ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: The Indian government’s claim that PTV was on their approved list of TV channels seems contradictory after an issuance of a list in the Lok Sabha, which did not include any Pakistani channel.

The PTV was missing in the list issued in response to a question raised in the Indian Parliament about the number of either free-to-air or pay channels made available to the consumers through cable.

In his written reply, Indian Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting said the government of India has specified Rs72 (plus taxes) as the maximum price for the package channels in the basic service (free-to-air channels), consisting of not less than 30 such channels of different genres of entertainment, news, sports, children programmes and music.

The list provided in the Parliament consisted of 120 free-to-air and pay channels, including channels of Doordarshan, but the PTV was missing in the list.

The Indian government had banned transmission of Pakistani channels soon after an attack on its parliament in December 2001.

In response to the ban, Pakistan also imposed restriction on airing of Indian television channels through cable network.

After a move towards normalization of relations and restoration of bus service between the two countries, India has been urging Pakistan to restore Indian Channels in Pakistan.—APP