Ansar Abbasi wonders when PEMRA will make female anchors wear dupattas

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 27 March 2017

Ansar Abbasi raises concerns about female anchors' dress code on TV channels in his column. He references a Lahore High Court ruling urging PEMRA to address this issue.

Summary

ISLAMABAD: Ansar Abbasi, Editor Investigation at The News, Monday wondered when PEMRA would take a decision to make female anchors on private TV channels wear a dupatta.

In his column in Jang titled PEMRA say juri umidain kab puri hon gi, Abbasi quoted a news item in an Urdu newspaper according to which the Lahore High Court has directed PEMRA to take a decision on female anchors donning a dupatta.

According to the column, LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah took up the petition of Shahbaz Mughal, who argued that making female anchors wear a dupatta on private TV channels is the responsibility of PEMRA, which it was not fulfilling.

After the arguments, the court ordered the petitioner to submit an amended petition on making dupatta compulsory for female anchors while PEMRA was asked to listen to the petitioner and take a decision on this matter.

“Now we have to see when PEMRA takes up this issue and what decision it takes,” Abbasi wrote.

Overall the column bemoans the spread of obscenity on private TV channels. “I do not know about constitutional references given in the petition, but I do know that according to the constitution it is the responsibility of the state and its institutions to take such measures to give Muslims in the country an Islamic atmosphere to live.” He added that Islamabad High Court has already directed PEMRA to take steps against obscenity.

During Gen Ziaul Haq’s rule it was compulsory for PTV’s female newscasters, talk show hosts and actresses to cover their heads with a dupatta.

Image: Twitter (@AnsarAAbasi)