ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday suspended a television channel supportive of anti-government protests being held by cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan and a populist cleric in the capital Islamabad.
ARY News, a popular station, is being taken off air for 15 days for ‘maligning honourable courts and judiciary,’ the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said.
ARY News was also fined Rs10m ($97,089), the media authority added, saying that the channel has a history of not complying with PEMRA laws.
The channel’s leadership was not available for comment.
Amnesty said the suspension was politically motivated. “ARY TV must be immediately allowed back on air. There is simply no justification for the Pakistani authorities to silence sections of the media solely because of their political leanings,” said Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty’s Pakistan researcher.
The suspension comes at an uneasy time in Pakistan where the government has been under pressure following a long period of protests which some commentators say were backed by the all-powerful army keen to sideline Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
One of ARY’s leading journalists, Mubashir Luqman, has been particularly critical of Sharif’s administration, making regular accusations against the government and the judiciary on his popular show, Khara Sach.
Agencies
