Pak lifts ban on airing Indian TV serials

A Pakistani court on Tuesday lifted a ban on the airing of Indian television serials in the country saying "the world has become a global village" and asking how long "unreasonable restrictions" can be imposed, reported Dawn.

Lahore high court chief justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that Indian content with "objectionable" or "anti-Pakistan" content could be censored but there was no need for a complete ban.

The ban had been put in place by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra). And the Lahore high court declared the ban null and void saying that when the federal government has no objections to airing such content, it doesn't see a reason for such a ban.

Pemra had last October issued a notification imposing a blanket ban on all Indian content, after relations between Pakistan and India soured following the Uri terror attack last year.

The petition challenging the Pemra ban said imposing a ban is beyond the powers of the regulatory body and the Pakistani constitution. The petitioner also claimed that the government was indulging in "selective patriotism", because even though Indian movies were allowed to be screened all over the country, they could not be aired on television.

Pemra's ban on the airing of Indian films was lifted in February this year, but permission to air television dramas was still not granted.

Pemra's counsel claimed that the ban had been imposed because India had imposed similar restrictions on all Pakistani content.