Srinagar, April 26: A government order banning foreign channels, including Islamic channels, in Jammu evoked strong protests from the public, forcing a partial rollback of the ban.
The Jammu district administration had on Friday ordered the cable operators to stop airing 12 channels – Peace TV (Dubai), Quran TV, Hadi TV, Noor TV, ARY, PTV Home, PTV World, Geo TV, Dawn, Express, Waqt and Aaj – on grounds that these channels do not have broadcast permission.
Jammu district magistrate MK Dwivedi had issued the notification to the cable operations under Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act, 1995, and sought compliance report within two days.
The foreign Channels regulation order comes within barely a week of restriction on SMSs across Jammu and Kashmir on security grounds; though the government had to withdraw the restrictions bowing to public uproar within hours of ordering it.
However, strong protests erupted when cable operators took these channels off air, forcing the administration to partially revoke the notification.
The religious channels were put back on air, while the foreign news channels without proper permissions have been kept off.
However, the restriction orders evoked communal reactions as many alleged that only Islamic channels were being targeted.
Anjumani Imamia general secretary Syed Fida Hussain said, “There are so many channels like Baba Ram Dev’s channel, Bapu Asaram’s channel, Sahab Bandigi and Jain TV which cater to the needs of other communities, but there is no ban on them.”
“I cannot vouch for other channels but banning Islamic channels like Peace TV and QTV is beyond our understanding,” said Zahoor-ud-din, chairman of the Muslim Coordination Committee, Jammu said.
—Agencies