PAKISTAN’S Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Wednesday decided to enforce a complete ban on airing of Indian content in Pakistan from October 21, 2016. Earlier, PEMRA had also granted Chairman Absar Alam the final authority to suspend licences of channels that were airing Indian content without sending any prior notice to the regulatory body.
According to media reports, the decision to ban Indian content in Pakistan was taken in the 120th meeting of the authority held on Wednesday.
A PEMRA statement said the ban will come into effect at 3 pm on Friday, 21 October.
“The ban will come into effect at 3pm on October 21, and radio and television stations which violate the ban will have their licences suspended without a prior show cause notice,” Pakistan’s Dawn.com quoted a statement issued from the regulatory authority.
On Oct 1, Pakistan banned the broadcast of all Indian television channels in a retaliatory move to India’s film industry banning Pakistani artists and technicians from working in India.
This comes amid the troubled relationship between India and Pakistan. Commandos of the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control on September 28-29 to destroy terrorist launch pads in the Pak occupied Kashmir. The strikes took place days after the terror attack on Uri Army camp in which 19 soldiers were killed.
Inputs by online media.