Punjab CM's name misused to save cable operator

ISLAMABAD: In an unbelievable development, it has been revealed by concerned officials that the name of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was used by some DMG officers to misguide senior police officers and to call back police teams during a raid on an illegally-operating and a major defaulter cable operator in Lahore.

The authorities could not identify the fraud who fooled the senior Punjab Police officials to save a defaulter of millions of rupees, inflicting big losses to the exchequer and making the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) lose its writ.

On Tuesday night, Pemra, after requisitioning the help of the Punjab Police under the Pemra law, raided one of the largest defaulter cable operators, Regal Star, whose licence had expired in 2012 but it was still illegally operating and was not even paying dues by using illegal influence of a media house. The illegitimate cable business is indirectly owned by Lakhanis of the Express Media Group.

The media group has acquired 23 cable distribution licences in the name of frontmen to disturb the position of other channels after failing to compete on the basis of its content or quality. Only four out of these 23 cables are operational and the rest should have been revoked under the law but Pemra is unable to do so because of pressure of the government’s media gang. Mohyddin Ahmad Wani, a senior DMG officer, is safeguarding the interests of Express media house and large cable networks operated by this media house illegally.

The news of direct involvement of the government’s media gang in saving defaulters of huge amounts shocked many on Wednesday but the real criminal could not be identified who called senior police officers of Lahore to convey a fake message using the chief minister’s name to immediately return the equipment of the Rs20 million defaulting cable operator, who also remained involved in passing on information to some powerful people, which later resulted in horrible incidents of kidnapping and torture.

Family sources of the Punjab chief minister confirmed to The News that the CM was in Qatar on Tuesday night and was completely out of the picture of developments in Lahore. The prime minister is also not in the know of what is happening, the sources said. However, sources could not tell as to why action could not be taken on Wednesday if the fraud was completely exposed. Apparently, the whole government’s media gang was trying its best to safeguard the illegal cable business being run by media houses so as to have good relations with those media houses. Under the law, no media house can run a cable business and it is illegal.

It is not known whether the police force will confiscate illegal cable operation in Lahore on Thursday or the government’s media gang will continue “improving its relations” with such media houses. The Pemra officials are ready to act under the law if police force is provided to them but nothing was clear in this regard till late night.

Those who were supposed to implement the law were facing pressures and threats instead of acting honestly despite fully knowing that a media house could never run cable operations.