Lahore Court Lifts Ban on Indian Television Shows

A notification was issued by PEMRA imposing a blanket ban on all Indian content on October 19, last year

Updated: July 18, 2017 9:57 PM IST

By India.com News Desk

Lahore Court Lifts Ban on Indian Television Shows

Islamabad, July 18:  A Lahore Court on Tuesday lifted the ban on the broadcast of Indian television shows imposed across the country by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The Court, while listening to the arguments, said the federal government did not express any objection and made the ban as null and void.

A notification was issued by PEMRA imposing a blanket ban on all Indian content on October 19, last year after relations between Islamabad and New Delhi deteriorated following cross border terror attacks by Pakistan based terrorists on Indian soil.

The petition, filed by Leo Communication, challenged the PEMRA notification as being beyond the powers of the regulatory body and the Constitution and sought to overturn the ban as it had not been imposed by the Government of Pakistan.

The plea claimed that the government was indulging in ‘selective patriotism,’ as though Indian movies were allowed to be screened all over the country, they could not be aired on television, the Dawn reported.

According to the report, PEMRA’s ban on the airing of Indian films was lifted in February this year but permission to air tele-soaps or television dramas was not granted.

The petitioner’s counsel Asma Jehangir claimed that the ban had been imposed since India had imposed similar restrictions on all Pakistani content.

The court questioned as to why PEMRA was making the airing of Indian content an issue when the federal government had no objections to it.

LHC Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that Indian content, which are objectionable or anti-Pakistan, could be censored but there is no need for a complete ban.

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