Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the order issued yesterday by three members of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) closing three Geo Television channels \u2013 Geo News, Geo Tez and Geo Entertainment \u2013 and cancelling their licences.<\/p>\n
The order was rapidly disowned by PEMRA in a press release that said it was issued following a meeting yesterday of only five PEMRA members that did not comply with Rule 3(4) of PEMRA Rules 2009, under which at least seven of PEMRA\u2019s 12 members must attend a meeting for it to be validly convened.<\/p>\n
The release added that the decision that PEMRA took at an earlier, valid meeting on 9 May to \u201crefer the [Geo Television] case to the Ministry of Law for legal opinion\u201d was therefore still in effect.<\/p>\n
The case was referred to PEMRA last month by defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who was seeking legal redress against Geo News for reporting allegations that Pakistan\u2019s intelligence agencies were behind a shooting attack on Geo News anchor Hamid Mir in Karachi on 19 April.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hasty decision by three PEMRA members that was immediately disowned is indicative of a desire by certain government representatives to use any means, including illegal ones, to ban Geo News from broadcasting,\u201d said Benjamin Isma\u00efl, the head of the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge PEMRA not to yield to pressure from the intelligence agencies and the defence ministry, and to ensure that the law protects freedom of information.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mir has been the target of repeated threats, intimidation and prosecution as a result of his coverage of the activities of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan\u2019s leading intelligence agency, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan.<\/p>\n
He shared his fears with Reporters Without Borders and his brother, Amir Mir, saying that if he was the target of any attack, \u201cthe ISI and its chief, Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam, should be held responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Mir\u2019s brother repeated Mir\u2019s statements on Geo News in the wake of the 19 April attack, the TV station was accused of broadcasting unpatriotic accusations and was the target of smear campaign in the following weeks.<\/p>\n
The climate for employees of the Jang\/Geo media group has deteriorated dramatically, with journalists working for Geo News and the newspaper Jang receiving repeated threats, including death threats.<\/p>\n
A note left at the Jang printing press on 5 May accused Jang and Geo News employees of being \u201canti-Pakistan, anti-Islam, anti-Army\u201d and threatened Jang with \u201cserious consequences\u201d if it did not close its Peshawar offices. Employees were also told to \u201cquit and leave the traitor group immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sunni Ittehad Council, an Islamic political party, announced on 15 May that it regarded Geo News as \u201charam\u201d (forbidden) and called for its prohibition for broadcasting \u201cblasphemous\u201d content.<\/p>\n
Pakistan is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.<\/p>\n