Islamabad: Pakistan’s defence ministry has asked for the country’s top-rating television channel to be shut down after it broadcast allegations blaming an intelligence agency for shooting a leading journalist, officials said on Wednesday.
The ministry wrote to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) late on Tuesday asking it to cancel the broadcasting licence of Geo TV and take legal action against its staff.
The move comes after Geo aired claims that Pakistan’s powerful Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency was behind the shooting of top anchor Hamid Mir in Karachi on Saturday.
Mr Mir, who hosts a primetime current affairs chat show on Geo and is probably Pakistan’s best known journalist, is currently recovering after being shot at least three times in his car. After the attack Geo aired comments by Mr Mir’s brother Amir Mir, also a journalist, saying the ISI was to blame.
US media committee concerned over move
Washington: Expressing concern over Pakistan defence ministry’s complaint to the country’s media regulatory authority against Geo News channel, Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), a top US media body, has asked security services to exercise tolerance and maturity.
“We call on the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority not to act on this spurious complaint,” it said. “The ISI is free to rebut allegations in the media but should not try to censor coverage,”the media body added.
