islamabad - Taking notice of a programme about Valentine’s Day, the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Geo television Chief Executive Officer Mir Ibrahim, “Report Card” host Ayesha Bakhsh and others in a contempt of court case.
IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued the notices to TV CEO, the programme anchor and the participants including Hassan Nisar and Imtiaz Alam to personally appear before the court to explain “why not contempt of court proceedings may be initiated against them and why the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) may not be directed to initiate proceedings for the cancellation of licence of the channel, ‘Geo News’.
Justice Siddiqui also directed PEMRA to make arrangements for the display of the programme in the court on February 27, the next date of hearing.
In its order, the bench observed that “on February 14, the programme “Report Card” hosted by Ayesha Bakhsh and participated by Hassan Nisar, Imtiaz Alam, Hafeez Ullah Niazi, Mazhar Abbas, Irshad Bhatti and Babar Sattar advocate was telecast on Geo News.
In the programme relating to the order passed by this court against the promotion of Valentine’s Day, it was not only ridiculed, disrespected, but also discussed in a very derogatory manner.
Prima facie, the host and Hassan Nisar and Imtiaz Alam without showing any respect or keeping in view the restrictions imposed by article 19 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 regarding freedom of speech etc, crossed all limits of decency and morality”.
The Islamabad High Court bench said that “this act of the host and the participants apparently is tainted with malafide, ulterior motives, aim to undermine the authority of the court and to disrespect the order passed by this court, which clearly comes within the definition of the contempt of court”.