PM reproaches Vawda, stops him from appearing on TV.

Byline: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan has sought an explanation from federal Water ResouArces Minister Faisal Vawda for a controversial act during a TV talk show and stopped him from appearing on television for two weeks.

Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information, said the prime minister had taken note of the outrage over the unacceptable behaviour and ordered action against the minister after summoning him on Thursday morning.

In a related development, the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) termed Mr Vawda's act of carrying an army boot to the ARY News current affairs programme, Off the Record, earlier this week 'very unethical'.

The authority imposed a 60-day ban, not only on the programme, but also barred its host Kashif Abbasi from appearing on any other television channel. Pemra, however, lifted the ban after receiving an explanation from the news channel.

Ammad Yousuf, an executive at ARY News, said Pemra had allowed the channel to go ahead with its show after it submitted a written reply to its order. The network received the Pemra order just after Wednesday midnight.

Pemra places a ban on host Kashif Abbasi, but withdraws the order after an explanation by the channel

'In late hours around 12.35am, Pemra issued an order in which ARY was not given a right to reply. Today we submitted our reply to Pemra, after which we were allowed to go on air,' he said.

'What Mr Vawda did in our show was his own conduct. For us, all state institutions, including parliament, judiciary and army, are highly respectable and we will never support any such act which maligns any state institution,' Mr Yousuf added.

Briefing reporters about decisions taken in a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's core committee, Dr Awan confirmed that the matter regarding Faisal Vawda had come under review and the participants 'expressed their reservations over the (minister's) behaviour'.

'The PM has sought an explanation from the honourable minister and imposed a 15-day ban on him from appearing in any talk show,' Dr Awan said.

She said the prime minister had reiterated his resolve not to allow anyone to damage the sanctity of any national institution. She quoted the prime minister as having said the armed forces were rendering sacrifices along the Line of Control and that 'we'll not let these sacrifices go waste'.

The SAPM, who earlier in the day made public the action against Mr Vawda through her...