Pakistan bans airing Indian content on radio and television

An advertising poster for an Indian film is seen outside a movie theater in Karachi, Pakistan, September 30, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Pakistan is set to enforce a complete ban on airing Indian content on radio and television as of Friday, amid rising tensions between the two neighboring countries over the disputed Kashmir region.

“The ban will come into effect at 3 p.m. on October 21, and radio and television stations that violate the ban will have their licenses suspended without a prior show cause notice,” Pakistan’s media regulatory authority said in a statement on Wednesday.

The authority also announced the cancellation of certain rights granted to the Indian media by the government of former Pakistani ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2006.

The decision was taken in retaliation for an earlier move by the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA), which banned Pakistani actors, singers and technicians from working on Indian films.

Tensions have escalated between nuclear arch-rivals India and Pakistan since September 18, when 19 Indian soldiers were killed in an attack on an army base in Kashmir, near the frontier with Pakistan.

India accused Pakistan of carrying out the attack, which was the worst such assault in 14 years. Islamabad denied any role and condemned later cross-border strikes by India, which inflicted casualties on the Pakistani side.

Kashmir lies at the heart of a bitter territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent and partitioned in 1947. Both neighbors claim the region in full, but control parts of it only.

The two countries have fought three wars over Kashmir. They agreed to a ceasefire in the disputed territory on November 26, 2003, and launched a peace process the following year. Since then, there have been sporadic clashes, with the two sides trading accusations of violating the ceasefire along their de facto border dividing the disputed region.