The Defense Ministry of Pakistan is demanding to cancel the Geo TV channel’s license. The channel had aired comments which accused the main spy agency of the country of involvement in a gun attack on the host of one of the talk shows.
A complaint has been lodged with the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory or PEMRA which has asked it to take the channel off air. The channel had broadcasted reports alleging that the officials of the Inter-Service Intelligence agency ISI were behind the April 19, 2014 attack on Hamid Mir. The head of the political science department at the University of Punjab Umbreen Javed on phone said, “The clash between institutions is becoming a precedent”.
Javed added that this is not a good trend for democracy as it is still in the early phase and is still immature. The issue has also reflected an important role of the Pakistan Army and its powerful Spy agency in the domestic politics with key security policies.
The Army of Pakistan has ruled the country for more than half of its history of 67 years and has resisted the attempts by the past governments to exert control on the ISI. The government of the prime Minister Yousuf Raza in 2008 announced that it exercised its constitutional authority over the ISI to transfer the oversight to the civilian Interior Ministry.
Photo Credits: India TV News
