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NEW DELHI: India may consider a proposal by Pakistan for a
lift of the ban in telecast of television channels from that
country into India.
The assurance was given during the talks in secretary-level
talks between the two countries, when Pakistani foreign secretary
Jalil Abbas Jilani urged that Pakistan government ( PTV) but
also private news and non-news channels be telecast. The Indian
side was led by Ranjan Mathai
Jilani
said Pakistan had not done anything to prevent all Indian
channels being received in Pak homes.
The
Pakistanis recalled popularity of PTV's soaps like Deewarein,
Waris and Jungle in the 1980s in India saying current programmes
on Pakistani channels have the potential to become as popular.
However,
sources in the External Affairs Ministry said that PTV's anti-India
campaign in the past over internal issues, including Jammu
and Kashmir, has been a concern.
In
2009, Pakistani Senate's standing committee on information
and broadcasting appealed to the Indian Parliament to ensure
airing of Pakistani channels in India. The same Senate next
year asked Pakistani cable operators to stop airing Indian
TV channels citing "cultural invasion".
India
and Pakistan may also sign a Memorandum of Understanding for
promotion of arts and culture during the visit of External
Affairs S M Krishna to Pakistan in early September.
The
MoU was also proposed by the Pakistan National Centre of Arts
(PNCA) and its patron-in-chief Tauqueer Ahmed Nasir who visited
India for "informal" meetings in April. Among other
things, Pakistan wants its street puppet shows, extremely
popular in the country, to be performed in India.
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