Pemra close BOLchannel in Islamabad due to lacking security clearance.
According to a public statement, the decision in question was made at the Pemra Chairman Muhammad Saleem Baig-presiding body’s 174th meeting.
The licences of M/s Labbaik were revoked by Pemra in its 131st meeting of 2017 as a result of the company failing to obtain security clearance from the Ministry of the Interior, it was revealed during the meeting. However, after contesting PEMRA’s order in the Sindh High Court, which decided the case in 2021, the channels continued their broadcast.
It was mentioned that Pemra’s attorney had made it clear that neither channel would be permitted to go on air if the Interior Ministry did not grant M/s Labbaik security clearance.After going over all the documents pertaining to the court’s orders and the letters sent out by the Interior Ministry, the media regulatory body ordered that transmission of both BOL channels cease.According to the media watchdog, M/s Labbaik did not submit any applications for the licence renewal of BOL Entertainment, which was set to expire in December 2021.Imran Khan, the chairman of the PTI and a former prime minister, reacted to the news by saying that Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government had suspended BOL because it had given his party coverage.
“Imported government has increased media blackouts and journalist persecution to fascist levels. Now Bol has been suspended simply because it gave us coverage. The message to all media organisations is to exclude from mainstream media coverage the largest and most well-liked national political party. Unacceptable,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle
