ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory
Authority (Pemra) ordered the management of Bol Television on Thursday to stop
their transmission until the directors of their parent company Axact were
exonerated from charges of fraud and money laundering.
Axact’s
directors are currently facing charges in the wake of a massive fake degree
scandal, which was exposed by The New York Times.
A
spokesman for the electronic media watchdog told Dawn that the Bol management
had been told that until the investigation into this matter was concluded and
the directors of Axact were proven innocent, they could not air their channel’s
transmission.
The
management of Bol TV had announced the first of Ramazan as the formal launch
date for their channel and a test transmission had begun a few days ago.
According
to the Pemra spokesman, the authority asked Bol TV to cease transmission in
pursuance of the letter, issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
earlier on Thursday.
The
information ministry had issued directions to Pemra to stop the transmission of
Bol TV.
The
letter, titled ‘Policy advice under Section 5 of the Pemra Act 2007’, directed
the authority to “ensure stoppage of transmission of Bol channel through any
distribution network for the time being (sic).”
The
letter further says that the directors of Axact are about to launch the Bol TV
channel, and that since the matter is under investigation by the Federal
Investigation Agency, letting the channel go on air may seriously hamper the
investigation.
Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2015
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