The Supreme Court Thursday constituted a two-member committee to find out causes of illegal sale of Indian Direct-to-Home (DTH) in Pakistani markets. The DTH is a digital box that provides customers with channels permitted to be aired in the country without a cable connection. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar hearing the suo motu case questioned how DTH box is sold in the Pakistani markets. The court directed the authorities to take steps for preventing its smuggling.
The committee comprising member customs and additional director general Federal Investigation Agency was directed to raid the markets and take into possession the India DTH. The committee was also ordered to find out how the DTH reached the markets and who is responsible for its smuggling and file comprehensive report about its sale and smuggling within 10 days.
The Chief Justice said that there are many complaints by electronic and social sector regarding the sale of India DTH in the Pakistan market. He regretted that the country is incurring a loss through smuggling of DTH boxes.
During the proceedings, the FIA, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) accepted the sale of DTH in Pakistan. The Chief Justice then inquired from them how this could be stopped.
Before constituting the committee, the Chief Justice inquired from the FIA and the PEMRA officials whether they are not using DTH at their homes, adding later on it was discovered that the committee members themselves were using DTH at their houses.
The apex court in May 2018 had overturned the 2016 judgement of the Lahore High Court that rules that the PEMRA had violated the rules of its own ordinance as it auctioned Direct-to-Home (DTH).
The PEMRA had auctioned three DTH programming licences in November, 2016. The auction was held after the Supreme Court allowed the Authority to proceed with the auction, but barred it from awarding the contract till the final determination of the case by the LHC.