In yet another juvenile attempt to pander to Imran Khan’s fanciful whims, the Pakistan government has mandated all news channels in the country to display the ‘map of Pakistan’ daily before airing the 9 pm news bulletin. A notification was issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) titled ‘Streamlining Correct Use of Pakistan Political Map’ on November 3 making it compulsory for all news channels to air the ‘new political map’ of the country for 02 seconds before airing the news bulletin at 09:00 pm on a regular basis.
Imran Khan had unveiled this ‘new political map’ in August 2020, on the eve of the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, a move that stripped the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, making sovereign claims on the entire Jammu and Kashmir and the erstwhile princely state of Junagadh in Gujarat.
The notification issued by PEMRA stated: “All the news channels (both public and private) have to flash the political map of Pakistan for two seconds before airing the news bulletin at 9 pm on a regular basis,” says the PEMRA directive issued on November 3 that became public on Sunday.
whimsMapping the country in new dimensions: Govt mandates all tv channels to flash the map of Pakistan for 2 seconds before airing the news bulletin at 9.00 pm on regular basis. Why not national anthem? and asking public to stand before watching the bulletin? pic.twitter.com/lS9MOUQfch
— Fazil Jamili (@faziljamili) November 7, 2021
“All the satellite TV channel licencees (news and current affairs/regional language) are, therefore, directed to comply with the above-mentioned recommendation in letter and spirit without fail,” it said.
According to PEMRA, the directions to TV stations were issued in response to a letter from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dated September 16.
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry defended his ministry’s decision to send the instruction to PEMRA, claiming that the government had the authority to do so under Section 5 of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan unveils new ‘map of Pakistan’ including India territory
On the eve of the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, a move that stripped the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has released a new political map, making sovereign claims on the entire Jammu and Kashmir and the erstwhile princely state of Junagadh in Gujarat.
Terming it a historic day, Imran Khan unveiled the new political map, adding that the new political map of Pakistan represents the ambition of Pakistani nationals. Along with a fresh map, Pakistan had also called for the use of IIOJK (Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir) and not IOJK (India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir) or IOK (India Occupied Kashmir). Furthermore, all TV and Radio channels were asked to play Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir national anthems immediately after one minute of silence on August 5.
