Previously, it was a civilian institution that wanted the closure of a TV channel (ARY), an informed source told The News, while this time a military organisation is hell bent upon getting another network (Geo News) off-air.

He said that earlier at the height of the pressure, Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid remained physically present in his office till 02:20 hours to make it a point that no closure order was issued in any case.

The source said that while leaving his office, he told the concerned officials that if the channel was shut down by next day morning, he would deal with them sternly.“The obvious underlying reason for not taking the extreme action against the network is not to interfere with the freedom of the press and expression in any way,” he said.

The source said the same conclusion was driving the government to prevail upon the complainant that has filed the petition with the Pakistan Electronic Regulatory Authority (Pemra) not to compel it to go for the overkill.

He said that the Nawaz Sharif government was clear that in case of an extreme action against Geo, everybody would blame it now and in the days to come, not the complainant, that it had stifled the press freedom. “The government is not prepared to earn this bad name.”

The source said that unlike its track record during its previous two tenures, the government was showing utmost patience for the mere reason that it didn’t want to annoy the premier state institution in any way or resort to any confrontation with it.

Venomous propagandists, who are adding fuel to the fire, are relentlessly complaining and urging the government to “show itself” in the row and get the matter resolved rather than becoming a silent spectator. They are constantly complaining with the motive of trggering a clash between the government and the spy agency that the tiff has prolonged because of “inaction” of the government.

However, these instigators don’t know, or they know but are deliberately lying, that the government is engaged at the highest level day in and day out to resolve the conflict amicably.Senator Pervaiz Rashid has been specifically assigned the task and is fervently doing a lot to tide over the crisis. At the same time, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is keeping a complete track of the developments relating to this issue and issuing instructions where necessary. This means that all the relevant quarters are fully preoccupied with the job to extinguish the fire without compromising on the freedom of expression/press or letting down any state institution.

The source said that although Geo News was virtually off-air across Pakistan, a fact that the government fully knows, only because of the angels’ pressure on the cable operators, the government was not assertively, even softly or quietly, asking the Pemra to stop this illegality when there was no official order from the concerned organisation.

This government policy, he said, reflects its approach not to cause even minor disquiet to the complainant that might heighten the conflict. Unlike before, the government is demonstrating an unprecedented patience and tolerance, he said.

The complainant’s insistence is that the network should be shut down to send a message to the “officers” that due punishment has been given.The source said that the government side has made it clear again and again that any extreme action against the Geo News would most possibly be struck down the very next moment by a superior court, as the judiciary is bound to assure the freedom of expression and the press as ordained in the Constitution.

In that eventuality, the source said, not only the government but the complainant would face deep embarrassment apart from earning a bad name.

According to the source, the government side has stressed time and again that the international reaction to any extreme action against the network would be highly negative and that would be very damaging for Pakistan and its democratic dispensation.

However, the source said that the stalemate, which is likely to be broken in the coming days, still persisted.About his efforts to break the logjam, the information minister said that whatever he was doing was his duty, and it was not unusual to meet both the sides. Besides, he was also holding meetings with all the representative bodies and owners of TV channels.

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

People are deeply upset as they are not able to watch their favourite and popular channels, Geo News, Geo Entertainment, Geo Tez and Geo Kahani in 90 percent of the country. Geo News and the group’s other channels were also forcibly shut down during the previous two regimes.

All these channels were being disrupted for the last 30 days and in a majority of the areas, the position of the channels was changed and shifted to the last few numbers (mostly above 80) on the cable networks. A vast majority of viewers are unable to watch any channel at a number beyond 45 or 50 because of the limited channel capacity of their TV sets.

During the last 10 days, Geo News was off air in more than 70 percent of Pakistan but what proves Geo as the most favourite channel of the nation is the fact that despite this massive countrywide blackout of the channel, Geo News remained the number one channel according to the official data of independent auditors. This was despite the fact that the organisation and its employees were being termed as ‘Ghaddars’ (traitors).

It was being accused of doing wrong, making big mistakes, and was termed a channel of ‘thieves and dacoits’, a channel of those who work on anti-Pakistan agendas. Despite the propaganda, the people of Pakistan gave their verdict in favour of Geo News, which was a referendum of sorts in its favour.

Meanwhile, people are being fed with one-sided allegations on other TV channels without presenting the viewpoint of Geo.Geo News has suffered losses of around Rs1 billion since April 19, the day when miscreants attacked the channel’s lead anchorperson Hamid Mir in Karachi. Geo has already suffered losses of Rs6.5 billion during a previous regime only because of its efforts to get democracy restored.

Geo was the leader of the Pakistani media which fought and defeated unconstitutional forces and the people of Pakistan today not only enjoy the fruits of democracy but also free, independent and impartial institutions because of these great sacrifices rendered, among others, by Geo and the Jang Group and its staff.

Not only did Geo News maintain its position and the number one news channel of the country according to three different independent auditors, but its entertainment channels are also at number one in their category. This continuous and top position of Geo is because of the channel’s policy under which it tries its best to give complete independence to its professionals and workers and because of the following of basic principles of professionalism and strict adherence to media ethics.There is no channel in the country which has sacrificed this much while fighting and defending Pakistanis’ right to know and access to information.

The management of Geo has been consistently complaining and five complaints have so far been registered by the channel management with Pemra. However, Pemra and the government have either deliberately engineered a complete shutdown of Geo through the cable operators or are mysteriously silent and haven’t even initiated any legal action in accordance with Pemra law and rules against the cable operators who have illegally and unconstitutionally put the channel off air on the orders of hidden hands.

Geo has, however, collected a large amount of evidence and has recorded thousands of testimonies of citizens of Pakistan residing in all parts of the country in more than 30 towns and cities revealing how and when Geo News and other Geo channels were put off air from their areas. Cable operators have also recorded their testimonies giving details as to who was ordering them to put Geo off air by using direct or indirect threats. In some cases, the phone numbers used to order the shutdown of Geo are also available.

The most interesting point of the whole story is that these cable operators clearly stated that they were not being pressurised to shut Geo down because of a recent morning show hosted by Shaista Lodhi after which Geo and the Jang Group have tendered unconditional apologies. Rather, this pressure was coming from different forces, which also include banned organisations, terrorist groups and some extremist organisations. Geo and the Jang Group will present this whole record and evidence before the nation at some appropriate time.

One member of a cable operators’ organisation, Khalid Arain, is playing major role in this shutdown of Geo. Arain is known for his close terms and business relations with a known media group owner and also runs this media owners’ front cable company. This media house owner is running a baseless campaign against the Geo/Jang Group because of vested interests and is being used by the ‘angels’. Arain has a history of acting against Geo and had played a key role in disrupting the Geo Super signal during the transmission of the 2011 Cricket World Cup and putting Pakistan’s first sports channel off air later illegally in contemptuous disregard and violation of Supreme Court orders.

According to some senior people of the cable industry, Khalid Arain has a mysterious character and is known for taking contracts in return for money to inflict losses on professional media institutions. According to senior people in the cable industry, owners of some media groups who have started their media business to gain more and more influence, use him for this purpose because of his influence on cable operators across the country. Khalid Arain, however, always denies these allegations and has taken an oath on the Holy Quran that he never remained involved in this activity.

Journalists belonging to the Geo/Jang Group are extremely upset and anxious because of the ongoing situation as the group has already announced the downsizing of working journalists because of the great financial burden the group is facing. It has suffered severe losses in the last two regimes because of doing independent journalism. Workers, journalists are also gearing up for big protests against the present government and hidden forces.

Top journalist and victim of the horrible April 19 attack Hamid Mir has also given a call to all journalists to get united. The foreign media and independent journalists organisations have also shown great concerns over the situation in Pakistan and are in touch with Pakistani journalists and media workers to fight a joint war against the forces of oppression.

The News