Boot gimmick: PM bans Vawda’s participation in talk shows for 15 days

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has sought explanation from Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda over his conduct in live current affairs show of a private news channel, said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday.

In a tweet, she said the Prime Minister had banned participation of Vawda in any talk show for 15 days.

In another development, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Thursday decided to ban a private news channel’s current affairs programme for 60 days.

According to a notification issued here, during the programme hosted by Kashif Abbasi on January 14, one of the panelists Faisal Vawda performed “very unethical act while starting his arguments on the subject being discussed”.

The notification said the host was “quite unprofessional who actually did not intervene or stop the unethical act performed by one of the participants during live show and rather took the entire incident casually and kept smiling”.

The content aired live during the programme prima facie appeared to be a “willful attempt to debase and demean a state institution by dragging it unnecessarily in a debate”.

The act of the host is also violation of various clauses of the PEMRA ordinance. In view of these reasons the competent authority has decided to ban the programme for 60 days starting from January 16 under Section 27 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007. Appearance of the host of the programme Kashif Abbasi has also been banned for 60 days and during this period he will not conduct any other programme on any television channel as host, guest or the expert.

According to media reports, the ban has been roundly condemned by the Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND), which called for the ban to be lifted immediately.