Geo suspension: Pemra made matters ambiguous, says Kaira

Kaira accuses govt of treating very unfortunate situation as game and fooling nation.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Peoples Party leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said the decision of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on the defence ministry’s complaint against Geo TV has made the matter ‘ambiguous’.

“Just like the appointment of the Pemra chairman, which came in the darkness of the night, the decision on this issue was announced out of the blue too,” he said.

Kaira said Pemra, which includes all federal secretaries, including the information secretary, decided the channel would be closed for 15 days and charged a Rs10 million fine. But Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, he said, announced the government would not do this.

At the same time, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif complained the punishment was minor compared to the seriousness of Geo TV’s crime.

“Who is Asif addressing? The government or the [federal] secretaries?” Kaira asked. He accused the government of treating a very unfortunate situation as a game and fooling the nation. “Sadly, this is an effort to side with the intelligence agencies,” said Kaira.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2014.