By IANS
Islamabad : An ordinance imposing sweeping curbs on the electronic media has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which has been urged to declare that the move violates the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution.
Similar petitions against the ordinance have also been filed in the Lahore High Court and Sindh High Court, Dawn said Wednesday.
President Pervez Musharraf had Monday promulgated the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance empowering the authorities to take action on their own against TV channels, confiscate their equipment and seal their premises without reference to the regulator.
The ordinance follows extensive coverage by private TV news channels of the widespread protests in Pakistan following the suspension of Chief Justice Mohammad Ifthikar Chaudhury and his challenging the move in the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, police in Islamabad booked some 250 journalists, as well as civil society representatives, lawyers and politicians, who staged a protest here against the ordinance, on multiple charges,
Filed in the Supreme Court by Zafarullah Khan, who heads the human rights wing of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the petition contended that the ordinance had "demolished the institution of media" with the stroke of a pen.
The people of Pakistan had been stunned by this "shock and awe" policy of the government, as the last hope of the people to seek information had been trampled upon to stifle the people's movement for independence of the judiciary, the petition maintained.
The ordinance would curb civil liberties, the freedom of media and the independence of the judiciary, it said.
The Pakistani government, through the law and information secretaries, and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), through its chairperson, were named respondents in the petition.
"The freedom of press is always treated as the most essential part of a democratic system to keep a check on other organs of the government from exceeding its powers," the petition said.
The ordinance also violated article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guaranteeing the right to fair trial as it is the free media which ensures access to justice safeguarding the fundamental rights and independence of judiciary.
In Lahore, lawyer M.D. Tahir filed a petition against the ordinance in the High Court, urging that it be declared unconstitutional.
Tahir contended that the ground reality was entirely different from the government's claims of according full independence to the media. He said everyone should have the freedom to hold an opinion without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media outlet.
In Karachi, lawyer Iqbal Kazmi filed a petition in the Sindh High Court saying the ordinance placed unreasonable restrictions on the freedom of expression and the media guaranteed under article 19 of the constitution.