Mast Qalandar
Geo News is back on cable TV in Pakistan! It was banned along with two other popular TV channels on November 3 last year when Emergency was imposed in the country.
We don’t know on what conditions the channel has been allowed to operate again. We also don’t know how much dent the 77-day ban must have made in the profitability of the news company — it must be pretty huge — or to the livelihood of the journalists working for it.
But we do know that the ban made a huge dent in the government’s credibility and the image of “enlightened moderation” that it was so eager to project. It also left in its wake numerous angry messages and slogans on the wallboards outside the Geo office in Islamabad. They do give you a flavor of the general feelings prevailing at the time in a large segment of the civil society.
The photos with this post are here for you to decipher them, enjoy them, add to them, or ignore them.
Photos for this article are taken by the author himself. His full collection can be seen here.
oops wrong website www.longlivepakistan.com
GEO is back but sadly pretty much toothless now. They held out bravely for a long time but unfortunately had to capitulate in the end. Hopefully it will break shackles pretty soon.
On the other hand, channels like AAJ have begun to get back their voice. Talat Hussain’s program is back on the air though its hard to say how long the regime will tolerate it. The new channels Waqt and Express are also not bad.
Seems like the government thinks that by suppressing people’s access to information, it will get its grip back on things. Wishful thinking…..
@zia m
Musharraf is not uncle I just trust him and yes I will pray for him because Pakistan is first to me.
Sad that we miss our leaders after they go like Bhutto. And we even forget their crimes.
If Musharraf leaves he brought in Money others took money with them.Truly all the people who use judiciary and free media excuse are the most ignorants of Pakistan. They should remember in Pakistan anything can be sold. even judiciary and Media.
THe Jang folks still deserve credit for bearing this huge loss and standing for principle… as for Shahid Masood and Hamid Mir (niether was my favorite compere but they were fearless in tehir own obnoxious ways), I predict that they will be back very soon… and all of this will make them even more popular than before. Whoever advised the boots on this silly idea to ban them, just made them into bigger heroes. They will be back and may even soon become political leaders because of all teh new popularity this will give them.
Guys, this nonsense about anyone who opposes the dictator sahib must be an “enemy agent” or any TV anchor who does anything except praise the general is “stupid” has to really stop…. you what is stupid… its comments like that calling anchors stupid just because they disagree with you….. you know what is even more stupid, leaving messages under false names and then coming back and agreeing with yourself under a different name…
There are many problems with us Pakistanis, but really we are not that stupid to fall for this type of ISI propaganda. So, please spare us you cleverness!
Rizwan Elahi or RE ?
Keep praying for Mush he is going to need it.I rather put my trust in institutions like judiciary and free media.I don’t think
Geo made any deal they could have done it long time ago.
Long live freedom of expression.
Now we have Javed Malik of ARY who is busy promoting nothing but PPP. He is an other foolish anchor.
SO far I find P J Mir the best host.
@Christopher
I agree with you and I think those anchors should be in jail not on GEO. Pakistan’s interest is first. They got carried away. Dr, Shahid once said ” Government has done this and that may be we should go join extremist or terrorists in Sawat. He should be spanked hard.
Finally Musharraf a leader who is not scared of pressure does what is right for Pakistan. Boycott GEO unless they act neutral and this is not too much to ask,