Hundreds of protestors took to the streets after the Pakistan government blocked three private television news channels. Geo TV, Ary one TV, and Aaj TV said they had been kept off air because of their coverage of the political crisis over Musharraf's March 9 ouster of the country's chief justice, according to news reports.
President Pervez Musharraf Monday imposed fresh curbs on the electronic media in the second such move within three days, the Dawn reported. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance (2007), issued just two days before the commencement of a National Assembly session, empowers PEMRA to take action on its own against television channels which violated rules.
The move virtually undos some of the major provisions of a law passed by parliament three months ago after a two-year debate and consultations with the stakeholders.
Soon after the promulgation of the ordinance, journalists took to streets in Islamabad and demonstrated outside the prime minister’s secretariat after a meeting of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). They were later joined by torchbearing sympathisers from political parties and non-governmental organisations.
"PEMRA and the government are behind the ban," Aroosa Alam, the vice-president of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club, said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). "We have won our freedom after a long struggle and nobody can take it back." The protesters shouted "Go, Musharraf, go" — a rallying call at virtually every rally in support of suspended Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry — and "End curbs on the media now."
They also chanted "Death to the disinformation minister" in an apparent reference to Information and Broadcasting Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, who last week warned the media to tone down its coverage of the crisis. Durrani was not immediately available for comment, but an information ministry official denied the protesters' claims.
"No channel, including Geo, has been blocked by the government. A channel had some dispute with cable operators after which some of them suspended its transmissions," the official said. A spokesman for PEMRA said it had "never asked cable operators to block any channel." Geo's Islamabad office was smashed up by policemen during riots on March 16.
Geo said authorities had blocked its popular talk show Meray Mutabiq (According to Me), hosted by presenter and intellectual Shahid Masood, and warned it by telephone to take the show off the air.
ARY One and Geo are based in Dubai; Aaj operates a terrestrial station in Pakistan. All rely heavily on cable carriers for distribution, although they can also be picked up by satellite. Cable companies had warned over the weekend that they were coming under pressure from the government to stop carrying the signals and most, if not all, seem to have complied.
"This presidential decree is another brick in the wall of censorship that the government is building to shield itself at a time of political upheaval," said Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon. "We call on the government to rescind the decree immediately. The blocking of these independent broadcasters from cable distribution is naked intimidation. Aaj TV, ARY One TV, and Geo News TV must be allowed to resume broadcasting in Pakistan."
Ten amendments were made in the PEMRA (Amendment) Act in February. An amended sub-section (5) of Section 29 reads: “Provided further that the Authority or the chairman may seize a broadcast or distribution service equipment or seal the premises which is operating illegally or (in) contravention of orders passed under Section 30.”
A new provision — Section 39 (A) — even authorised PEMRA to make rules and regulations on its own from time to time by simply issuing notifications. It says: “The Authority may, by notification in the official gazette, make regulations, not inconsistent with the ordinance and the rules made thereunder, to provide for all matters for which provision is necessary or expedient for carrying out the purposes of this ordinance.”
Sub-section (4) in Section 30 of the law says: “Licence of a broadcast media may be suspended on any or the grounds specified in sub-section (1), by a duly constituted committee comprising members of the Authority."
President Musharraf had issued the original Pemra Ordinance on March 1, 2002, to establish a body to regulate the electronic media. The National Assembly passed the law on May 17, 2005, with some amendments in the form of a bill (the Pemra Amendment Bill).
