The transmission of all private television channels remained suspended on Saturday in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi like other parts of the country, as Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (CAP) blocked the transmission in protest against the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (Pemra) raids.
The CAP went on 24-hour token strike against the Pemra raids and confiscation of their equipment's by the raiding teams in different parts of the country. The association has also announced to change the current order of channels within the next 48 hours.
The CAP leadership said that they blocked the transmission of private television channels as a token strike and threatened to continue the strike if issues were not resolved and confiscated equipment's were not returned to them. Addressing a press conference at National Press Club, CAP President Afzal Qazi along with Secretary General Imran Nadim threatened to move the court against Pemra actions.
During last three days Pemra is conducting raids on PAC members all over Pakistan and the teams took away equipment's, which has caused the losses of millions to Cable Operators. "It is strange that though cable operators are major source of revenue of the authority, the Pemra is bent upon destroying the Cable Operating system across the country just to protect one private television network," the CAP leaders said.
They claimed that Geo Super did not had the rights to show World Cup matches on cable and can only broadcast on satellite. They alleged that Pemra carried out fake operations against the Cable Operators and confiscated 78 cable systems operating in different parts. "We are going to observe a twenty-four hour token strike starting from 12 noon today (Saturday), but if the misconduct of Pemra continue, we will go on an indefinite strike," they said. They said that all channels would remain closed except the official channel.
"We all are united on the point and are not ready to accept any illegal pressure by anyone," they maintained. They said that the private television network was misleading the Supreme Court of Pakistan against cable operators and Pemra was taking action on every fake complaint filed by the television network. They also criticised some private television channels for airing Indian programs.