Islamabad standoff: Supreme Court questions role of electronic media. PHOTO: FILE
The Supreme Court on Friday questioned the role of the local administration and the electronic media in the Islamabad standoff case.
The apex court was hearing the case related to the Jinnah Avenue episode in which a gunman, Sikandar, along with his wife and two kids, had kept Islamabad police occupied for hours on Aug 15.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also came down hard on Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for not gagging the media and stopping it from live coverage of the incident.
The relevant authorities were asked to submit a reply about the incident within three days.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned till the first week of September.
Is Pemra helpless?
During the hearing of the case, the chief justice asked the interior secretary about steps being taken by the federal government. Since the management of this incident was the task of the local administration, the secretary said, “We have formed a committee for recommendations for the local administration to handle such eventualities.”
The court also suggested that if active role of DC’s office is not desired the government should introduce local bodies system in the capital city instead.
The chief justice also asked the information technology secretary about the mechanism to control live media coverage of such incidents.
While reminding Pemra of its role, the chief justice observed that it is not the court’s function to regulate the media.
The counsel for the authority told the court that they approached the TV channels’ owners with a request to stop live coverage of the incident. Justice Chaudhry quipped and said that laws cannot be implemented through apologetic manners.
The counsel for Pemra also told the court that there is no provision that allows the authority to stop TV channels from live coverage.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2013.
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how about asking the media houses directly? CJ wont do it becoz they do the advertising role for CJ and he does not want his "fame" to fall.