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Tag: Sindh High Court

  • PEMRA raids DTH & cable operators showing Indian content

    MUMBAI: A PEMRA team has seized illegal hardware and apparatus of DTH and Cline cable network from various electronics shops in Silanwali (Sargodha), Pakistan, and raided DTH re-broadcasters and viewers who are watching or distributing Indian TV channels.

    Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority assistant general manager Malik Qasim Nawaz said the government had banned foreign channels and dish antenna, the News International reported. Nawaz added that the raids would continue and action would be taken against electronic shops and cable operators for allegedly violating government policies.

    The Sindh High Court earlier vacated its interim order regarding suspension of PEMRA’s ban on Amir Liaquat Hussain’s private TV programme and directed that PEMRA’s order would shall remain in force as per the apex court directive. PEMRA had submitted that it had received hundreds of complaints against the petitioner anchorperson for virulent hate speech during the period — 2 January to 24.

    A senior lawyer of the apex court earlier refused to further represent the Sindh provincial government in a case pertaining to the appointment of advisers for the chief minister Murad Ali Shah.

    Former attorney general Makhdom Ali Khan who was representing the province in the instant matter in private capacity recused himself in view of the Supreme Court verdict taking exception to the practice of federal and provincial departments of hiring services of private lawyers in various cases and paying hefty sums from the national exchequer as their fees.

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    “Let India open its market, we will open ours” – PEMRA chairman Absar Alam

  • Despite assurances no sign of lifting the ban on YouTube in Pakistan

    Despite assurances no sign of lifting the ban on YouTube in Pakistan

    NEW DELHI: Even as the ban on YouTube in Pakistan is expected to continue with the government unrelenting, the Sindh High Court has issued notices to the information technology secretary, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman and other concerned authorities. The notices are on a petition challenging the ban on video-sharing website.

     

    The parties have been asked to file their replies by 12 August according to a Pakistani website.

     

    The move was followed by a petition backed by several petitioners stating that PTA had blocked over 1000 websites since September 2012 under the guise of ‘blasphemous content’.

     

    They submitted that a ban on the largest video portal on internet affecting badly the students, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, religious scholars and all those who used the video website for commercial and professional aim.

     

    It was stated in the petition that instead of blocking the specific URLs, PTA opted to block the whole platform depriving the citizens of their basic rights. The move isn’t unheard of because many Islamic countries have a system to block those blasphemous content or unwanted web pages on the internet.

     

    The petitioner further stated that PTA planning to block even more pages in the future which would cause even more trouble for the people and they pleaded the court to stop PTA from doing this. The court was also requested to declare the censorship on websites including YouTube a deliberate violation of the fundamental rights as protected in the Constitution of Pakistan.

     

    Earlier, the Lahore High Court had asked the Pakistan government to resolve the issue.  The Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and Information Technology Minister Anusha Rehman even assured the court that the ban would be lifted soon, but this has not happened. An assurance that new software for blocking offensive videos would be acquired has also not been fulfilled.

     

    This is despite the fact that several artists and media persons have been protesting against the ban for the past two years. 

  • Sindh High Court restrains issuing LDI licenses

    Sindh High Court restrains issuing LDI licenses

    NEW DELHI: Noting that the 2003 Telecom policy was outdated, the Sindh High Court has restrained federal government from issuing Long Distance and International (LDI) licenses.

     

    A bench led by Justice Nadeem Akhtar has also directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to draw up a new telecom policy. It issued the stay order over the PTA notification which was challenged by private telephone operators.

     

    According to the petition submitted by Telecard Limited, Redtone Telecommunications and Multinet Pakistan, LDI licenses were issued back in 2003 according to the deregulation policy and they were subjected to renewal after five years. The petitioners also mentioned that the fee for prescription was $500,000 back in 2003 but after expiry in 2008 there has been no revision in the policy.

     

    While the Pakistan Information and Technology Ministry and the PTA were ready to-re-issue licences, the petitioners argued that these were sought to be issued on the same fee of $500,000 despite the desperate need for revision in policy and licence fee.