Lawmaker Malik Taimur of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) political party has sought a ban on popular children's cartoon Doraemon in Pakistan on grounds that it and 24-hour television channels dedicated to children's entertainment are affecting local children's health and education, according to the resolution filed by the lawmaker in the Pakistani province of Punjab on Wednesday.

The resolution calls for the local broadcast regulator either completely ban 24-hour channels dedicated to cartoons or restricting their broadcast to selected time periods in the country, while news of the ban spread across social media and led to the hashtag #PTIvsDoraemon to trend locally.

Many using the hashtag expressed disappointment and outright scorn that the political party would waste time on such a resolution, while more pressing matters, such as political corruption, poverty, child safety and the fight against Islamic militants that kill hundreds of bystanders every year in the country were considered less important than filing a complaint about a children's cartoon.

Doraemon is extremely popular in India and Pakistan with locally dubbed editions available in major languages. With the series' focus on morality tales and slapstick humor, it's odd that a politician would find fault with it, unless they were trying to deflect attention from larger problems.

via Reuters

Humberto Saabedra is the Owner of AnimeNews.biz and a part-time recording engineer. He can also be found musing on things at @AnimeNewsdotbiz