PML-N’s Hina Pervaiz Butt admits govt's role in ARY News suspension

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hina Pervaiz Butt admitted on Monday that ‘orders were issued for the suspension of the transmission of ARY News’.

Hina Pervaiz Butt said in a Twitter message that what other option left other than suspension of a television channel which runs false propaganda against the government and Pakistan Army.

The tweet was apparently deleted by the PML-N leader after sharp criticism over the suspected order of the incumbent government against the ARY News.

Earlier, the transmission of ARY News has been suspended in different parts of the country on Monday.

READ: PML-N ACTIVATES ‘STRATEGIC MEDIA CELL’ TO MALIGN IMRAN KHAN, PTI

The transmission of ARY News was taken down in parts of Pakistan following the orders of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to the cable operators.

The transmission of ARY News was suspended in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Sialkot, Hyderabad, Faisalabad and other cities. The position of ARY News was also changed in different areas of Rawalpindi city.

Following the shutdown of ARY News, several Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders including Shireen Mazari, Shahbaz Gill, and others took to Twitter and condemned PEMRA’s illegal act.

‘Strategic media cell’

The suspension of ARY News transmission is a clear violation of Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders which barred PEMRA from closure and relegation of ARY News to lower numbers on TV channels sequence.

The suspension of transmission comes hours after ARY News aired a report that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has reportedly activated its strategic media cell to malign Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chairman Imran Khan besides building a narrative to prove the rival as an anti-armed forces power.

The report aired by ARY News on June 27 regarding the activation of the ruling PML-N’s strategic media cell proved to be true. It emerged that the PML-N activated its strategic media cell to run a malicious campaign against Imran Khan and PTI to prove it was an anti-military or anti-armed forces party.