Pak HC quashes govt ban on Imran Khan's speeches from TV channels

A Pakistani high court on Thursday quashed the federal government’s ban on the broadcast of the speeches and press meetings of ousted prime minister Imran Khan from satellite channels.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned the speeches of the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party last week after the cricketer-turned-politician targeted former Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa in an address to his supporters in Lahore. The Lahore High Court ordered to lift the ban with immediate effect, he said.

Khan’s counsel Barrister Ahmad Pansota argued that the PEMRA issued the impugned order above its jurisdiction without having regard to the constitutional rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution.

Pansota said that the judgment handed down by the Islamabad High Court declared a similar prohibition order against the petitioner on similar grounds as ultra vires the Ordinance. He added that the PEMRA, without applying its mind and on the instigation of a political party ruling in the federation, took illegal and unlawful action against the petitioner to settle political rivalries.

Khan, 70, has been in the crosshairs due to his repeated criticism of the establishment, blaming it for doing nothing to save his government which was toppled last year due to a no-trust vote.

As the suspension of PEMRA's order came, the electronic media watchdog on Thursday banned broadcasting and rebroadcasting of content pertaining to the conduct of the sitting judges of superior courts in the country.

In its latest order, the PEMRA directed that the running of contents against the conduct of the judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts is prohibited on electronic media with immediate effect.

The regulator referred to its previous directives wherein all licensees were directed to “refrain from telecasting any content against state institutions”, but various channels were disregarding the guidelines and “persistently discussing the conduct of honourable judges of superior courts and orchestrating a vilification campaign through airing slanderous allegations”.

PEMRA said running any such material was a sheer violation of the authority’s laws and judgments of the apex court.

Sales tax on luxury items raised to 25% from 17%

The Pakistan government has hiked sales tax from 17 per cent to 25 per cent on select luxury goods, media reports said on Thursday, as the cash-strapped country was taking steps to unlock the ~1.1 billion tranche of funding from IMF.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is refusing to release the ~1.1 billion tranche under the ~7 billion loan facility unless crucial decisions are made by the government and implemented. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) for a 25 per cent imposition of General Sales Tax, The News International newspaper reported.

The sales tax hike includes 33 categories of goods covering 860 tariff lines, high-end mobile phones, imported food, decoration items, and other luxury goods, the Dawn newspaper reported. (PTI)