ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: A private petition was filed in the post-PCO Supreme Court on Wednesday praying that amendments made to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002, on Nov 3 which put curbs on the electronic media be scrapped and the closure of private television channels be declared illegal.

A similar petition is being heard by the Sindh High Court in Karachi.

Gen Pervez Musharraf had promulgated two ordinances on Nov 3 barring the print and electronic media from printing and broadcasting “anything which defames or brings into ridicule the head of state, or members of the armed forces, or executive, legislative or judicial organ of the state”.

Moved by Advocate Chaudhry Naseer Ahmed on behalf of Qazi Sheharryar Iqbal, the petition requested the court to strike down sections 20 and 33 of the Pemra ordinance which had put ‘unreasonable’ restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

Advocate Ahmed, who had represented the government before a Supreme Court bench hearing petitions against the now-deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, told Dawn that although the emergency had suspended Article 19 of the Constitution, the court while validating the Nov 3 emergency had held that it had the powers of judicial review.

The federal government through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Pemra are respondents in the petition.

The petition prayed the court to declare unlawful the ‘uncalled for and illegal’ restrictions on television channels and that the closed TV channels be allowed to operate.

Restrictions and fiscal imposition on the manufacture or import of electronic media equipment were also without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the petition maintained.

“For its deleterious and damaging character and being not in conformity with the present-day values, the amendments have invoked deep resentment, protest and condemnation from media bodies and other organisations both inside and outside the country,” the petition stated.

By putting private television channels off air, it said, the government had subverted the freedom of speech, expression and free media choice of a large number of people.

“Pakistan is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948,” it said.