UK suspends license of Punjabi TV channel for airing content to ‘further Khalistani cause’

The United Kingdom’s regulatory and competition authority for broadcasting, Ofcom, has suspended the license of Khalsa Television Limited after one of its programmes “aired content that included material likely to incite violence and further the Khalistani cause”.

In a statement released on March 31, Ofcom said: “Our investigation found that Prime Time, a 95-minute live discussion programme, included material likely to incite violence. The presenter of the programme made a number of statements throughout the programme which, taken together, promoted violent action, including murder, as an acceptable and necessary form of action to further the Khalistani cause. This was a serious breach of our rules on incitement of crime and disorder.”

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The regulator added, “Given the serious nature of this breach, and for the reasons set out in our suspension notice, we are today suspending Khalsa Television Limited’s licence to broadcast in the UK with immediate effect.”

The KTV television channel broadcasts to the Sikh community in the United Kingdom, the regulator said.

Khalsa Television has been given 21 days to reply to Ofcom, following which it would decide whether to revoke their licence or not.