Talking to newsmen here he said curbs on Geo are not acceptable under any circumstances and they must be removed forthwith. It is surprising that other channels are available but Geo is being banned.

Jakhrani also condemned manhandling of journalists especially lady journalists in the sit-ins here and said even otherwise ladies enjoy respect in our society. He also said no justification can be accepted for mistreatment of journalists belonging to Geo at the sit-in of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the leadership should take notice of such events.

The News

Talking to this correspondent, Vice Chairman Sindh Bar Council (SBC) Abdus Sattar Qazi said for the last few days Geo News was being received at his home but at the last numbers while it was not available at all in other parts of the country. This, he said, was the mischief of cable operators.

President Sindh High Court Bar Association ZK Jatoi said the programme was not available at his residence. Following the court orders the channel should be opened forthwith, he demanded.

Secretary General Sindh High Court Bar Association Asim Iqbal said ban on Geo News was illegal. “Following the court orders Geo News should be opened forthwith. If not, it will be contempt of court,” he added.

Member Sindh Bar Council Mahmood-ul-Hasan also complained of unavailability of Geo News at his residence. Asked about reason for that, he said it was due to the fight of Geo News with the cable operators.

He threatened to move a constitutional petition to the Sindh High Court against the cable operators if Geo News continued to be off air at his residence. President Karachi Bar Association Barrister Salahuddin said due to ban he could not monitor Geo News. “Despite court orders, the unavailability of the channel is illegal.” He appealed for immediate restoration of Geo News channel.

Former president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Yasin Azad said banning Geo News was a violation of the Constitution. “It is an issue of freedom of expression; it’s a source of information. The 180 million people of the country get information from TV channels,” he said.

The News

Several journalists from the print and electronic media, members of the civil society, political leaders and trade union representatives visited the camp being arranged by the Khyber Union of Journalists.

The participants of the camp were critical of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for its decision to suspend the transmission of the most popular TV channel of the country for 15 days.

Those present at the camp asked the government to lift the curbs on the largest media group of the country. They resented the vilification campaign against the Geo TV channel. The protesting journalists asked the government to provide protection to Jang Media Group workers and its installations.

The speakers flayed the attacks on senior journalist Hamid Mir and Resident Editor of Jang in Multan, Zafar Aheer. They resented attacks of vehicles carrying thousands of copies of The News and Jang. They expressed concern over filing of cases against Jang Media Group.

President Khyber Union of Journalists Nisar Mehmood, President of Peshawar Press Club Nasir Hussain, former KhUJ president Arshad Aziz Malik, senior journalist Syed Bukhar Shah, Vice-President Farmanullah Jan, Khyber Photojournalists Association President Sajjad Khayal, Mehmood Jan Babar, Barkatullah Marwat, Sultan Siddiqui, Shah Jehan, Riaz Khan Daudzai, Muhammad Nauman, Sardar Imdad Qizalbash, Muhammad Fayyaz Khalil, Muhammad Munir, Ehtesham Toru, Shah Faisal and others were among the participants.

The protesting journalists warned of launching a countrywide protest campaign on the call of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists if the restrictions on Geo News were not lifted as it was a matter of the freedom of expression.

The News

Senators called on the government to take the ongoing crisis, stemming from the assault on Hamid Mir, seriously and take corrective measures to arrest it or some forces unhappy with the 18th Amendment and revival of 1973 Constitution could intervene.

Senator Prof Sajid Mir insisted that after the apology by the Geo management, the matter should have ended there and then and instead of banning the channel, the entertainment show team might be penalised.They opposed curbs on Geo and called on media houses to join the democratic forces to wriggle out of the crisis, as its escalation would endanger the entire system.

Led by PPP’s Mian Raza Rabbani, the opposition legislators walked out of the House to register their protest on what he called the government’s capitulation to the terrorists and against a handful of IPPs, who have warned that if the outstanding Rs300 billion are not paid to them, loadshedding would jump to 14 hours a day.

Rabbani recalled how the rulers had promised to the nation to end the loadshedding after coming to power and now were looking the other way. He added it was also committed in June 2013 that after payment of Rs480 billion to the IPPs to end the circular debt, there would be a marked decrease in power outages but that was not visible.

While making payment of circular debt, he alleged, some favourites were given benefits and now the IPPs association had written a letter to the Ministry of Water and Power, warning that if Rs300 billion outstanding were not paid, loadshedding would increase to 14 hours per day.

“Have the rulers mortgaged the state of Pakistan to a handful of capitalists who have now hurled a threat at the government? Has the writ of the state reduced to this level?” he wondered.

Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq in a lighter tone proposed that it should be made part of the orders of the day that the opposition would stage a walkout from the House, which has now become a routine.

He promised to ask the minister concerned to present in the House a list of IPPs which had introduced this policy and struck an agreement on much higher power tariff with the IPPs.Awami National Party Senator Afrasiab Khattak, taking part in the debate on the latest political situation, pointed out that from time to time, the democratic system in Pakistan faced threats, a sequence which had started from the era of General Ayub Khan to prove that politicians and parliament were bad.

He noted how after some politicians were found to be having bogus degrees, all politicians were called cheats following the 2008 polls. Now one year after the last year’s election, the entire electoral process is being made controversial and big rallies organised by raising voice about rigging in the polls.

The senator recalled how three big political parties were asked not to take part in the elections while terrorists supported others to win and form the government. “We also have reservations over the polls but never want to derail the democratic system,” he said.

While the political parties had matured during the 1990s and learnt their lessons, now new characters (Imran and Qadri) were leading rallies and subverting the national consensus that an operation must be launched against the terrorists and that non-democratic forces should not intervene.

“One decision has to be taken who should run the country, elected representatives of masses or others,” he said. On the media front, Khattak charged that majority of the media houses were playing the role of Raja Porus elephants who had trampled own troops. He said had the Media Commission’s recommendations been implemented, the situation would have not escalated to the present level.

He alleged that the electronic media had been turned into factories of ‘kafir sazi’. The senator accused the government of inaction over the present situation and said it was trying to make imperial its own rule by turning its back to parliament, as neither the prime minister nor his ministers or even secretaries come to parliament.

About the latest military action against the terrorists in North Waziristan, Khattak said the government should take parliament into confidence as to what had gone wrong, for they had been talking about the success of the peace process with the Taliban.

Like the politicians who had rendered sacrifices for democracy, journalists had also won the freedom of expression through a painful struggle. Prof Sajid Mir of the ruling PML-N said levelling allegations against the top intelligence agency was not a strange thing, as it had been done in the past as well and even in the missing persons case, fingers were pointed at them.

However, he said that it was wrong to focus on the ISI for eight hours and insisted the family viewpoint of Hamid Mir should have been presented only once. Then he turned to the rallies and alleged these consisted of either those who on their own could never come to power or who belonged to the banned outfits, having their strings attached to the military institutions.

Senator Mir saw in the ongoing media outcry an element of professional jealousy and added certain media houses and newspapers were overplaying the Geo-related issue. “If any channel is shut, it will set a bad precedent and other channels will also face a similar fate in future,” he warned.

On the 2013 poll controversy, he contended that electoral disputes should have been decided earlier and should be raised at proper forums instead of taking to roads and streets. He added some sponsored events were taking place that people of choice should come forward and some parties that were nurtured by the military were leading for derailment of the system.

He defended the government’s steps with regard to the Hamid Mir attack and the Geo issue and pointed out who had formed a judicial commission, referred the ISI’s complaint to the Pemra and said the government wanted the resolution of poll issues as per the law.

Senators Kulsoom Parveen and Kamil Ali Agha strongly opposed the bid to defame the military and the ISI and said Pakistan’s security and strength were making them stronger.

They called on the government to act with impartiality in dealing with the Geo issue or institutional controversy would increase further. Senator Kusloom said Imran had a political status and no one had the right to call him inexperienced or immature and insisted that it should be left to the people to decide.

The News

They vowed to foil any conspiracy against freedom of expression and demanded the immediate arrest of the elements involved in the attack on Hamid Mir.

At a seminar ‘Geo ki Bandish Na Manzoor’ (Banning Geo is unacceptable) at the Lahore Press Club, the speakers expressed the resolve to safeguard media freedom and leave no stone unturned for achieving the cause.

The major speakers on the occasion included Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore leader Ameer-ul-Azeem, Lahore Press Club President Arshad Ansari, Sarwar Malik Advocate and senior journalists including Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Bedar Bakht Butt, Maqsood Butt, Sabir Shah, Salman Ghani, Naseem Qureshi, Latif Chaudhry, Gohar Butt, Amjad Warraich, Bakht Geer Chaudhry, Rizwan Razi, Omar Sharif, Eesar Rana, Waseem Farooq, Wasif Nagi, Shahbaz Mian and Anjum Fayyaz.

They paid rich tributes to senior journalist Hamid Mir while describing him as the voice of the nation and said the entire nation stood with him.

They also stated that the event was a vote against any move to curb media freedom and impose restrictions on Geo News which were not acceptable under any pretext.

The News