ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned broadcasting of speeches and interviews of absconders/ proclaimed offenders.

The regulatory authority announced this few hours after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech was aired on news channels all over the country.

Earlier in a statement, Punjab Minister for Information Fayaz ul Hasan Chohan had said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had allowed airing of speech of Nawaz Sharif to expose him before the nation. The question arises here that if the prime minister had allowed it earlier then how could the PEMRA ban it without consulting him?

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The PEMRA in its notification said that it received a complaint from Muhammad Azhar Siddiqui against several news channels who aired the interview/ speech/ public addresses of an absconder or a proclaimed offender.

The complainant said that the channels violated all the restrictions imposed by laws and orders passed by the courts.

“It has been observed that the licensees are violating the earlier directive date May 27, 2019 passed about the proclaimed offenders,” he said.