Ex-Pemra head tells SC of ‘media coercion’ during Faizabad sit-in

As the Supreme Court resumes on Wednesday the hearing of a set of review petitions against the 2017 Faizabad sit-in, a former Pemra chairman has pointed fingers at a former head and officers of an intelligence agency for ‘manipulation’ of TV news channels and explained the dire consequences of not acceding to their instructions.

In a sworn concise statement before the apex court, former Pemra chairman Absar Alam alleged that he received calls from the then ISI Director General Major General Faiz Hamid and his subordinates, who asked him to take action against senior journalist Najam Sethi and completely black out former ambassador Husain Haqqani from TV channels, though these demands were never heeded.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, a three-judge bench will take up a set of nine review petitions against the Feb 6, 2019 judgement in the Faizabad dharna case.

At the last hearing, the Supreme Court sought fresh disclosures from anyone regarding the protest by a religious group that had brought the capital and the garrison city to a grinding halt for 20 days.

Justice Isa, who had written the 2019 judgement, said anybody who was affected by the protest, could approach the apex court to submit affidavits revealing new information but in writing.

In response, Absar Alam furnished his concise statement, alleging that Gen Faiz and/or his subordinates controlled policies of TV channels through unlawful means by changing their numbers and moving them at the tail end on cable networks, if they refused to follow the instructions.

He also explained that such manipulation affected the visibility of and access to the channels.

The statement recalled how in April 2017, the situation became untenable, necessitating him to bring it to the attention of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, chief justice Saqib Nisar and army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa the grave threats by unknown persons to Pemra officials for not following instructions and thus creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of Pemra.

The statement revealed that in May and June 2017, Pemra invoked Section 33-A of Pemra Act ensuring restoring of all TV channels to their original positions and even visited Lahore and Karachi with police assistance to ensure restoration of DawnNews and Geo News to their original positions. Cable operators who were violating the instructions were even punished, it claimed.

But after the suspension of Channel 92 on Nov 25, 2017, during the Faizabad dharna, pursuant to a complaint from the Ministry of Interior, Gen Faiz and/or his subordinates called the applicant thrice, questioning about the suspension and requesting either its restoration or shutdown of all channels. But none of the illegal or unlawful demands were acceded to, he claimed.

According to the statement, the then Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb contacted the applicant on Nov 25, 2017, asking him to order shutdown of all TV channels to which the response was that the situation did not merit any such drastic action and no such power existed with Pemra.

While referring to Section 5 of Pemra Act, when she demanded a complete shutdown [of news channels], she was told that only ‘a written policy directive’ from the federal government could be acted upon, it claimed.

Subsequently, it added, Pemra received a written policy directive from the federal government with the result that all TV channels were shut down during the Faizabad dharna.

A day later, Pemra received a federal government directive to restore all TV channels that had been shut down.

Mr Alam alleged there was a ‘discernible pattern of interference’ in the affairs and functioning of Pemra creating unnecessary tussle, wasting energy and scarce state resources in a battle imposed in a patently ‘unconstitutional and illegal’ manner at the behest of individual serving agency officers.

But only through constant vigilance, Pemra was able to counter some of the illegal, unlawful and threatening moves to protect the life of its employees and yet perform its functions, albeit in a limited manner, he claimed.

Dismissal, cases, murder attempt

The ex-chairman apprised the Supreme Court that at the behest of individual serving intelligence officers, a number of unnerving incidents took place and after roughly two years of his tenure, a challenge to his appointment as Pemra chairman was made and heard on a day-to-day basis culminating in his removal in December 2018.

Likewise, an intra-court appeal that was taken up after five years was also dismissed on technical grounds without even providing an opportunity of hearing, he added.

Mr Alam regretted that registration of sedition and treason cases against him in 20 cities, while after his removal two more cases were filed in Dina near Jhelum on charges of treason, sedition and anti-state activities that fall within the meaning of Article 6 of the Constitution.

Even during and after the term at Pemra, he was the target of media trials with declarations of being a ‘traitor’ and much worse, he alleged.

Also the FIA registered cases against the applicant under the Cyber Crimes Act over his tweets raising questions about certain public servants’ handling of state affairs.

Finally, in April 2021, the statement alleged, the applicant was targeted in an assassination attempt that failed, but he was not allowed to appear on any TV channel as a guest or write in any newspaper and was forcibly made to remain unemployed even after his removal as Pemra chairman.