Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan has urged private channels not to broadcast indecent programmes in the name of Ramazan transmission. During the Question Hour session of National Assembly, the minister said that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) monitors contents of about 55 private channels to check whether they are not involved in obscenity, anti-Islamic teachings or any thing against the institutions of the country.
He said that the government is not against private channels to earn money, but they should take care of Pakistani culture and Islamic traditions in their contents. Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to submit a detailed report within 15 days regarding the websites involved in spreading obscenity and vulgarity.
Responding to a question, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul said that the government is going to prohibit single-use plastic bags in the federal capital by August 14 this year. The minister of state said that her ministry distributed cotton bags among the parliamentarians and journalists as an alternative to plastic bags.
Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan informed the House that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has launched new routes like Sialkot-Sharjah, Lahore-Muscat, Islamabad-Doha and Lahore-Bangkok, Kualalampur, Siakot-Paris-Barcelona, Peshawar-Sharjah, Pashwar-Al-Ain and Multan-Sharjah.
He said that PIA is also increasing frequencies and capacity on profitable routes like Jeddah and Medina, especially from Faisalabad. Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Nausheen Hamid said that effective immunisation campaigns are the only way to eradicate polio virus from the country.
She was responding to a calling attention notice moved by Dr Samina Maltoob and others regarding increase in number of polio cases in the country due to rise in refusal rate to administer polio vaccine to children. She said that there are only two countries Pakistan and Afghanistan where the polio cases were detected. She said that the poliovirus is being transferred from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
Dr Nausheen Hamid said that poliovirus continues to exist in sewage water in Pakistan causing eruption of this disease in various parts of the country. She said that the polio vaccination campaigns are launched to fully eradicate the disease from Pakistan. She said that a special campaign was launched in April, while the similar initiative would be launched in July. She said that unfortunately, some elements create hurdles in the way of effective polio eradication campaigns. She said that an exclusive social media cell has been established at her ministry to create awareness against polio.