Pakistan regulator bans live telecast of Imran Khan’s speeches

 

Pakistan’s media regulatory body has imposed a ban on live telecast of Imran Khan’s speeches with immediate effect after the former prime minister criticised police and other state institutions in a speech in the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday.

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in a statement on Sunday accused Khan of levelling “baseless allegations” and “spreading hate speech” against “state institutions and officers”.

Khan’s speech was in “violation of Article 19 of the constitution”, the PEMRA said in its six-page notification, ordering that only his “recorded speech” would be permitted to be broadcast, with an “effective delay mechanism” to ensure editorial control. Khan has protested against Gill’s arrest and the alleged institutional “bias” against his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). It has demanded Gill’s immediate release, calling him a political prisoner.

Gill has complained of breathlessness, and a medical test conducted under custody shows he suffers from asthma. But no signs of torture were found, according to the medical report of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.

However, on Friday, a local court ordered another medical examination.

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