what happened : Few days ago, the Ex- Finance Minister Ishaq Dar appeared on the international talk show “Hardtalk” where he addressed several issues including, the National Accountability Bureau, his return to Pakistan , the 2018 general elections and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s allegations against the army. His interview went viral and was aired on private news channels, as well as being dubbed in Urdu. But, after almost 2 days of it airing on media channels, PEMRA has now sent the channels show-cause notices regarding the airing of the interview. PEMRA has already banned the broadcast of speeches, interviews, and public addresses by absconders and proclaimed offenders.
— Report PEMRA (@reportpemra) December 3, 2020
“A self-explanatory complaint (has been) received from Mr. Muhammad Azhar Siddique against the several news channels in particular who aired the interview/speech/ public addresses of an absconder or a proclaimed offender,” read PEMRA’s notice.
The Pakistan Television Network(PTV), the state broadcaster, also aired Ishaq Dar’s recent interview but is not served with show-cause notice by PEMRA.
The Supreme Court, in 2017, declared the former finance minister an absconder, when he failed to appear before the court, as he was in London, reportedly undergoing medical treatment.