The state-owned electronic media on Monday blocked the speeches delivered by National Assembly members belonging to the opposition. However, the authorities concerned expressed ignorance about the decision to black out the opposition.
The PTI leaders, who are currently sitting under the umbrella of Sunni Itehad Council (SIC) in the lower house of parliament, have declared their intention to file a privilege motion against Pakistan Television (PTV).
Speaking in the National Assembly on Monday morning before Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the prime minister, Omer Ayub raised his concerns to the speaker and said the state media was discriminating against them.
“My speech was not aired by PTV while I was making a speech yesterday (Sunday) as a candidate for the slot of prime minister…This was despite the fact that not a single word from my speech was expunged by the speaker. The question is why Shehbaz Sharif’s speech was aired directly.” He also announced to submit a privilege motion against the PTV.
Following his address, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Akhtar Mengal also experienced a complete blackout, while Asad Qaiser faced recurrent disruptions and blockades by PTV during his speech. Not only were their speeches censored on PTV’s broadcast, but also on PTV’s social media channel.
The privilege motion against PTV will be forwarded to the NA committee on rules and privileges once it is constituted.
Later in his address, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari mentioned Omar Ayub’s complaint regarding the non-broadcasting of opposition members’ speeches on state-run TV.He said:
“We should not continue this tradition [of censorship] set by Khan sahib. We have to make decisions that strengthen this house and brighten the country’s future.”
He said our colleagues would have been able to listen to the prime minister’s speech if they had not been protesting.
Renowned journalist Hamid Mir also protested on the issue . In his twitt on social media platform ‘X’ he attached the balckout news from Dawn and raised the question that who is ready to own this censorship .
On the other hand, no authority acknowledged responsibility for the blackout of coverage.
Murtaza Solangi was the caretaker minister for information and broadcasting till the oath-taking of Mr Sharif as prime minister on Monday afternoon.
When he was asked about the reasons for the blackout of the speeches by the MNAs belonging to the opposition, Mr Solangi said the PTV managing director was the responsible person to answer the query. However, there was no reply either from the secretary information or the PTV chief.
