Islamabad: Firmly rejecting the government appeal, Pakistan's cable operators on August 23 decided to go ahead with a nation-wide weeklong strike from August 24 demanding lifting of ban on the Indian recreation television channels.

The Pakistan Cable Operators Association (PCOA) said transmission of all foreign channels would be stopped till the strike ended on August 30 and during the strike period only the Pakistan Television (PTV) channels would be shown.

The decision has been taken in protest against the government regulatory body, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (PEMRA) decision not to lift the ban on the Indian channels on cable TV despite the thaw in the relations with India, it said.

PEMRA had appealed to PCOA to desist from the strike move contending that the ban on the Indian channels was necessary to help Pakistan government and private channels to stabilise themselves. But the cable operators feel it will only help in improving the native channels as there will be a healthy competition.

Arguing that there is a huge demand for Indian channels, chairman of Punjab chapter of PCOA Malik Furgan Ghias and marketing manager of World Call Cable said the need must be met because these are purely entertainment channels, which are not engaging in any kind of propaganda.

Pakistan's Cable operators numbering around 970 cater to about 4.2 million subscribers, amounting to more than 25 million viewers. In the last two years the screening of Indian channels has been stopped many times as tension mounted between the two countries after the attack on the Indian Parliament.

PTI