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.
Ref: Salim
I may not have agreed with every thing that you have written but I must say you have written it so well that I am inclined to gree with you. Well done.
Ref: Rizwan Elahi.
You say: I believe he is sincere and wants to establish strong foundation for Pakistan does not care if breaking some rules here and there.
I say: I have no doubt about Mushrraf’s sincerety but that does not mean what he has been doing lately is in the interest of Pakistan. Do you think CJ Iftikhar Chaudhri or Barrister Aitazaz Ahsan et al are not sincere. I think I am more sincere than Mushrraf. Does it mean I should take over power by hook or crook and retain it by means fair and foul and do what I think is right and not what the rest of world think is right. Breaking the rules here and there must come to an end if we have to survive. Yes we have been breaking rules in the past as well. That is why we are in this mess. Rule of Law right now is as important an issue if not more so as the terrorism.
@ Dear Commentators,
my humble analysis and forcasts about Musharraf
have all one by one come to the reality.
Geo’s strategy was the latest, and he won again,
his soft joking on Geo’s “re-habilitation” was
spectacular, I was sitting just seven rows down the
podium. Please don’t have illusions,
“Geo nay apna thooka howa chaata hay ” and nothing
else, Geo’s gutts are all broken one by one,
Pemra has to do the job, that is what ‘she’ is there for.
Zakhmi Geo is going to launch again anti-Islam
campaign out of pure frustration, Geo msut be
brought before the court.
Remember, Geo’s invitation thru her segment
” Geo Hina kay sath “.!!!!!!
‘A General will sell out Pakistan? then there is something wrong with our army education system.’ Rizwan Elahi
Riawan, past generals have done the equivalent of ‘selling out’ Pakistan. Read any version of history anywhere in the world, apart from the ‘sakaari’version taught in our schools. Ayub, Yahya and Zia all followed policies which centred upon serving themselves and resulted in deatabilising, even breaking up the country. Your hero Musharraf is doing no better. Yes, there is something seriously wrong with our army education system.
With the opening up of electronic media and introduction of mobile phones in our society two very powerful weapons of communication were unleashed without preparing our people to absorb these in a civil manner.In the name of economic growth the stake holders were given free hand and then like always the government did not know what to do about it.As a result all sorts of malpractices by the promoters were ignored and allowed them to gain power.The judicial and political crisis added fuel to fire.Usual mis-handling by incompetent authorities sent wrong signals to E media.
A close look at the content of these channels show a trend to copy western media without having the qualification to do so.I say this because the staff employed were mostly novices in this field as most were venturing from print media.Due to great demand, competence was sacrificed for sensationalism and availability and very unfortunately some saw themselves as Walter Cronkites.Forgetting the sensitivities of these two weapons of mass communication (Tv and Mobile phone)that too in a society unprepared for such onslaught,imbalance and partiality was noticeable in reporting.On spot reporters would dramatise and mostly appeared out of breath for reasons best known to them.
They need training.
It is the responsibility of every government to foresee and examine and introduce measures for smooth transition of its society into a positive developing one.It failed.The TV channels need to hire people with experience and competence and maturity.In fact they should all have their own training facilities.Anybody who owned a mobile phone does not qualify to be a journalist.Its a very sacred and noble profession which has a very comprehensive code of ethics no less than the lawyers. Problems do come up when you venture into newer territories.But how objectively you overcome those, is the essence. I have no doubt that they also have some very competent individuals with a vision.Unfortunately Kamran Khan, Dr.Shahid,Hamid Mir and a couple of others do not fall in this catagory.
Ali with all due respect to you . I love Pakistan and you love Pakistan. I trust Musharraf and you do not. Time will tell us the truth.
A General will sell out Pakistan? then there is something wrong with our army education system.