Airing objectionable content: Fresh protests against Geo TV

Another two criminal cases registered against media outlet in Peshawar and Abbottabad.

BAHAWALPUR/ FAISALABAD/ PESHAWAR:

Jamatud Dawa (JuD) on Friday staged a demonstration in Faisalabad against Geo TV to protest against the controversial transmission of its morning show ‘Utho Jago Pakistan’. The demonstrators, holding banners and placards, marched through various roads and staged a sit-in at Chowk Clock Tower.

Speaking at the occasion, the JuD central leader Ameer Hamza condemned Geo TV for airing objectionable content that hurt religious sentiments of people and demanded that the entire management of Geo including its owner Mir Shakilur Rehman and the host of the morning show be punished.

Over the last few days, a number of protest rallies and demonstrations were also staged in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts during which several political and social outfits recorded their protest against Geo and Jang group.

Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslemeen took out a rally in front of Bahawalpur Press Club, in which a large number of women and lawyers also took part.

The speakers at the rally said legal action should be taken against the host of Geo TV’s morning show as well as Mir Shakilur Rehman, who had hurt millions of Muslims all over world.

They said if the government had registered a case against Geo TV for running a vilification campaign against national institutions then the situation would not have come to this pass.

Petitioners move court against Geo

In Bahawalpur, Advocate Syed Muhammad Ali Rizvi filed a petition in Lahore High Court Bahawalpur Bench to register a case against Geo and Jang Group for accusing the ISI and Pakistan Army of attacking Hamid Mir and broadcasting objectionable content.

Two more petitions were also submitted to district and sessions court Bahawalpur against the Geo and Jang Group. Judge Muhammad Rasheed Qamar, however, dismissed the petitions, saying that only one FIR could be registered in the country.

Advocate Salahuddin Jillani also filed a petition in district and session court and requested it to issue order to the Police Station Saddar Ahmadpur to lodge an FIR against the Geo and Jang group. A complaint was also submitted in Uch Sharif police station but no case has been registered.

Cases registered against Geo

In Peshawar, the court of an additional district and sessions judge on Friday ordered station house officer of East Cantt police station to lodge an FIR against six accused – including Geo’s chief executive Mir Shakilur Rehman and the host of its morning show. The petition was filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Arif Yousaf.

Meanwhile, police in Abbottabad also registered a criminal case against Mir Shakil and others.  Last Monday, the court had ordered the Cantonment Police Station to register criminal case against the persons involved in producing and airing blasphemous content in a morning show. After the court orders the police obtained legal advice from the legal department which allowed the police to register a criminal case.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2014.