RSF asks India to lift ban on Pakistani TV channels
* Authorities banned Geo, ARY, Aaj and PTV transmission in valley on April 24
PESHAWAR: An international media rights body has asked the Indian government to review its ban on Pakistani TV channels in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers [Reporters Without Borders] in a statement has called on New Delhi to explain why cable TV operators in J&K have been forbidden to carry several Pakistani TV channels. The organisation has asked authorities in charge of regulating the broadcast media to lift the ban and find a lasting solution that allows Kashmiris to watch the stations they want.
“All TV stations should, it is true, comply with the law and register with the authorities, but this ban is a violation of the right to information, which is protected by the Indian constitution,” the RSF said.
“Now that relations between New Delhi and Islamabad are being normalised, and Pakistan is starting to loosen its grip on privately-owned TV stations, this measure sends a negative signal and has deprived millions of homes of news and information,” said the statement.
Ban: Cable TV operators in Srinagar have suspended broadcasting of the privately-owned Pakistani TV channels — Geo TV, ARY and Aaj — and the state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) after the authorities clamped a ban on April 24.
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said that Pakistani TV stations had failed to comply with a broadcasting law which, since November 11, 2005, has required any foreign TV station to register with the Indian authorities and obtain permission to broadcast in India.
Some observers wonder what has pushed the Indian authorities to suspend these stations after tolerating them for several years, the media rights group stated.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has also slammed the ban, calling the move “anti-democratic”.
Source: Daily Times
Date:4/30/2008
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