Overview
- Pakistan’s media regulator issued the notice on Monday, summoning Geo News CEO Mir Ibrahim Rehman for an April 27 hearing and demanding a written reply within 14 days.
- PEMRA said the broadcast used Indian songs and film visuals in wilful defiance of a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that bars Indian content on Pakistani television.
- The notice cites Rule 15(1) of the 2009 PEMRA Rules, Regulation 18(1)(g) of the 2012 TV operations rules, and multiple clauses of the 2015 code of conduct, with possible fines and licence revocation.
- Geo News managing director Azhar Abbas defended the segment as standard obituary reporting and argued that art crosses borders, saying artists should not become casualties in times of conflict.
- Journalists and politicians condemned the action as censorship, though some backed strict enforcement on sovereignty grounds, and the dispute revives a legal arc from PEMRA’s 2016 curbs to a 2017 court lift and the 2018 ban, even as Indian music remains widely streamed online outside PEMRA’s remit.