Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf personally apologised for a raid by riot police on a private television station on Friday, in a rare live telephone interview with the channel, says DNA.
Footage showed police entering the office of Geo Television in Islamabad during violent protests over the sacking of the country’s chief justice and breaking windows and smashing equipment.
“The police damaged our infrastructure. This attack on the freedom of the press is unprecedented in the 60-year history of this country,” Khan, who presents the programme, said after the police incident on Friday.
“The offices of The News, an English language-daily, and the Urdu-language Jang, which are both part of the same media group as Geo, were also damaged, sources at the group said.
“Another channel accused the government of fresh attempts to censor their coverage of the row over Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, whose sacking by Musharraf on March 16 sparked the protests.
” ‘We have been told not to make Chaudhry a hero and to avoid undue coverage of lawyers’ protests,’ said Talat Hussain, head of the news section of Aaj television said earlier on Friday.”
Meanwhile a recent report says the Pakistan police has arrested over 100 Opposition leaders in midnight raids across Islamabad including several hardliner MPs. Another 50 activists have been detained in Lahore.
The handling of the case has fuelled suspicion that Musharraf feared the independent-minded judge would not accept any move by him to retain his role as army chief, which constitutionally he should give up this year, says The Scotsman.
The US administration is also closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan. Calling the case “a matter of deep concern,” the United States urged close anti-terrorism ally Pakistan on Thursday to handle in an “above-board,” open way the dismissal and detention of the country’s top judge, says a Reuters report.
“It is essential for any developing democracy to adhere to the rule of law and conduct any investigations … in a clear, above-board, transparent manner that strictly accords with Pakistan’s laws,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Some ‘developing democracy’ this under a military dictator, Mr McCormack!!!
For a detailed report on the attack on the Pakistani media please click here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.