ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Tuesday observed that the property of Radio Pakistan in Karachi is currently being used by the Rangers.
The committee was chaired by Senator Faisal Javed. Senator Syed Waqar Mehdi brought to the committee’s attention the issue of Radio Pakistan’s property in Karachi, which is currently being used by the Rangers. The committee was informed that a letter had been written to the Ministry of Interior to address the matter.
In response, Federal Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb instructed the officials to prioritise contacting the Ministry of Interior to resolve the issue as soon as possible. The committee was also briefed on Radio Pakistan’s recent establishment of four new, modern podcast studios.
The committee also took notice of the suspension of transmission and expressed displeasure over this. The committee said it was tantamount to impeding freedom of expression.
The committee also observed that approximately 1.5 billion rupees are required to settle all outstanding payments of the employees of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC).
The committee, unanimously, recommended the government to provide necessary funds to the institution to ensure that the retired employees receive their rightful payments, promptly.
The meeting commenced with a briefing from the Chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on the recent suspension of transmission of certain channels and the prohibition on broadcasting speeches of specific political figures.
The PEMRA chairman clarified that authority has not stopped the transmission of any channel. However, as per the information received from media channels, PEMRA officials ordered to halt the transmissions via WhatsApp calls. The PEMRA chairman urged the channels to file written complaints with the organization, promising to take appropriate action in response.
The committee also discussed the issue of the appearance word “delayed” on the screen during the transmission of speeches of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as word “delayed” was seen on the screen during the broadcast. Senator Aun Abbas pointed out that this phenomenon occurred only during Imran Khan’s speeches.
The PEMRA chairman responded that all channels are subject to the same code of conduct, which mandates delayed transmission in order to exercise editorial control. However, the chairman of the committee expressed surprise that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speeches were particularly targeted in this regard.
The committee directed the PEMRA to ensure that all political leaders’ speeches are broadcasted live, without interruption, in compliance with the High Court’s decision. The chairman of the PEMRA could not provide a satisfactory answer to the committee’s questions on this matter. The committee further decided to invite the owners and representatives of the media channels to attend the next meeting, to review the ongoing situation regarding the closure of channels.
The committee received a briefing from the director-general of Radio Pakistan regarding the issue of non-payment of pension to retired employees of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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