Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have banned BBC news broadcasts on private FM radio stations across the country, the BBC said on Thursday.
The BBC said the ban had affected over 50 percent of its daily transmissions on private FM radio stations.
The BBC has been airing five-minute news bulletins on several FM stations over the past year but the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned the broadcasts a few days ago.
In a letter, PEMRA asked FM stations to provide details of their agreement with the BBC and to file applications for permission to broadcast BBC news.
The FM stations had sought a few days time to comply with the instructions but authorities did not give them time and banned the transmissions, the BBC said.
It said the radio channels provided the required documents to PEMRA today but permission had not yet been granted. The BBC said it had tried to contact PEMRA but could not succeed in doing so.
Military authorities have denied issuing any instructions to PEMRA in this regard.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has promised to get the transmissions restored after contacting PEMRA but there is no progress, the BBC said. Principal Information Officer Chaudhry Rashid said he had asked PEMRA to seek documents of the agreement between BBC and radio stations but had not asked for the transmissions to be banned.
The BBC has been formally registered in Pakistan and the organisation is called BBC Pakistan. Its employees are following Pakistani rules and pay taxes
Bureau Report
