AGP summoned on pleas against PEMRA
LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court has admitted identical petitions challenging the PEMRA (Amended) Ordinance 2007 and summoned Attorney General of Pakistan for assistance on October 8.The full bench headed by Justice Muhammad Muzammal Khan passed this order while hearing two identical petitions filed on behalf of the Peoples’ Lawyers Forum (Punjab) and the other by senior lawyer, MD Tahir, challenging the PEMRA (Amended) Ordinance 2007 and third by Advocate Muhammad Arshad challenging the operations of two private TV channels.
Earlier on March 12, Justice Hamid Ali Shah while taking up two petitions had sought a reply from PEMPA and sent the petition to the Chief Justice of the LHC to constitute a larger bench for the next hearing on the petition. In the first petition, Mr Tahir requested that the government and PEMRA should be restrained from blocking the freedom of press.
He alleged that at present the federation was bent upon suppressing the press and preventing access to information to people about the current affairs.He said the PEMRA had no authority to stop the telecast of actual facts regarding violence, terrorism and national sovereignty.
In the second petition, PLF Punjab through its president Mian Hanif Tahir, submitted that the Pemra Ordinance 2002 was scrutinised by a parliamentary committee headed by Sher Afgan Niazi. It submitted that the amended ordinance had no legal value.Tahir said that as session of the National Assembly was going on when the ordinance was issued and in such a situation when the NA session was going on, an ordinance could not be issued.
The third petition also came up for a hearing. It was filed by Advocate Dr Tariq Aziz. He submitted that all the channels be allowed to telecast lawyers’ movement and addresses of the chief justice live. The court adjourned the proceedings till October 8.
Source: The Post
Date:9/8/2007
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