LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) full bench will hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s plea against the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) decision barring all satellite TV channels from broadcasting his speeches and press talks.
The LHC on Saturday constituted a three-member bench to hear PTI chief Imran Khan’s plea.
LHC bench
A three-member full bench comprising Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza, Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi and headed by LHC CJ will hear the petition today (March 13). The full bench was formed days after the court suspended PEMRA’s order. Justice Mirza had announced the suspension of the order while admitting the PTI chief’s request for the formation of a full bench and sent the case to the LHC chief justice.
In the petition, Imran has named the media regulator and the authority’s director (operations, broadcast media) as respondents and pointed out that the Islamabad High Court had set aside a similar prohibition order in the past.
The petition said that PEMRA issued the order “in excess of the jurisdiction vested in it and without having regard to the constitutional rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution”. It further contended that the PEMRA was not empowered to issue a blanket prohibition order, which appears to be “in violation of the principle of proportionality”.
Last week, the media regulator slapped a ban on Imran’s speeches and press talks with “immediate effect” after he lashed out at former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa for allegedly “protecting incumbent rulers in their alleged corruption cases”.
The PEMRA noted that Imran, in his speeches and statements, was “leveling baseless allegations and spreading hate speech through his provocative statements against the state institutions and officers which is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order and is likely to disturb public peace and tranquility.”
