Quetta: Hafiz Hussain Ahmad Sharodi, the provincial Minister for Information
and Local Government, here on Sunday held an official meeting with the
city’s Internet café owners and outlined government policy to bar children
from accessing adult websites.
Café owners were also asked “to curtain” their cafés. Mr Sharodi issued a
warning to the café owners: “If any café owner is found guilty of allowing
children to use them [the cafés] he will be punished according to the law.”
Meanwhile, the Balochistan government announced on Sunday that it was
banning Indian satellite channels in the province despite the fact that they
were already banned countrywide about a year and half ago.
Cable operators said that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority
(PEMRA) had already set-up an office in Quetta and that they had been warned
of action by the government.
PEMRA’s regional manager told Daily Times that PEMRA was established in May
2002 and that it had taken time to set up offices in all four provinces.
“We have established our office in Quetta now and have demanded that cable
operators stop transmission of Indian channels immediately,” he explained.
Understandably, the announcement has not been welcomed by cable operators
who believe the ban might disrupt their business. Two cable network
operators, Suhail and Umar, complained about the ban saying the authorities
“should relax the rules” in Balochistan. Operators lost thousands of rupees
when their cable provision equipment was confiscated.
Maulvi Noor Muhammad, an MNA from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, made it clear on
Sunday that the government was working hard to launch a massive campaign
against cable operators.
“The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leadership in Balochistan has formed a committee
to present its recommendations on a campaign against obscenity,” he said.
“We advise the people to refrain from indulging in such a business,
otherwise we will take stern action against them.”
