By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : “Go, Musharraf go,” shouted more than 1,000 Pakistani journalists and civil society members in unison as they protested the government’s move to shut down two major private Urdu news channels based in Dubai.
The protesters gathered in front of the GEO Television office, some 500 yards from the presidency, and shouted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf for shutting down the two channels, GEO and ARY.
These and other news channels were put off air in Pakistan by cable operators Nov 3 when the president imposed emergency in the country.
This was possibly for the first time in Pakistan that journalists held protests for so long – it went on for four hours.
Holding placards, banners and waving black flags, they shouted, “Your show is over Musharraf, go Musharraf go.” Some mediapersons also resorted to abusive language in criticising the president.
Protestors also took a dig at Musharraf’s perceived proximity with the US. A placard held by a journalist read, “Bye bye Busharraf”. Another read: “Negroponte Out”, referring to US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte who Saturday called on Musharraf to discuss the political situation in Pakistan.
The angry journalists, many of whom were joined by their family members, said they would continue their protests against Musharraf till TV channels were restored and restrictions on media were lifted.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), which was in power till the caretaker government took over this week, urged the president to lift restrictions from the media.
“This cannot continue for long,” PML-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain told IANS, adding no government in the world had ever won a war against media.
On Thursday, the government allowed two international and two national news channels to telecast through cable in the country while Friday midnight it completely shut down operations of ARY and GEO channels.
The two television networks, operating from ground stations in Dubai, were asked by officials to suspend their transmissions by midnight Friday.
The managements of the two blacked out channels said they were simply asked by the United Arab Emirates authorities to shut down their operations midnight Friday.
“No reason was given to our office in Dubai for shutting down the channel, but the orders were served,” GEO TV senior editor Ghazi Salahuddin told IANS.
Well-known GEO TV anchor Hamid Mir said they would continue to protest until their channel was back on air. The journalists would not compromise with the government and would not take any diktats.
“We are an independent media outlet and would continue to act according to our conscience,” Mir told IANS. He said there were no negotiations with the government.
The GEO TV management was organising a protest rally Monday from its office in Rawalpindi to the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad, where most of the government buildings, including the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the parliament house and the Supreme Court, are located.