LHC declares PEMRA notification against the SC’s decision

The Lahore High Court (LHC) declared the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)’s notification banning court reporting against the spirit of the apex court’s decision.The PEMRA prohibited the broadcasting of court proceedings on May 21 and issued a notification to TV channels in this regard. This notification instructed that the TV channels could only broadcast the written judgments of the courts.
Importantly, after this notification of PEMRA, a number of petitions were filed in the LHC and IHC yesterday against this notification. This notification directed the TV channels to refrain from airing tickers and headlines about court proceedings during the court proceedings. It allowed them to report the matter only after the written decision of the courts. It directed all satellite TV channels for not to air content, including commentary, opinions, or suggestions, about the potential fate of sub-judice matters. This ban came right after the remarks of the IHC senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani about the intelligence agencies and government officials in multiple court hearings on the case of a missing Kashmiri poet.
These remarks of the honorable judge prompted Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar to state that such remarks from court proceedings should not make their way into the public domain. He said “It would be better if a decision is passed through a court order instead of such sensationalized news coming out which spreads more unrest.” Responding to the statement of the law minister, the PEMRA barred reporting on court proceedings. The journalist organizations such the Press Association of the Supreme Court (PAS) and the IHC Court Journalists Association (IHCJA) rejected this notification in a joint statement.
They called for the withdrawal of this notification, warning that they would otherwise challenge it in a court. Yesterday, two separate petitions were filed in the LHC. The petitions mentioned as respondents the PEMRA chairman and director general, the federal government through the secretaries for interior and law and parliamentary affairs. The petitions in the LHC were fixed for hearing today by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh.
They were filed by Advocate Samra Malik herself and Hafiz Muhammad Zain Ul Abdin through Advocates Azhar Siddique and Khawaja Ahmad Tariq Rahim, respectively. The petitions called for the this notification to be suspended or declared illegal.
The petitioner requested the court to strike down this notification. On May 21, the PEMRA issued the said notification to TV channels restricting the telecast of court proceedings. The petitioner said this notification was a violation of Articles 19 and 19-A of the constitution. She requested the court to annul this notification until the final verdict on the petition. A citizen Mashkoor Hussain filed a petition through advocate Nadeem Sarwar by naming the PEMRA, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as well as the federation as respondents. The petitioner alleged that the incumbent government was suppressing dissenting voices through the promulgation of what he referred to as “black laws”. He argues that without a free press, democracy would perish. However, the LHC’s justice Abid Aziz issued a six-page verdict on this petition and stopped PEMRA from restricting court reporting. (By Rana Kashif)