PM chides ministers over Pemra row after Firdous grouse.

Byline: Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday reprimanded some federal ministers and senior leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for their statements against the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (Pemra) recent move to bar television anchors from appearing as 'experts' in their own and other channels.

Presiding over a meeting of the federal cabinet, the prime minister expressed resentment over tweets of Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari and MNA Asad Umar against the Perma move and warned them against criticising the government decisions 'openly'.

'In fact Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan lodged a complaint with the prime minster that Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari and Asad Umar had given remarks through their tweets against the government's decision,' a participant of the meeting told Dawn on condition of anonymity. He said the prime minister was of the view that the 'government ministers should not have discussed such matters openly'.

At this, Fawad Chaudhry said to the prime minister that Pemra had not taken the decision in an appropriate manner, inviting criticism against the government.

The Pemra move has stirred controversy even in media and official circles.

In his tweet, Asad Umar had said: 'Amazing decision by Pemra to stop anchors to go on any other talk show and express their opinion! Pemra should be doing a better job taking action against completely fake news and not suppressing the right of individuals, including anchors, to express their opinion.'

Cabinet allows construction of 50-storey buildings in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan

Shireen Mazari had tweeted: 'Who is an 'expert'? An interesting [and] unintended debate has been generated - so purely at an academic non-political level: Do I need a degree in politics to be an expert on politics? I have no degree in 'human rights' so should I go on TV to discuss 'human rights' issues?'

Fawad Chaudhry had described the Pemra directive as 'illogical, unnecessary and uncalled for'.

High-rise buildings

The cabinet allowed four major cities of the country Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan to have 50-storey buildings.

'The cabinet allowed 500-foot-high buildings even in the funnel areas (15km radius) of airports in the four cities,' Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan told Dawn after the cabinet meeting.

He said...