ISLAMABAD, April 26: Members of the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority Board have sought an emergency meeting of the board to discuss consequences of the recent actions against various TV channels taken by the Pemra chairman.

In a letter addressed to Pemra chairman Iftikhar Rasheed, Pemra Board members Samar Minallah, Seemi Naghmana, Dr Najma Najam and Umar Aziz expressed concern over the situation and said that since the last board meeting held in November 2006, the authority had unilaterally taken some important decisions, without taking the board members into confidence.

They said the recent blocking of a television channel on most of the country’s cable distribution system, issuance of a show-cause notice by the authority and other related actions had attracted severe criticism from human rights bodies and civil society organisations at home and abroad.

“Having closely followed the developments, some members of the Pemra Board strongly feel that we need to discuss in detail the situation arising out of the unilateral decision on behalf of the respected board members.”