Islamabad, Sept. 7: Pakistan’s media watchdog has warned over 2,000 cable operators not to air Indian news and entertainment channels following a Supreme Court ban on them.

The Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority has told the cable operators not to air Star Plus, Star News, Star Movies, Star One, Sahara One, Sony TV, B4U Music, Zee Music, Zee News, Zee Cinema or IBN News as they do not have landing rights in Pakistan.

A senior media watchdog official said the authority would stick to its policy of allowing the airing of Indian channels only after they procured landing rights in Pakistan.

There are as many as 2,500 cable operators across Pakistan and the media watchdog officials say it is difficult to monitor all of them.

“That is why we request the public to come forward and approach us if they see any cable operator violating the Supreme Court’s order (issued) last month,” Mushtaq Malik, the chairperson of the media regulator, said.

Operators based in Rawalpindi and Islamabad confirmed receiving notices from the media regulator.

“We have stopped showing Indian channels after receiving the notice,” an Islamabad-based cable operator said, requesting anonymity.

The regulatory authority plans to dispatch raid teams across Pakistan to satisfy itself that the ban is being honoured.

A standing committee in Pakistan’s Upper House, the Senate, had been demanding a ban on the airing of Indian content by cable operators and had passed resolutions urging local television channels to stop showing Indian plays.

During the term of the previous government, headed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, a lawmaker had raised the matter of Indian channels on the floor of the Lower House.

She had narrated how she and her husband had been stunned when their school-going daughter asked them why the groom and the bride at a wedding had not performed Hindu rituals that the girl had seen in Indian soaps.