PPP files petition in SC against PEMRA Ord
ISLAMABAD: Former senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court (SC), requesting that the June 4 amendments in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority Ordinance be declared unconstitutional.
Filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, the petition states that President Pervez Musharraf announced the withdrawal of the June 4 curbs during a meeting with representatives of the Pakistan Broadcasters Association on June 9, but no official notification to this effect has been issued yet. “It is yet to be proved that the president’s announcement was not merely a public relations exercise aimed at buying time without actually withdrawing the impugned ordinance,” said Babar in a press statement.
He said the ordinance was not only contrary to the Constitution, it also violated several international covenants including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 14 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The parliamentary affairs, law and justice, and information secretaries and the PEMRA chairman have been made respondents in the petition filed on behalf of the People’s Democracy Institute of the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation.
NNI adds: Babar said the restraining orders on live broadcasts were discriminatory as state-run PTV continues to show live rallies of the ruling coalition. He said this violated Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality of all before law. He said the impugned ordinance was an effort to foist authoritarianism and stifle the media during an election year. He said important decision like President Musharaf’s bid to seek re-election from the present assemblies, retention of uniform and overt and covert manipulations of elections are bound to be commented upon by an independent media and that was the reason that new unconstitutional curbs were imposed on it.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/14/2007
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