The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday clarified that it had not yet initiated any disciplinary action or directed cable operators to take TV channel NewsOne off air after it was issued a show-cause notice last week for airing "derogatory" remarks about the performance of a federal minister during a talk show.

The statement of the regulatory authority comes two days after reports that the TV channel was taken off air by cable networks even before legal formalities had been completed.

The TV channel had come under fire after remarks were made about Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed in the programme “G for Gharidah” when guests were discussing the performance of the Ministry of Communications, which ranked first among the 10 best performing federal ministries awarded by the prime minister on Feb 10.

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In its statement today, Pemra said it had summoned the channel's CEO on Feb 15 (today), adding that any other proceedings would be initiated only after a response from the TV channel.

Earlier, Pemra had said the remarks made during the show were in "sheer violation" of Pemra Ordinance 2002 as (Amendment) Act, 2007 and several clauses of the Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisement) Code of Conduct, 2015. It added that rules stipulated that a channel licence holder was also bound to tender an apology to a person/institution against whom particular remarks were made.

After a contentious episode of the talk show, Pemra had issued a show-cause notice to the channel, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, which said that News One had aired the show on Thursday (Feb 10) at 10:05pm where the anchor and panelists had questioned the decision to award Saeed the top honour and made several critical and disparaging remarks about the federal minister, insinuating other factors behind the award than his ministry's performance.

The notice had criticised that such "unprofessional/demeaning remarks" were aired without any editorial control or time-delay mechanism in place. It added that airing such remarks "raises serious concerns on the performance of [the] channel’s editorial policy and gatekeeping tools being adopted/practised".

The regulatory body had directed the channel's CEO to reply in writing within four days as to why legal action including a fine, suspension and revocation of licence along with other measures should not be initiated. The CEO or an authorised representative was directed to appear before the body at its headquarters in Islamabad on Tuesday with a written reply.

"In case of non-compliance, ex-parte legal action shall be taken against the licensee in accordance with relevant provisions of PEMRA Laws," the notice had warned.

Comments that sparked fury

The Pemra notice had reproduced the comments made in the programme where anchor Gharida Farooqui questioned her panelists on what was the "[real] reason" for Saeed's ministry ranking first. A panelist, journalist Mohsin Baig, responded that he didn't know but the reason was "written in Reham Khan's book".

Another panelist, senior journalist Iftikhar Ahmed, said: "Who is unaware of the performance and the allegations against this man at the top (Saeed)."

Meanwhile, analyst Tariq Mehmood said that some things were "self-explanatory" and asked the anchor to not prod over it since Pemra was watching.

"A book has been mentioned as well. There is nothing hidden about this that Imran Khan likes him a lot and he is a very hard working minister, is very close to Imran Khan and has once again proved that he has left all others behind in performance. So what more do you want me to say," Mehmood said.

At this, the host, Farooqui, said she did not understand what he was talking about and asked defence analyst Lt-Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib to clarify.

"I was saying that I did not read [Reham Khan's] book but I have definitely heard Mohsin Baig. I agree with whatever he has said and can't say anything else," Shoaib said.

Later, the media body's notice was not the only one to raise an issue of the comments as several criticised the programme for the content aired.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Planning Minister Asad Umar had strongly condemned the content of the programme and said it was very sad [for participants and the host] to stray from morals under the guise of criticism.

The ruling party, meanwhile, had said it was "extremely shameful" for the anchor to lead her programme with such derogatory language and demanded an apology.