Special to The Globe and Mail
ISLAMABAD -- One of Pakistan's most popular political TV chat shows, Capital Talk, had an impressive collection of panelists for yesterday's show, including a retired general and a senator.
Hamid Mir, a leading Pakistani journalist and the program's host, orchestrated a lively debate, engaging the audience with his usual skill. The familiar theme music introduced and ended the program, which focused on the most popular topic in the country: the emergency measures and the January election.
But the program was not filmed yesterday as usual in the studios of the popular Geo television channel. There was no point. Geo has been pulled off the air. Instead, the show was set up on the pavement outside the studio building. Instead of playing to millions of viewers, Capital Talk was seen by only the few dozen who gathered on the street to watch and a small number tuning in via the Internet.
"We want to tell [General Pervez] Musharraf that he has failed to silence our voice," said Mr. Mir, who does not dare to sleep in his own bed at night for fear that police will arrest him.
Not only has the government forced cable providers in the country to black out Geo, the most-watched news channel, but Pakistan has also persuaded authorities in Dubai to stop the channel's satellite transmission from that country.
The treatment of the news media is currently uneven and at times haphazard. Newspapers have been less affected, but television is a major target. Immediately after the declaration of emergency government on Nov. 3, all stations except the state-owned PTV were taken off the air.
The government quickly published a new set of rules for the news media, which must be signed before reporting is resumed. The news media must not criticize the President, the army, members of parliament or the new Supreme Court. Transgressions are punishable by up to three years in prison for journalists or executives. Gradually, more and more channels, strangled financially by the lack of advertising income, have signed up.
But Geo and another station, ARY, which both broadcast in Urdu, the national language, have been singled out for harsher treatment, apparently because they aired the most hostile programming. It is understood that the government did not offer these two stations the option of agreeing to the new rules.
Even if Geo is allowed back on air, the government has made it plain that it will be without Mr. Mir. He is on a list of five or six leading anchors that broadcasters have been told will not tolerated.
Another name on the list is Kashif Abbasi of ARY. "The government's tolerance of criticism has gone down to zero," Mr. Abbasi said. "If I took out all criticism of the President, government, army and so on, what would I have left to say?"
AAJ, another news channel, has been allowed back on the air but without its best-known face, Talat Hussain. Today, Mr. Hussain will act as host of his show again, on a different stretch of pavement in Islamabad. In front of the Islamabad Press Club he will assemble guests and go through the program as usual - minus the television audience.
Gen. Musharraf has accused the news media of being irresponsible, excessively negative and even propagandizing on behalf of terrorists.
One unintended consequence of the crackdown is that it has brought together an unlikely coalition of government critics. On Mr. Mir's show, there was consensus between guests ranging from a hard-line mullah to left-wing human-rights activists.
Mr. Bari found himself on the panel agreeing with a former senior civil servant from the previous military government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, a regime that sentenced him to 14 years in prison.
