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International news channel Al Jazeera English has been asked to go off air in India for five days starting Wednesday after the government penalised it for repeatedly showing incorrect maps of India.
The ban follows instances in 2013 and 2014 when the channel is said to have not shown a part of Jammu and Kashmir as part of Indian Territory. Currently, the channel is displaying a blank screen with a scroll saying, “As instructed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this channel will not be available from 00:01 hours on 22 April, 2015, till 00:01 hours on 27 April, 2015”. However, the channel is available online at Aljazeera.com.
In a statement, Al Jazeera said it has asked for talks with the government “after the country’s punitive decision to take the channel off-air for five days”. The channel said the decision of the government concerns “maps of Pakistan shown on the channel, which on occasions during 2013 and 2014 did not mark Pakistan-controlled Kashmir as separate territory. The maps produced by external software gave the same treatment to Indian-controlled Kashmir, though this was not subject to similar complaints”.
It also said that once the issue was pointed out by the Indian authorities, the channel ensured from September 22, 2014 that all borders of Kashmir were marked with dotted lines and shaded differently.
‘Disproportionate response’In a statement, Al Anstey, Managing Director of Al Jazeera English, said he had written to the I&B Minister seeking talks to solve the matter in a constructive manner. “This ban is a disproportionate response to an issue that we fixed promptly after it was pointed out. It needlessly deprives Indian viewers of our global news and programmes.” According to a PTI report, as per the order of the I&B Ministry, the Inter Ministerial Committee meeting, held that the channel had clearly violated the provisions of the programme code and recommended prohibiting transmission or re-transmission of the channel throughout India for five days.
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