By Darwaish
Another unfortunate development of the day and I am unable to understand who is advising government of making such foolish decisions.
It seems now that the Government of Pakistan has banned Kamran Khan Show as yet another casualty in the ongoing saga of the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) removal from office. Geo has just made it public and Kamran Khan appeared on Geo News just a few moments ago and apologized to viewers that he would not be able to present his show due to this ban (audio of what he said, here).
It was Kamran Khan Show in which Mr Wasi Zafar’s misbehavior on VOA was reported (video of that program here). He was also the host of Geo’s live transmission which showed and commented on the misbehavior with Chief Justice of Pakistan and his family last Monday. I guess Kamran Khan has finally paid the price of speaking the truth and his efforts to present facts to the people of Pakistan.
GEO TV website has this information on how the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned this show:
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has imposed ban on “Aaj Kamran Khan Key Sath”, the famous programme of Geo Television Network.
“Aaj Kamran Khan Key Sath” has been stopped as the government has imposed ban on it, said the spokesman of the Geo Television Network.
It was regretted at 11:05 PM, when this programme starts daily, that the programme could not be aired due to government ban.
Reacting to the ban on this programme, Kamran Khan, the host of the programme, condemned the government action and said that there was no other agenda of the said programme except making people aware of real facts and correct analysis.
This is a direct attack on freedom of press and freedom of expression. Looks like we will now see more bans if Pakistani Media didn’t cooperate with the government. I am also wondering what will happen to the Ansaar Abbasi now. We should all condemn this unjust action? But HOW?
Here are two samples of video clips from the Kamran Khan Show related to this issue.
Here is GEO’s own report on the attack on its office.
Message from Altaf Hussain on attack on GEO office.
Hamid Mir interviews Gen. Musharraf on the attack.
I am watching Capital Talk. There is a very emotional plea by Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim to the media. This translation from DT: “These are defining moments in the history of Pakistan and media should report honestly without any fear.Don’t fear, speak up. If you don’t, the time to speak will pass. It is your duty to speak the truth, so don’t fear when you speak the truth.â€
Listen here the last program of KAMRAN KHAN
What in the world is going on in Pakistan ! first the CJ – then all the nice talking from our great Law minister and now this ! what should we expect more from the President after this? As they say “apnay pair per kulhaari marna” this is exactly what the President has done – I was a big fan of the President before this event and I’m sure a lot of other Pakistanis feel the same way as I do now after this unfortunate event, I’m not in favour fo the CJ neither am I in favour of the President but the Constitution 209 clause 6 – 7 clearly states that the president cannot take this action alone, this is a shameful act and the President should himself come up on TV and address this issue.
I wil not mind if the government learns some lessons from this and realizes that people are watching them. Maybe the silver lining is that they are learning lessons. Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, Durrani, Wasi Zafar have all apologized. Now if the SJC hearing is a fair one and things actually change then maybe this will all end for the better. In the long run, I would prefer the government learning the lessons of democracy and changing its future path (specially in 2007 elections), rather than more chaos and instability through a fall of government.
This is getting too much…..government should not take these kind of steps against the media…..what they have done is already so so wrong……what are making the situation even worst…..this is ridiculous!!!