ISLAMABAD: On the directives of the Supreme Court, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has decided to define the term ‘obscenity’ in a Pakistani context, in a meeting to be held on August 27.
The apex court had taken notice of the petitions filed against obscenity and vulgarity being broadcast on the electronic media.
The petitions were filed by Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed and former chief of Jamat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed. They requested the regulatory body to make policy guidelines barring TV channels from broadcasting vulgarity.
Fakhar-ud-Din Mughal, the head of media wing of Pemra, said that they will be holding a consultative meeting on Monday, August 27 with stakeholders to define the term.
According to the law, TV channels are barred from telecasting ‘obscene material’; however there are no set parameters to what can be classified as obscene.
Whatever consensus is generated in the upcoming meeting for the definition of the term, Pemra will submit the results to the Supreme Court.
“Pemra is empowered to change the regulations but it would need a parliamentary nod if it would have to bring the changes through an act,” Mughal said.
It is not yet clear, however, if the proposed changes would be incorporated in the internal regulations of the body or through a parliamentary act.
According to Chairman Pemra, no specific definition of obscenity or vulgarity exists in the Constitution, the Penal Code or the Pemra laws. However, the regulatory body acknowledges that the term needs to be defined in order to guide the electronic media about what is suitable for being broadcast to the wider society.
For this purpose, Pemra in its comprehensive Draft Content Regulations of February 2012 had inscribed some definitions of obscene content that were derived from international metaphors.
The Draft Regulations were published on Pemra’s website and were also massively publicised to fetch comments from the public.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2012.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Oh my lord Justice Chuadary spare us .... You have time to bother about obscenity or vulgarity but you are not interested in taking action against 11 Year old girl waiting for justice , killing of 22 innocent people while ascertaining their faith affiliation .. lynching a person by a mob to maintain morality of this pure land ... ruthless torture of a barber for an affair .. i am not counting the daily score of killing that is going around in country but highlighting some of the Eid specials for your kind information .
Dear justice Lord .. have a pity on this nation ... dun teach us morality .. the nation is capable of understanding right or wrong .. and i hope the nation has already topped on list in watching porn on net so i beg you to stop being a moral mentor and kindly focus on what you should be doing .. If you get time from all moral ventures have a look on your darling child cases as well .. n plz if the quota for suo-motto can afford a couple more then the nation will be thankful to you if you could take few more suo-mottos on extremisms and on killings that is going unchecked ...
Media should be allowed to show all type of content
Media should be allowed to show any type of content
if the supreme court is the authority on defining the constitution then why it is not coming up specific definition of obscenity or vulgarity ??????????????????????????