Media ban on PTM: IHC orders PEMRA, PTA to ensure implementation of laws

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Islamabad High Court, while hearing a petition seeking a media ban on Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to ensure implementation of their laws. The court also sought replies from PTM chairperson Manzoor Pashteen, Dawar, Wazir, lawmakers Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir and the Interior Ministry. Later, the hearing was adjourned till June 3. Last week, a petition was filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against PTM for speaking against national institutes in the wake of 10-year-old Farishta Mohmand rape case in the federal capital. The petition had prayed for ‘appropriate action’ against Pashteen, Dawar and Wazir ‘under prevailing laws’ in the interest of the country and to ‘uphold the respect and prestige of the Pakistan Army’. It contended that it was interior, law and defence ministries, PEMRA and PTA’s duty to ensure that a constitutional institution is not maligned in public gathering and in public interviews. It also sought to delete and block social media accounts of all three PTM members and bar them from hosting or appearing on any electronic and print medium. On Sunday, PTM leaders along with their supporters had attacked an army check post in the former tribal region of Miranshah, martyring one soldier and injuring five others.