Pemra bound by NAP to act if jathas assault state: Firdous

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Wednesday said the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) did not need any instruction from the government as it was bound to act in line with security parameters set in the National Action Plan if any person at any place would form jathas (bands) and attack the state.

Flanked by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, she told a press conference here, "Pemra does not need instructions from her, the ministry or the government for following the parameters of National Action Plan. It is already a consensus agenda and PEMRA is following it."

The special assistant said when the National Action Plan was made and its terms of reference were set, all the stakeholders, including PEMRA, were given a 13-point paper in which their boundaries were defined.

She said the nation would be united on the 'black day' against India to be observed on October 27. Prime Minister Imran Khan as a spokesman, advocate and ambassador of Kashmiris was engaging the world and at that time sending a message of disunity and chaos at home would sabotage the unity of the day which was linked to the national interest.

She said holding protest was the right of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the government accepted that right.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2019