LHC orders Pemra to stop airing of anti-judiciary speeches

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to ensure that no contemptuous or anti-judiciary speeches are aired on television channels. 

The three-judge bench comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Atir Mahmood, and Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangir, gave the order while hearing petitions challenging the media regulator's failure to stop the broadcast of alleged anti-judiciary remarks and speeches by PML-N leaders. 

Giving the decision on over two dozen petitions filed against the alleged 'anti-judiciary' speeches by Nawaz, Maryam, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other party leaders, the court ordered PEMRA to decide on the petitions in 15 days and, until that time, refrain from airing any contemptuous remarks.

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Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi, who headed the three-member bench, also ruled that the court would personally monitor PEMRA's conduct in the next two weeks to see how it implements the court's order.  

More than a dozen petitions had been filed in the LHC contending that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership had been making derogatory speeches against Supreme Court judges since the verdict of Nawaz’s disqualification in the Panama Papers case last year. 

The petitions, which seek a ban on the anti-judiciary speeches, will now be decided by PEMRA. 

NOTE: The Supreme Court has clarified that the LHC order did not mention names of any political leaders but instructed PEMRA to take action in order to stop airing of anti-judiciary speeches.