Neither Right Nor Wrong
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Compared to Indian viewership ..pakistan's viewership is miniscule..and won't be sorely missed...but surely this decision will be a pot stirrer for Pakistani Cable operators..last time the channels were banned ..they went on strike.
Cable operators in Sindh call off strike after assurances
By Hasan Mansoor
KARACHI: Cable operators in Sindh called off on Saturday their two-day-long strike after the provincial home minister assured them of help, said Khalid Arain, vice president, Cable-Operators Association of Pakistan (CAP), while talking to Daily Times on Saturday.
CAP went on strike late Thursday night after the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) had refused to lift a month-long ban on the screening of 35 satellite channels, a majority of which are India-based and immensely popular in Pakistan. It was the second strike of its kind called by cable operators since 2003. Previously, the Pakistani authorities had imposed a ban on Indian channels in December 2001 after relations soured between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
PEMRA had the strike ended by tacitly allowing cable operators to show the Indian channels in August 2003. On December 21, 2005, PEMRA banned 35 channels again, including the most popular Indian channel, Star Plus, primarily on the grounds that they were being screened without landing rights from the Pakistani authorities. Then, the PEMRA officials claimed that those channels were spreading unethical and immoral values in the Islamic society of Pakistan.
CAP officials said a majority of their clientele were hooked to their systems due to Indian channels and such bans had inflicted them with huge financial losses. A large number of our clients refused to pay their monthly fees on the basis that they were not given the stuff they had subscribed for, said Arain. Besides, a large number of our clients have asked to be disconnected.
Another CAP leader said they still had no contact whatsoever with PEMRA. Since Thursday night, when the strike began, the police had started conducting raids on the establishments of cable operators in Karachi, Hyderabad and other cities and towns of Sindh and forced them to resume their operations. Some of the cable operators were coerced into reviving their systems only to shut them down again soon after the raiding police parties departed.
Arain said the central CAP leaders from Punjab, NWFP and Islamabad would reach Karachi on Sunday (today) to attend a meeting. But, before our meeting we would meet the officials of the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (a body of the owners of private satellite channels) to discuss the issue.
After that meeting we will sit together to devise our future line of action, said Arain. I should clarify that we have not ended the strike; it is only suspended and may resume again if our problems are not solved. Next time, our strike would encompass the entire country, he added.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan