the state’s apparently dual policy towards extremist organisations from the official narrative of a no-tolerance policy against such forces in the country — although the interior ministry has denied any input.

Whatever the impetus that may lie behind it, this attempt at censorship highlights an obvious anomaly. Rather than banning the media from covering them, groups with violent antecedents such as the FIF is said to be, should not be allowed to engage in any activities; and especially not in disaster relief because the victim-and-saviour situation is eminently tailor-made for ideological propagandising.

Also, one of the reasons that religious extremism has proliferated in Pakistan is because of the repeated farcical proscription of violent groups who then re-emerge with new names, and continue with business as usual.

In the case of the Let alias JuD alias FIF, this group is indelibly associated with the Mumbai massacre. The hands-off policy that the state applies to it, not to mention the glacial pace at which the trial of the accused — who belong to the LeT — is progressing, is not in the country’s long-term interest or regional stability as a whole.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2015

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