PEMRA chief accused of malpractice, harassment

KARACHI: Members of the Pemra Officers Welfare Association (POWA) accused the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairman of fabricating cases against them and threatening them with dire consequences.

In a statement issued by POWA’s secretary-general Amjad Ali, he claimed the chief of the media regulatory body, Chaudhry Rashid Ahmed, has been threatening its members ever since he was reinstated. The threats are being issued by Ahmed’s relatives and supporters who are illegally employed in the organisation, he added.

The Pemra chairman has been alleging that POWA officers did not let him enter the building, however, video footage shows that he not only entered the building and his office, but his supporters misbehaved with the senior regular officers and spoiled the official decorum by causing a ruckus. A complaint has already been registered with Margalla Police Station, Islamabad, according to the statement.

The general-secretary also accused Ahmed of initiating cases against Pemra’s regular officers to harass them as well as of misusing his office and authority.

The statement listed the ‘unfair practices’ of the Pemra chairman, including the harassment of regular officers in private and through courts to threaten them to keep mum regarding his unlawful acts, such as the regularisation of his associates and well-wishers against the decision of the federal government. He also purchased official vehicles banned by the federal government and made exorbitant payments to private counsels without any authority or licensing.

POWA appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to intervene and save Pemra from total collapse.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2013.