The transmission of City 42 which covers and airs the city events and news stories was suspended abruptly while the members of the journalist community could not know the reasons behind the suspension.

The suspension of the transmission left no choice for the workers of the TV channel but to go on strike.
Reporters, copy editors, cameramen and all other staff members of the channel participated in the strike which continued till the evening.

Asad Sahi, executive producer/chief reporter of the said channel, told The Nation that they could not know why the transmission of the channel was stopped and who the people were behind it.

He added they asked cable operators about it, but they did not tell them anything.

When they approached the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) authorities, they confirmed no application had been filed against the channel.

PML-N Lahore President Pervez Malik reached the spot and assured the administration of the TV channel of his full support, saying they would not allow suspension of the City42 transmission.

Khawaja Imran Nazir, Shahbaz Butt, PTI leader Khalid Pervez and some religious leaders also reached there and assured the channel staff of their full support.

Some cable operators were also seen in the news conference held in front of the TV office.

The workers of City42, including editors, copy editors, reporters, cameramen and members of other departments, observed strike which continued all the day.

They chanted slogans against the government and termed it a ‘coward attack’ on journalism.

They said shutting down a TV channel in a democratic setup was shameful and termed the government’s step dictatorial.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and other journalistic bodies all over the country strongly condemned the act of the government for suspending the TV channel transmission.

They said they would never let anybody impose curbs on journalism.

The elected body of the Lahore Press Club also condemned the suspension of the transmission of the TV channel, demanding immediate restoration of the same.

The Nation

KARACHI: The Election Commission has rejected the nomination papers of renowned columnist and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Amir ‘for writing against the ideology of Pakistan’ in his columns.

District Returning Officer (DRO) Ch Anwer Ahmed Khan also summoned Amir to appear before court by April 6.

Eyewitnesses said local residents Arif Mehmood and Khawaja Babar Saleem Mehmood had registered their objections with the local office of the election commission saying Amir’s columns were in conflict with the ideology of Pakistan. Over which, the returning office rejected Amir’s papers and referred them back to the ECP.

Khawaja Baber Saleem Mehmood, who is the chairman of the local press club, had filed objections through his lawyer Khawaja Khalid Farooq.

According to the Constitution of Pakistan, one cannot be a member of Parliament if he “violates Islamic injunctions,” or has “worked against the integrity of the country or opposed the ideology of Pakistan.”

Amir, who had filed nomination papers for the NA-60 seat from Chakwal, confirmed that his papers had been rejected by the returning officer.

“Some local journalist raised objections on some of my columns, claiming they were against the ideology of Pakistan and Islam,” he said.

“This is the first time in Pakistan that nomination papers have been rejected on the basis of journalistic writing. Not everyone writes weekly columns. I’m among the few who do, I’m not sure if this would be applicable to other candidates.”

Regarding his future course of action, Amir said he would file an appeal against the decision tomorrow.

Officials from the Election Commission of Pakistan were unavailable for comment until the filing of this report.

Dawn