Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Syed Mansoor Ali Shah overruled the PEMRA decision which banned all Indian content from being aired. The notice of October 19 2016 banned Indian films and dramas as a reaction to Indian ban on Pakistani stars and dramas.
[junkie-alert style=”green”] Chief Justice said that ‘selective patriotism’ is not acceptable where cinemas are allowed to import and screen Indian movies while TV channels which has prior license are banned from airing Indian content. [/junkie-alert]
Now cable operators from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and other cities can once again air Bollywood movies. Previously it was observed that Indian channels such as Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony & Colours were aired on Cable because of the high demand.
The counsel for the petitioner also raised questions on government ruling. He said his client was given license for 15 years after which he started a channel FILMAZIA, the channel was allowed to air up to 10% foreign content.
The channel invested huge amount in purchasing the foreign content and suddenly PEMRA banned Indian content which was a major hit for FILMAZIA. Other Pakistani channels also aired Indian content and faced an adverse effect.
In December Ministry of Information issued a notification allowing all cinemas to screen Indian movies. Which further increased pressure on government to allow channels to do the same, they are asking that if patriotism demands banning Indian movies on TV then why were they allowed in Cinemas? If Indian content were banned ethically then why cinemas were allowed to screen them?