- ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan
said on Saturday it had taken all Indian television news channels off its
airwaves as tension escalated between the two South Asian rivals.
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- Private cable operators in Pakistan have been ordered
to stop distributing Indian channels to their customers.
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- "The Pakistan government has banned showing Indian
satellite channels as well as Star channels on cables for their poisonous
propaganda against Pakistan," the official APP news agency quoted
Major General Shahzada Alam Malik, chairman of the state-owned Telecommunication
Authority as saying.
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- Pakistan said the ban was in response to the blocking
of Pakistan TV in parts of India although New Delhi denied any such ban.
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- The announcement came as Indian and Pakistan troops trade
gunfire across their disputed border in Kashmir, tension triggered by this
month's deadly attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi blames on
Pakistan-based Kashmir guerrilla groups.
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- Indian TV channels are widely available in Pakistan through
private cable distributors and satellite dishes.
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- Malik said some 800 cable operators in Pakistan would
risk unspecified penalties and cancellation of their licences for defying
the ban.
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- Several private cable operators said they had already
stopped distributing Indian news channels such as state-run Doordarshan,
Zee News, Sahara, Rupert Murdoch's Star News and Jain News.
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- "We have not yet received anything in black and
white from the government. We have done it voluntarily," said one
cable distributor in Islamabad.
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- Indian entertainment channels were still on air, he added.
"We have just blocked the news channels that were engaging in anti-Pakistan
propaganda."
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- Malik said the measure was taken in retaliation to the
blockage of state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) in some parts of India.
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- Private cable operators were free to provide western
news channels such as the BBC and CNN to their customers.
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- The Indian government denied any ban on PTV but said
some individual cable TV operators had chosen to drop it from their service.
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- "The government is watching PTV. We have the authority
to take action but we'll do it at the right time," Indian Information
and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters in New Delhi.
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- The two rival nations, which have fought three wars in
their 54 years of independence from Britain, have massed troops and frequently
exchanged fire across their borders since the suicide attack.
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- India demands Pakistan clamp down on the two militant
groups -- Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaesh-e-Mohammad -- that it alleges were
behind the parliament attack that left 14 people dead, including the five
assailants.
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- The two groups have denied involvement in the attack.
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- Pakistan has condemned the attack but sought evidence
from India before taking action against the militant groups.
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