Pakistan Supreme Court bars channels from airing Indian films, TV shows

The move came a week after Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Pakistan film exhibitors association will be boycotting the Indian films following Indian air strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last month.

The minister's comments came on a day when India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC). AFP PHOTO/ RIZWAN TABASSUM (Photo credit should read RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday barred private channels from airing Indian films and television shows, amid escalating tensions between the two countries following the Pulwama terror attack. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmad, heard the case pertaining to the telecast of Indian material on Pakistani channels. "The apex court has barred private channels from airing Indian material," state-run Radio Pakistan reported. The hearing of the case has been adjourned for an indefinite period. The move came a week after Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Pakistan film exhibitors association will be boycotting the Indian films following Indian air strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last month. Hussain also said that he has instructed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to crack down on "made-in-India advertisements". The apex court last instated a ban on Indian material in October 2018.