A Black Day For Pakistan's Press
By Omar Waraich
13 June, 2007
CounterpunchOver the past week, Pakistan's independent media outlets have suffered a wide-ranging clampdown. Several channels, including Geo TV, ARY digital and Aaj were taken off the air. A decree--now suspended pending further review--was issued that empowers Pemra, Pakistan's electronic media regulatory authority under the control of the government's infamous Ministry of Information, to limit live news broadcasts, seize equipment, seal offices and studios, and terminate broadcast licenses. In response, hundreds of Pakistani journalists took to the streets to demonstrate and observed June 7 as a "black day" for the country's media.
"We've been among the worst hit," says Talat Hussain, head of current affairs at cable channel Aaj TV. "Most of our transmission throughout the country has been scaled down. The government was not happy with the way we have been covering some of the current issues. Pemra was ordered to 'regulate us', which is another way of saying, 'put the curbs on us'. There is now a battle between the Musharraf government and the broadcast media."
The new measures appear to be a reaction to Islamabad's current woes. Since early March, triggered by Musharraf's decision to suspend the chief justice of the Supreme Court, a burgeoning pro-democracy movement led by lawyers has been asserting its presence throughout the country with strikes, rallies and demonstrations. The private media's coverage of these events has excited sharp criticism from senior government officials, some of whom have accused journalists of encouraging the protests.The Musharraf government prides itself on being a guarantor of press independence. "Today in Pakistan, there is unprecedented press freedom," insists Tariq Azim, the minister for information and broadcasting. "They can say what they like, report what they like. Except that we expect them to have a self-censorship--their own code of ethics and conduct."
Whereas previous governments--both military and civilian--ruthlessly suppressed dissent, the past eight years of military dictatorship have seen an explosion of media outlets. There are now 43 independently owned cable channels available, including MTV Pakistan, Nickelodeon and CNBC Pakistan. Political talk shows feature a diversity of views that would please Ofcom. And social mores have relaxed to the point where fashion shows and a transvestite talk show host, Begum Nawazish Ali, are proving more popular than the new breed of Muslim televangelists.
But this freedom, critics argue, is finely circumscribed. "When it has come under pressure, the Musharraf government has reverted to type and shown its dictatorial tendencies," says Ali Dayan Hasan, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
On March 16, a large demonstration was taking place outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad. Violence erupted after the police were unable to contain the angry crowds and resorted to the use of batons, rubber bullets and tear gas. All of this was being captured and broadcast on Geo TV. In the midst of this live coverage, members of the Punjab police reportedly stormed the channel's offices, interrupted the broadcast, smashed equipment, hurled canisters of tear gas and beat members of staff. An office of the News, an English-language newspaper was also attacked, while Aaj TV's transmission was briefly interrupted. Musharraf swiftly apologized for the police actions, and appeared on the channel the next night to reassure viewers. He also gave an interview to Aaj TV after their offices in Karachi were fired on by gunmen on May 12, when the chief justice was visiting the city for a rally.
"The city was practically under siege," recalls Hussain. "Right next to our building, the MQM--the ruling party in Karachi--and another opposition party were exchanging fire. When we started to cover the firing live, because our cameras were already in position, the MQM began to fire at us, in order to dissuade us from covering the event. In total 52 bullets were fired at our office. Some of our workers had a very narrow escape. I was fired on at least four times. It went on for about six hours. We kept on calling for official help, and no response came."
The Pakistani media and human rights groups collectively held the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), a party closely aligned to the Musharraf government, chiefly responsible for the violence in Karachi on May 12. Days later, the Muhajir Rabita Group--an affiliate of the MQM--published a list of a dozen journalists whose reportage it disapproved of. More recently, three of the named journalists each found a bullet in an unmarked envelope in their cars.
Among those threatened are employees of Dawn, an English-language daily, and the closest that Pakistan has to a paper of record. In recent weeks, the paper has published details of its own three-year long quarrel with Islamabad.
According to Hameed Haroon, the paper's publisher, matters came to a head over its reporting of deals with pro-Taliban elements in the areas that skirt Afghanistan and Islamabad's continued support for Kashmiri jihadists. "The government wanted a blackout on Baluchistan," he says. "You cannot blackout 40-60 per cent of your territory simply to appease a government that is not meeting its own security agenda. As a consequence of rather open reportage on the Waziristan issue and on Baluchistan, the government banned all advertising in Dawn."
The minister denies that the withdrawal of public sector advertising, upon which several newspapers rely, was politically motivated. "It is the prerogative of the government to see which newspaper is most suitable for advertising," Azim says. "Nobody can demand that everybody has to be given advertising."
With the government loath to allow journalists to report from Baluchistan and the tribal areas, much of Pakistan's own war on terror has gone largely unreported. "We have restricted access to some areas of Pakistan," explains Azim, "not because we want to curb freedom of press but because we want to ensure journalists' safety. All we ask is that journalists let us know where they are going, and if we feel it is safe enough to let them travel, we have no worries at all. Other times, we say to them we will escort you there--only for their own security. We don't want another Daniel Pearl tragedy on our hands."
Omar Waraich is a freelance journalist based in London. He can be reached at [email protected]
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