The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, which is also known as Pemra suspended Geo News licence on Saturday. This suspension is for 15 days. It starts right away. Pemra did this because Geo News aired a transmission that Pemra said could hurt the religious feelings of the people who watched it.
Pemra sent an order to the executive officer of Independent Media Corporation, which is the company that owns Geo News on June 28. In this order Pemra said that the licence for Geo News is suspended for 15 days starting immediately.
Pemra made this decision because of a transmission that Geo News aired. Pemras monitoring team watched this transmission. They said it was a big problem. This is because the transmission could upset people because of their religion, culture or social values.
Pemra has rules that say what Geo News can and cannot show on television. One of these rules which’s Section 20(b) of the Pemra Ordinance says that Geo News must respect the values of the country including religious and cultural values. Another rule, which is Section 20(c) says that Geo News cannot show programmes that discriminate against people because of their religion.
Pemra also said that Geo News did not follow a directive they sent out on June 15. This directive was about respecting the month of Muharramul Haram.
Because of this Pemra said that Geo News cannot be shown on satellite or any other platform for 15 days. All the companies that distribute Geo News must follow this order away.
Pemra is also going to look into this matter. They will talk to Geo News. Figure out what went wrong. Geo News has to do its investigation and tell Pemra what they find out. They also have to say what they will do to make sure this does not happen again.
Pemra wants to make sure that Geo News follows all the rules. If Geo News does not follow the rules Pemra can take action. This is what Pemra said in their order, to Geo News.
Geo Issues Apology for ‘Mistake’
Geo News said it made a mistake when it showed something on Muharram 10. The thing they showed was about some rituals that a few people do in Iraq and some other countries, in the Middle East.
This was just to show what these people do it was not meant to say that everyone should do it or that it is the thing to do.
Geo News did not make this. It was not shown on purpose. We want to make it clear that Geo News always tries to respect what most Muslims believe in and care about.
Showing this was not what Geo News thinks or wants to say. Soon as this was seen it was taken away and the people who did it were dealt with.
Before people started talking about this Geo News said sorry. Explained what happened. We are sorry if we upset anyone and we will always try to be respectful to everyones beliefs. Geo News will keep trying to do the thing and respect everyones feelings.
