The advice came when senior counsel Mohammad Akram Sheikh, representing Geo TV network, drew the attention of a three-judge bench to the registration of 45 FIRs in different parts of the country and a “hate campaign” launched against Geo TV and the Jang group.

“Why don’t you go to high courts… when the transfer jurisdiction vests with the high courts,” Justice Jawwad S, Khawaja said, adding that it was not a final order but “do take a look on this aspect”.

The court was hearing a petition moved by the Independent Media Corporation and which seeks an order that restrains TV channels from airing allegations against other channels.

Already at the centre of a controversy revolving around allegations of maligning the country’s most powerful spy agency, the operation of the Geo TV has been suspended by Pemra for 15 days.

The petition has been filed against the backdrop of the May 14 morning show “Utho Jago Pakistan” hosted by Dr Shaista Lodhi, which kick-started a campaign against Geo TV by rival media groups.

The petition has requested the Supreme Court to order police and the lower courts all over the country to submit in the apex court copies of criminal complaints, FIRs and 22A petitions containing allegations of blasphemy regarding the morning show.

The apex court has also been requested to issue directives for consolidation of all the FIRs registered in different parts of the country and stopping police from registering fresh ones.

The court asked the advocate generals of the four provinces to submit statements about the position taken by the provincial governments on the Geo petition, which would be taken up again on Wednesday next.

Akram Sheikh cited an example from the Indian Supreme Court which, in the 2013 Baba Ram Dev case, had ordered consolidation of some 200 FIRs on the basis of which the Delhi High Court quashed a case against renowned painter M.F. Hussain.

He had aroused the ire of Hindu extremists for what they perceived his controversial painting of “Bharat Mata” and faced a number of cases for hurting the sentiments of the majority of Indians.

The counsel said that as an editor of daily ‘Jang’ had been attacked and five vehicles of the media group burnt, it was difficult for it to pursue cases in different courts of the country.

DAWN

Senators called on the government to take the ongoing crisis, stemming from the assault on Hamid Mir, seriously and take corrective measures to arrest it or some forces unhappy with the 18th Amendment and revival of 1973 Constitution could intervene.

Senator Prof Sajid Mir insisted that after the apology by the Geo management, the matter should have ended there and then and instead of banning the channel, the entertainment show team might be penalised.They opposed curbs on Geo and called on media houses to join the democratic forces to wriggle out of the crisis, as its escalation would endanger the entire system.

Led by PPP’s Mian Raza Rabbani, the opposition legislators walked out of the House to register their protest on what he called the government’s capitulation to the terrorists and against a handful of IPPs, who have warned that if the outstanding Rs300 billion are not paid to them, loadshedding would jump to 14 hours a day.

Rabbani recalled how the rulers had promised to the nation to end the loadshedding after coming to power and now were looking the other way. He added it was also committed in June 2013 that after payment of Rs480 billion to the IPPs to end the circular debt, there would be a marked decrease in power outages but that was not visible.

While making payment of circular debt, he alleged, some favourites were given benefits and now the IPPs association had written a letter to the Ministry of Water and Power, warning that if Rs300 billion outstanding were not paid, loadshedding would increase to 14 hours per day.

“Have the rulers mortgaged the state of Pakistan to a handful of capitalists who have now hurled a threat at the government? Has the writ of the state reduced to this level?” he wondered.

Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq in a lighter tone proposed that it should be made part of the orders of the day that the opposition would stage a walkout from the House, which has now become a routine.

He promised to ask the minister concerned to present in the House a list of IPPs which had introduced this policy and struck an agreement on much higher power tariff with the IPPs.Awami National Party Senator Afrasiab Khattak, taking part in the debate on the latest political situation, pointed out that from time to time, the democratic system in Pakistan faced threats, a sequence which had started from the era of General Ayub Khan to prove that politicians and parliament were bad.

He noted how after some politicians were found to be having bogus degrees, all politicians were called cheats following the 2008 polls. Now one year after the last year’s election, the entire electoral process is being made controversial and big rallies organised by raising voice about rigging in the polls.

The senator recalled how three big political parties were asked not to take part in the elections while terrorists supported others to win and form the government. “We also have reservations over the polls but never want to derail the democratic system,” he said.

While the political parties had matured during the 1990s and learnt their lessons, now new characters (Imran and Qadri) were leading rallies and subverting the national consensus that an operation must be launched against the terrorists and that non-democratic forces should not intervene.

“One decision has to be taken who should run the country, elected representatives of masses or others,” he said. On the media front, Khattak charged that majority of the media houses were playing the role of Raja Porus elephants who had trampled own troops. He said had the Media Commission’s recommendations been implemented, the situation would have not escalated to the present level.

He alleged that the electronic media had been turned into factories of ‘kafir sazi’. The senator accused the government of inaction over the present situation and said it was trying to make imperial its own rule by turning its back to parliament, as neither the prime minister nor his ministers or even secretaries come to parliament.

About the latest military action against the terrorists in North Waziristan, Khattak said the government should take parliament into confidence as to what had gone wrong, for they had been talking about the success of the peace process with the Taliban.

Like the politicians who had rendered sacrifices for democracy, journalists had also won the freedom of expression through a painful struggle. Prof Sajid Mir of the ruling PML-N said levelling allegations against the top intelligence agency was not a strange thing, as it had been done in the past as well and even in the missing persons case, fingers were pointed at them.

However, he said that it was wrong to focus on the ISI for eight hours and insisted the family viewpoint of Hamid Mir should have been presented only once. Then he turned to the rallies and alleged these consisted of either those who on their own could never come to power or who belonged to the banned outfits, having their strings attached to the military institutions.

Senator Mir saw in the ongoing media outcry an element of professional jealousy and added certain media houses and newspapers were overplaying the Geo-related issue. “If any channel is shut, it will set a bad precedent and other channels will also face a similar fate in future,” he warned.

On the 2013 poll controversy, he contended that electoral disputes should have been decided earlier and should be raised at proper forums instead of taking to roads and streets. He added some sponsored events were taking place that people of choice should come forward and some parties that were nurtured by the military were leading for derailment of the system.

He defended the government’s steps with regard to the Hamid Mir attack and the Geo issue and pointed out who had formed a judicial commission, referred the ISI’s complaint to the Pemra and said the government wanted the resolution of poll issues as per the law.

Senators Kulsoom Parveen and Kamil Ali Agha strongly opposed the bid to defame the military and the ISI and said Pakistan’s security and strength were making them stronger.

They called on the government to act with impartiality in dealing with the Geo issue or institutional controversy would increase further. Senator Kusloom said Imran had a political status and no one had the right to call him inexperienced or immature and insisted that it should be left to the people to decide.

The News

Taking immediate cognisance of the controversial content aired in the morning show of the Geo Entertainment Channel, “Utho Jago Pakistan” hosted by Shaista Lodhi, on May 14, PEMRA has served a show-cause notice to the channel and has called for immediate explanation, said a press release on Thursday. PEMRA said the aired content was in violation of clauses (a), (i) & (p) of PEMRA Code of Conduct, contained in Schedule A of PEMRA Rules 2009 which states that:

(1) No programme shall be aired which- (a) passes derogatory remarks about any religion or sect or community or uses visuals or words contemptuous of religious sects and ethnic groups or which promotes communal and sectarian attitudes or disharmony; (i) is against basic cultural values, morality and good manners; (p) contains material which is against ideology of Pakistan or Islamic values.

PEMRA has received more than 5,000 public complaints against the programme of the channel through PEMRA Complaints Call Centre and website. The complaints are being referred to the Council of Complaints in the light of Section 26 of PEMRA Act 2007, for deciding the matter on emergent basis within a week.

Meanwhile, the TV channel has launched an inquiry against the show over what it terms was an “inadvertent mistake”. Earlier, Dr Shaista Lodhi, the host of the show, apologized over the “inadvertent mistake” in the programme. According to her statement aired on Thursday, the remorseful host said that she along with the entire team of the show feels sorry and tenders an apology “for the circumstances that were triggered unintentionally due to the content of the programme broadcast yesterday”.

Dr Shaista said that she seeks forgiveness from the Almighty Allah over an unintended gaffe that hurt the sentiments of the people. The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Thursday demanded the government ban Geo TV just like YouTube had been banned. “The satellite news channel has started ‘attacking’ the sacraments of Islam, thus it must be taken off air,” alleged SIC leader Sahibzada Hamid Raza.

Raza said that the SIC would move the Supreme Court of Pakistan against this violation. “Geo TV must be tried for blasphemy against the holy Quran and Islamic traditions,” he said. The SIC chief stressed that social reformation was one of media’s key responsibilities.

“The mass media with their extensive outreach must always be careful about the content they are airing. They must design it in a way that it does not hurt anyone’s sentiments, especially religious,” Raza said. He also announced that the SIC would stage a protest sit-in against the channel on Sunday. “We will protest until the satellite channel is banned”, he said.

Daily Times