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.
What a mess. “Laazim hai key hum bhi dekhenge…”
Akif, not head, but heads need to roll. In fact this whole system needs to be wrapped. The GOvt has lost all legitamcy (not that it had any). Btw, where is Shortcut Aziz? and where is Justice Bhagwan Das?
What the heck was Punjab Police doing out of their jurisdiction in Islamabad attacking the Geo building. Could it be a way to let the Islamabad Police and other federal authorities off the hook regardng this attack? I am saying this because I just saw CNN’s coverage of this incidence, Hamid Mir was standing in front of the camera and reporting on the attack, his comments were translated and he said its the Punjab Police who are doing this and at one point the attackers also chanted slogans of Punjab Police Zindabad.
I certainly hope that heads roll as a result of this….and soon. I don’t want to see some police officer made the scapegoat and suspended.
The good think is that Geo is fighting back. Since Kamran Khan’s program is banned, they are now featuring him as their news correspondent. They are also showing more of what got them into trouble with the govt.
I understand that Musharraf appeared on Hamid Mir’s program and apologized to him personally.
Important
A third video has been added to this post above. It is a video of GEO’s own report of attacks on its offices. Please scroll up (to end of post) and click on the arrow in the screen.