Showing it’s resentment on abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A in Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian government, the Pakistan government on Friday banned the sale of Bollywood CDs and airing of advertisements featuring Indian artists and Indian products.
“We have banned Indian advertisements and launched a crackdown on CD shops, to confiscate Indian movies,” said Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information.
According to Dawn newspaper, Ms Awan said the Interior ministry had already started a crackdown on Indian movies in the federal capital and it would be expanded to other parts of the country soon, in collaboration with the provincial governments.
“Today, the interior ministry raided some compact disc shops in Islamabad and confiscated Indian movies,” she said. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned the airing of advertisements for Indian products, on television and radio networks.
In a letter circulated to all its television and radio licencees on Wednesday, the authority said that it had already banned the airing of Indian channels and content, on the directives of the Supreme Court, in October last year.
“However, it has been observed that advertisements of various products of multi-nationals, which are either produced in India or carry Indian characters, are being aired on electronic media,” said the letter posted on PEMRA’s Twitter account.
The Indian government on August 5, had scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. Since then, Islamabad has continuously accused India and downgraded its diplomatic relations with New Delhi. (UNI)
