Islamabad - Renowned Geo anchor Hamid Mir once again moved his famous show “Capital Talk” to the road here on Friday after the programme was stopped from being aired by Dubai authorities under pressure from the presidency.
Instead of watching the show on TV at home, a huge crowd watched it on the street as people thronged the Parade Ground, the final destination of the long march. As it happens, the Geo office is just a few yards away from the Parade Ground.
They said the Capital Talk was in the hearts of people and President Musharraf could not stop it.
The show on the road reminded the audience of the days of President Musharraf’s emergency rule when Geo TV was put off the air and Hamid Mir had to hold it on the streets of Islamabad. The Capital Talk on Friday was the first held on the roads leading to parliament and the president house and then it moved to the stage established for lawyer leaders to address the participants of the long march. There were more than 10,000 people present on the Parade Ground to watch the show as caravans of lawyers moved in from Rawalpindi.
Participants included famous poet Ahmad Faraz, leading lawyer leader and a close aide of sacked justice, Athar Minallah, Abbottabad Bar Association President Muhammad Hamid and senior journalists Nusrat Javed and Mazhar Abbas.
Speakers of the Capital Talk were unanimous in their opinion that President Musharraf must quit the presidency and the deposed judges be restored quickly. They said the Capital Talk was in the hearts of people and President Musharraf nor Dubai authorities could not stop it. “If he (Musharraf) tries to cut it off, it will be held on the streets, as is being done today.”
They appreciated Hamid Mir and Dr Shahid Masood for conducting good programmes that the presidency did not like. They said the number of participants of the long march was a message of the people of Pakistan to political parties to restore the deposed judges. They said these people were demanding the president to quit and it was time for him (Pervez Musharraf) to leave the slot of the president of Pakistan because he is no longer popular.
The participants not only appreciated the Capital Talk show, but also raised anti-Musharraf slogans during the programme. The audience gave a standing ovation when the programme started and demanded that the show be aired soon.
Hamid Mir, the author of this article, is a top Pakistani reporter, head of the Geo TV Bureau in Islamabad. He has won a world-wide acclaim for his interviews with Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, before and following 9/11.
