Lahore/Islamabad:A Pakistani high court on Thursday quashed the federal government's ban on the broadcast of the speeches and press meetings of ousted prime minister Imran Khan from satellite channels.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned the speeches of the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party last week after the cricketer-turned-politician targeted former Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa in an address to his supporters in Lahore. "Lahore High Court Justice Shamas Mahmood Mirza suspended the ban imposed by the PEMRA on the broadcast of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan's speeches and press talks," a court official told PTI after the hearing on Thursday.
The Lahore High Court ordered to lift the ban with immediate effect, he said. The court passed the order on the former premier's petition that challenged the ban imposed by PEMRA. Justice Mirza announced the judgment, sent the matter to the full bench for hearing and adjourned the proceedings till March 13. Khan's counsel Barrister Ahmad Pansota argued that the PEMRA issued the impugned order above its jurisdiction without having regard to the constitutional rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution.
"A plain reading of section 27 of the PEMRA Ordinance, prima-facie, shows that it does not empower the authority to issue a blanket prohibition order. The prohibition order appears to be in violation of the principle of proportionality," he argued. Pansota said that the judgment handed down by the Islamabad High Court declared a similar prohibition order against the petitioner on similar grounds as ultra vires the Ordinance. He added that the PEMRA, without applying its mind and on the instigation of a political party ruling in the federation, took illegal and unlawful action against the petitioner to settle political rivalries.