Islamabad: Asserting that the ban on Indian TV channels would continue despite the week-long strike by Pakistani cable operators, the government on August 26 threatened to cancel their licences if they continued to black out foreign and local channels.

Claiming that the cable operators had not approached the government, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said on his arrival in Karachi from Saudi Arabia on August 25 night that "it is up to them if they want to observe strike. We will talk to them if they approach us. However, if they continue their obduracy, we shall cancel their licences and issue new licences to other parties,"

Defending the continuing ban on Indian channels, he said the Indian government imposed restrictions on Pakistani channels following 2002's military tension and Islamabad followed suit.

Cable operators across Pakistan began a weeklong strike on August 24 to protest the ban on Indian TV channels and blacked out local as well as international channels as part of their protest.

Private Pakistani channels like ARY, Geo and Indus were uniformly removed off air on August 25 evening and cable operators in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar targeted international channels like CNN, BBC and Fox.

PTI