ISLAMABAD: PTV Managing Director Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera has suspended two senior officials, whose negligence allowed derogatory content targeting Pakhtuns to be aired on PTV Home on Eid day.

The two officials, PTV Home producer Sohail Ashraf and script producer Aziz Rana, were found guilty of not censoring a controversial poem that mocked Pakhtuns. The recorded programme was aired on the night of Eidul Fitr, and invited serious objections from Pakhtuns and from political parties.

A committee has been forced to look into the matter, and the PTV managing director said in a statement that national television was a voice of all nationals, irrespective of their race, caste, creed or religion, and all are respected by PTV.

PTV’s management has also imposed a lifetime ban on the poet Jawad Hassan Jawad, who wrote the controversial poem.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017