Geo News’ Safar-e-Ishq was a Muharram special transmission that showed religiously sensitive visuals, which Pakistan’s regulator said could hurt religious sentiments and disturb public peace. The channel later said the footage showed rituals practiced by a limited number of people in Iraq and some other Middle Eastern countries, and it called the incident an editorial error.

What it showed

Reports say the controversy centered on “religious visualization” in the program, not on a normal news report. The regulator did not publish a full scene-by-scene description, but multiple outlets say the broadcast included depictions considered inconsistent with local religious, cultural, and social sensitivities.

Why it led to a ban

PEMRA suspended Geo News for 15 days because it said the content was offensive to religious sentiments and posed a risk to public peace and law and order. Geo News apologized, removed the controversial material, and said it had taken disciplinary action internally.

In plain terms

So the short answer is: the channel was punished because Safar-e-Ishq included visuals about religious rituals during a Muharram broadcast that authorities judged too sensitive. The exact footage was not fully detailed in the public statements, but the core issue was the religious imagery, not a broader documentary topic.