The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has ordered cable operators across Pakistan to restore all channels associated with privately-owned Pakistani Geo TV Network to their original positions.

The order was issued following multiple complaints to the regulatory body. The complaints stated that transmission of the network’s channels was not accessible throughout parts of the country, including in Karachi, Lahore, and Multan. These complaints were made despite government assertions that authorities had taken no steps to block it.

“The government hasn’t shut down or suspended any channel. Why would we?” State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb was quoted as saying by the Daily Times.

Geo TV Network’s president Imran Aslam, however, states that “this is an attempt to financially cripple the organisation into submission.” All five channels of the network are being shut across the country, and not just in Defence Housing Authority areas, a Dawn report stated.

“With the elections scheduled within months, some [people] feel that this could be a form of pre-poll rigging,” Aslam was quoted as saying.

The media regulatory authority, PEMRA, clarified in a press release on Monday clarified that it had not issued any suspension orders for any television channel. It also warned cable operators that their licenses would be suspended if all channels related to the network were not restored in 24 hours, reports state.

In April 2014, Geo News was shut down hours after its senior staffer and veteran journalist Hamid Mir survived an assassination attempt in Karachi. Reports state that Geo News had directly accused the then head of the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of having a role in the attack.