KARACHI: While strongly condemning the illegal shutting down of Geo, prominent politicians and legal experts of the country said that it was legally a crime to shut down all channels of Geo Network for over four months. They said that these channels should be restored forthwith.
Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami, Sindh. Mehrajul Huda, condemned the closure of Geo channels and said that Pemra should play its role for opening of Geo channels. He said that Geo News was not being shown on cable of his area and he contacted cable operators several times to open this channel. He said viewers wanted to watch the channels of their own choice and this right could not be snatched by anybody.
Secretary General Pakistan People’s Party, Sindh, Taj Haider, said that Geo News and Geo Kahani were not being shown in his area. He said that he was against the closure of TV channels and he had full faith on independent journalism and freedom of expression whether any TV was against or in favour of anybody. He said the situation would improve with the freedom of media.
Senior vice president of PML-N Sindh Syed Shah Muhammad said they forcibly got opened Geo News in Clifton Block-2 from cable operators to watch news and other information.President PML-N Sindh Muhammad Ismail Rao said that there was no legal and moral justification to shut down Geo News TV channels. He said that he got opened these channel at his home but Geo News was not being shown at his office. He said it was the basic right of everyone to watch channel of his choice. He said it was against the freedom of expression and independent media to ban or spoil TV channels or newspapers. He demanded to open Geo channel without delay.
Meanwhile, strongly opposing the closure of Geo News, renowned legal expert Justice (R) Rasheed A Rizvi said that he did not know to whom appeasement the Geo News had been shut down.
He said that it was against the norms of freedom of expression to close down Geo News. He said it was unreasonable and without any justification. He said that Geo News channel was not being shown at his home, adding that he wanted to hear and know truth. He said that it was the basic right of the people to see channel of their choice but it was not happening.
Rizvi said that he strongly opposed the closure of Geo News and demanded to open it forthwith.Member Sindh Bar Council Salahuddin Gandapur said that closure of Geo News was not only injustice with the channel rather it was also unjust with the audience because people also wanted to watch Geo News. He said that they were extremely missing Geo News because they wanted to watch Geo News. He said it was tantamount to contempt of court because despite court order Geo News was shut.
He said Geo News was a novel channel which broadcast more information than other channels and they were deprived of such information due to its closure. He demanded to open this channel immediately.