According to a statement on Pemra’s Twitter account, Dr Shahid Masood had, on his show on June 22, accused the Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of taking a bribe. “In his programme, he also alluded that the son of the Chief Justice had been kidnapped because the Chief Justice did not fulfill his promise after receiving money,” the statement released on Twitter said.
The electronic media watchdog had issued a show cause notice on July 19 giving the channel seven days time to respond. However, the regulatory body says the reply received on July 23 was unprofessional and they had not tendered an apology.
The case was then referred to an independent body, Council of Complaints, and the channel was asked to explain its position on August 4. However, they were unable to satisfy the council. The channel has the right to appeal the decision, which will be enforced starting August 15, to the High Court or Supreme Court.
Earlier, Pemra had banned Geo Entertainment anchor Amir Liaquat Hussain’s show ‘Inam Ghar’ for three days for broadcasting disturbing scenes and controversial content during the Ramazan transmission on the private TV.
However, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had nullified Pemra’s notification. With the media regulator’s decision voided by the court, the programme went on air as usual.
“Sindh High Court’s honourable Justice Shah Nawaz Tariq has suspended Pemra’s decision,” a statement posted on Pemra’s Twitter account read.
