Islamabad, Aug 24: Firmly rejecting a government appeal, Pakistan's cable operators on Saturday decided to go ahead with a nation-wide week-long strike from Sunday demanding lifting of the ban on Indian entertainment channels.

The Pakistan Cable Operators Association (PCOA) said transmission of all foreign channels would be stopped till the end of the strike on Aug 30 and during the period only the PTV channels would be shown.

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The decision has been taken in protest against the government regulatory body, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (PEMRA) decision not to lift the ban on the Indian channels on cable TV despite the thaw in relations with India, it said.

PEMRA had appealed to PCOA to desist from the strike move contending that the ban on the Indian channels was necessary to help Pakistan government and private channels to stabilise themselves. But the cable operators feel it will only help in improving the native channels as there will be a healthy competition.

Arguing that there is a huge demand for Indian channels, Chairman of Punjab chapter of PCOA Malik Furgan Ghias and Marketing Manager of World Call Cable said the need must be met because these are purely entertainment channels which are not engaging in any kind of propaganda.

Pakistan's Cable operators numbering around 970 cater to about 4.2 million subscribers, amounting to more than 25 million viewers. In the last two years the screening of Indian channels has been stopped many times as tension mounted between the two countries after the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. Bureau Report