Islamabad, Feb. 9 : The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting has called on the federal government to immediately ban the broadcast of Indian television channels in Pakistan.

According to The News, the committee asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to ban all Indian channels on cable in the country.

Monday's missive came almost two months after the PEMRA had instructed cable TV operators to stop transmitting 30 foreign TV channels, most of them Indian.

The banned channels included entertainment sports and news channels. The Indian channels on the list were MM Movie and Star Network.

Sources claimed the move was made to block the Indian Government's propaganda.

PEMRA spokesman Muhammad Saleem had said then that none of the stations had permission to broadcast in Pakistan.

However, the Pakistani Association of Cable Television Operators has termed it as "a disastrous decision for cable TV operators and a great loss to the public". (ANI)