ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regularity Authority (Pemra) on Friday suspended the license issued to Geo News for a period of 15 days, DawnNews reported.
Apart from the suspension, effective immediately, the channel has also been levied a fine of Rs10 million.
A Pemra spokesman said the license was suspended on a complaint filed by the defence ministry.
The development came during a meeting of the body convened by its newly-appointed chairman Parvez Rathore under Rule 3(4) of Pemra Rules 2009. The meeting deliberated on a complaint filed by the defence ministry against Geo News in light of the law ministry’s opinion.
The body after a discussion unanimously decided to immediately suspend the license of Geo News for a period of 15 days, besides imposing a fine of Rs10 million to be paid before the expiry of the suspension period.
In case of non-payment of fine, the suspension of the license will continue.
The authority further decided that in case of repeated violations by Geo News, proceedings for revocation of the license will be initiated.
All field offices of Pemra have been directed to implement the decision of the authority in letter and spirit with immediate effect.
A statement from Geo News said that the regulatory body had “already been punishing the channel”, adding that the broadcast was not available “in 90 per cent of areas” in the country for the last 45 days.
The statement further said that the channel had already apologised and had incurred Rs2 billion in losses.
The channel added that “Geo News was not provided with any evidence nor was its stance heard by the Pemra”.