Interior Minister OF PAKISTAN Cancels NOC OF ARY News

INTERIOR MINISTRY CANCELS NOC OF ARY NEWS WITHOUT NOTICE

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Minister of Pakistan on Friday abruptly Cancel the NOC of ARY News in a fresh attack on the press community.

By terminating the NOC of ARY News without providing any show-cause notice, the coalition government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has taken another step toward the economic assassination of the journalism community.

More than 4,000 media professionals connected to NOC will be killed off economically by the Interior Minister of PAKISTAN.

The action was taken in response to the contentious remarks made by Dr. Shahbaz Gill, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Imran Khan's chief of staff, which were broadcast on ARY News.

Additionally, the station clarified that Gill's remarks were his own opinions and had nothing to do with the channel's policies.

The channel's management criticised the decision to halt broadcasts and claimed that the federal government was unfairly targeting the network.

Legal experts referred to the government's action as "economic murder" of the families of the journalists without providing any explanation for why the NOC was revoked.

According to Babar Awan, the government has killed more than 4,000 media worker families economically. He continued by saying that the channel must clarify the situation and provide justification for the NOC cancellation.

Awan said that the administration was attempting to silence dissenting views. He said that the action appeared to be in violation of the Sindh High Court's (SHC) ruling and that the administration had thereby disobeyed the court.

He requested that the government provide justification for its decision and denounced the termination of ARY News' NOC.

In such rulings, senior attorney Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan stated that it is legally required to send a show-cause notice and hear the response. The NOC termination may be contested, according to Ahsan.

The top attorney predicted that the court will quickly overturn the government's decision to terminate ARY News' NOC. He claimed that because the SHC had given orders to keep the channel's broadcast open, the decision constituted contempt of court.

"It cannot be done in this manner, where a bureaucrat decides just to announce the revocation of the NOC. Once the interior ministry has made its decision, the channel cannot be shut down. The NOC cancellation decision should be promptly contested in court.

According to PEMRA law, a notification will be given in order to solicit a response, according to legal expert Abuzar Salman Niazi. The court won't wait long to overturn the judgement, because such actions are not permitted in a democracy. It is unlawful and unconstitutional to revoke the NOC.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) had directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to immediately begin transmitting the channel throughout Pakistan on August 10.