On July 11, at midnight, Geo News resumed broadcasting following the expiration of a 15-day suspension imposed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The suspension was imposed over the depiction of religious figures during a transmission on the 10th of Muharram.

PEMRA’s final decision order, issued after their 191st meeting, said it reviewed the incident in detail, taking into account various submissions from Geo News, the proceedings on record, and the recommendations of the Council of Complaints, Lahore. The Council met three times to deliberate on the issue.

Upon hearing from the Geo News representatives, examining the record and taking the opinion of the Council of Islamic Ideology into consideration, the Council of Complaints had forwarded its recommendations to PEMRA.

The regulatory body found that Geo News’ violation was severe and contravened the obligations of a licensee under the PEMRA legal framework and the standards of responsible broadcasting. PEMRA noted that the channel was given a fair chance to present its defence before arriving at a final decision. Despite Geo News admitting to negligence, expressing remorse, and issuing unconditional apologies across all its media platforms, PEMRA stated that these actions do not erase the violation or its legal consequences.

PEMRA affirmed its decision of suspending Geo News’ licence for 15 days.

PEMRA stated that the channel must pay the Rs10 million fine and complete the suspension period to resume transmission.

Additionally, the authority directed Geo News to conduct disciplinary proceedings against all individuals responsible for “failing to discharge their duties in connection with the broadcast and dismiss them after a due process.”

Furthermore, those dismissed are to be barred from employment in any capacity within services operating under a licence, registration, permission or authorisation issued or regulated by PEMRA. The authority emphasised that any recurrence of such negligence could lead to the revocation of Geo News’ licence.

In its directive, PEMRA also instructed all licensed broadcasters to establish competent and impartial in-house monitoring committees or editorial boards to ensure prior editorial scrutiny of all content. Details of these bodies must be submitted to PEMRA.

The authority warned that future violations would attract enhanced penalties and stricter legal actions in alignment with Pakistani law and compliance with the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s judgment in Suo Motu Case No 28 of 2018.