ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Pakistan's largest TV station has been allowed back on the air at some major cable operators after talks with the military on demands it make changes in political coverage, two officials who work for the channel's media group told Reuters on Wednesday.
After Geo TV, Pakistan's most popular station, was taken off the air across much of the country at the end of March, military representatives pressed the channel to cease favourable coverage of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and stop any criticism of the Supreme Court and the "establishment", according to the two people, who had knowledge of the negotiations.
The "establishment" is a commonly used euphemism for the military in Pakistan.
Written instructions by Geo management to staff last week that were reviewed by Reuters spelled out "key editorial points that we have to manage and implement" to be restored to the airwaves.
Besides banning negative portrayals of the "establishment" and any allegations the Supreme Court might be interfering in politics, the instructions said there should be no reports on Nawaz Sharif's ongoing corruption trial "that helps build a narrative that he and his children are innocent".
The two sources, employees of The Jang Group of Newspapers, Geo's parent company, said the company had reluctantly agreed to most of the military's demands, although there was no final deal confirmed and the situation was in flux.
"As for the deal or tough conditions, we are following them and Geo has been restored. That restoration is the result of obeying those dictations," one of the sources said on Wednesday.
Geo TV Network President Imran Aslam declined to answer questions about any military involvement in the shutdown or whether any deal had been made or was in the works.
A Geo spokesperson said in a statement: "Geo will always strive to provide both sides of the story and an independent editorial policy for which it has suffered in every regime, military and civilian.
"If we ever surrender on that independence we would rather shut down the channel ourselves," added the spokesperson, who would not answer questions about any negotiations with the military.
The military's press office did not respond to written questions and phone calls about whether it had pressured the cable operators. It also did not comment on the allegations that the military, or its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) wing, made demands on Geo to alter its coverage or secured agreement to make any changes.
Three major cable operators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, earlier told Reuters they had pulled the channel from their rosters after direct instructions from unidentified military officers, even though the army has no official authority over the media.
The cable operators could not be immediately contacted as Geo slowly began to come back on air on Tuesday and Wednesday.
COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY
Media executives and analysts say the crackdown on Geo signals the military may be trying to control information in the run-up to a general election due within months, with the aim of preventing Sharif's PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) party from retaining its parliamentary majority.
Sharif's supporters say the military dislikes the ousted prime minister because of his attempts to assert civilian authority over the army, but the military has several times denied any role in his ouster.
The chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, recently declared his commitment to a democratically elected government.
Sharif was removed from office by the Supreme Court last year over an unreported source of income. He has been barred for life from holding public office by the court.
He and his family also face trial by an anti-corruption court over accusations they improperly used offshore companies to buy expensive London properties in the 1990s without accounting for the source of the funds. A verdict in that case is expected next month.
Geo has been one of the few broadcast stations giving extensive coverage to Sharif's defiant rallies around the country criticising his ouster, but it has denied allegations by the opposition that it is a mouthpiece for his ruling party.
Founded in 2002, Geo News has consistently ranked as the most popular TV news station among Pakistan's 208 million people. It was rated the number one watched channel in a February report by Medialogic, a ratings provider.
Geo began reappearing on Tuesday in approximately half the country but had not been restored completely, network president Aslam said on Wednesday. He declined to answer questions about any military involvement in the shutdown or whether any deal had been made or was in the works.
Aslam had said last week that the channel had been effectively blocked in about 80 percent of the country and had lost millions of dollars in revenue. "There is no official reason as to who has done it, why it has been done," he told Reuters at that time. He gave no further details on Wednesday.
Geo TV has remained on the air throughout in much of Islamabad, the capital, where most diplomats, government officials and foreign journalists are based.
"BIG BROTHER, THE BOOTS"
Reuters interviewed nearly a dozen cable operators and Geo insiders with knowledge of the channel's recent struggles. Three cable operators said they were pressured to take the channel off the air at the end of March while others declined to comment.
Five of the Geo insiders said they knew the widespread cable blackout was a result of military pressure. However, only two were willing to talk about the conditions laid out by military officials to Geo for restoring the channels, and they said they were doing so against direct orders from the company's owner.
One executive at a leading cable company that covers more than a million households in Pakistan told Reuters he received a telephone call at the end of March from a senior officer in the ISI telling him to take Geo TV off their roster.
There was never any question of refusing the order, he said.
A second cable executive said his company shut down Geo broadcasts after receiving a telephone call. Asked who made the call, he said: "I can't say the name, you know, big brother, the boots."
The military has declined to comment on all the allegations made by the cable operators.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The military has directly ruled Pakistan for almost half the country's history since independence 70 years ago – most recently overthrowing a previous Sharif government in a 1999 coup. It remains the most powerful institution in the country and political analysts have said that it hopes to manage Pakistan from behind the scenes without directly taking over.
The PML-N remains in control of the government and its minister of state for interior affairs, Talal Chaudhry, criticised the move against Geo.
"It's very unfortunate that behind many actions in Pakistan there are hidden hands, secret hands," Chaudhry told Reuters in response to a question about the military's possible role in Geo's trouble. He did not elaborate further.
The official broadcast media regulator, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, said in a statement that it had not ordered any channel to be taken off air and that the "closure of any licensed channel is against ... its laws."
Pakistan TV channel returning to air after negotiations with military-sources
Pakistan TV channel returning to air after negotiations with military-sources
- Geo TV Network President Imran Aslam declined to answer questions about any military involvement in the shutdown or whether any deal had been made or was in the works.
- Geo has been one of the few broadcast stations giving extensive coverage to Sharif's defiant rallies around the country criticising his ouster.
Pakistan’s KP to deploy law enforcers in Kurram as sectarian clashes kill 63
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government says negotiations underway between warring Kurram tribes
- Kurram, tribal district bordering Afghanistan, has a long history of violent, sectarian clashes
PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government announced on Wednesday that law enforcement personnel will be deployed in the restive Kurram district to maintain law and order, where sectarian clashes over the past three days have killed at least 63 and injured over 150.
Kurram, a former semi-autonomous tribal area bordering Afghanistan, has a long history of violent conflicts that have claimed hundreds of lives over the years. A major conflict in the district, triggered in 2007, lasted for years before being resolved by a jirga, or a council of tribal elders, in 2011.
The recent violence in the restive district erupted earlier this month when gunmen attacked a convoy carrying members of the minority Shiite community in the Uchat area of Lower Kurram, killing 41 people. A 10-day ceasefire announced by the KP government failed to hold as clashes between warring tribes continue.
“The process of negotiations are underway to resolve the issue peacefully,” an official handout by the chief minister’s office said about a meeting held by the CM Ali Amin Gandapur on the issue on Wednesday.
“To maintain peace, contingents of law enforcement personnel will be deployed at important places,” the statement added.
Participants of the meeting, which also featured the KP chief secretary and other senior officials, were briefed that a damages assessment was being conducted to compensate victims of the clashes.
KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said the government’s top priority was ensuring lasting peace in the district.
“The provincial government will utilize all available resources for this purpose,” he said.
Participants were also told that standard operating procedures were being finalized to ensure the safe travel of people in the district.
The recent clashes in Kurram mark one of the deadliest incidents in the region in recent years, following outbreaks of sectarian violence in July and September that killed dozens.
Several hundred people demonstrated against the Kurram violence last week in Pakistan’s two largest cities, Lahore and Karachi, reflecting nationwide concern over the situation.
Pakistan reports fresh polio case from country’s northwest, taking 2024 tally to 56
- Male child contracts polio in northwestern Dera Ismail Khan district, confirm authorities
- Pakistan is one of only two countries worldwide where poliovirus still remains endemic
PESHAWAR: Pakistan reported another polio case from the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Wednesday, taking this year’s tally of the disease to 56 cases as Islamabad struggles in its efforts to contain the infection.
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. The nation’s polio eradication campaign has faced serious problems with a spike in reported cases this year that have prompted officials to review their approach to stopping the crippling disease.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the detection of the 56th wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case of the year, saying that a male child in the northwestern district of Dera Ismail Khan had contracted the disease.
“This is the seventh polio case of the year from D.I. Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern KP,” the polio program said.
Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province and KP have reported the highest number of polio cases this year, 26 and 15, respectively, while 13 have been reported from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Poliovirus, which can cause crippling paralysis particularly in young children, is incurable and remains a threat to human health as long as it has not been eradicated. Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners, who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
‘Not on our watch’: Pakistan PM says won’t let Imran Khan supporters ‘destroy’ economy
- Thousands of Khan supporters protested in Pakistan’s capital on Tuesday, clashing with law enforcers
- Pakistan’s finance ministry says recent protests by Khan’s party cost country a whopping $684 million per day
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday vowed not to let former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party “destroy” the country’s economic progress, lamenting that the recent protests in Islamabad had cost the national exchequer a whopping Rs190 billion ($684 million) per day.
Thousands of supporters of Khan’s PTI entered Pakistan’s capital on Tuesday morning, braving teargas and arrests and crossing security barriers across the country. Pakistan’s government said clashes between Khan supporters, who were demanding the jailed former premier’s release from prison, left three Rangers personnel and one cop dead. The PTI says eight of its supporters were killed and “hundreds” were feared dead, a claim the government challenges.
Khan supporters fled the capital after security forces launched a sweeping midnight raid on Tuesday. The party, however, has said its sit-in protest against the government will continue, without specifying where it will take place.
“My heart cries tears of blood that after working so hard, we should let Pakistan be destroyed at the hands of such anarchists and enemies of the state?
“It is not possible, it will not happen. Not in our time, not on our watch. It will not happen, god willing,” Sharif said. “Together we will take Pakistan out of this.”
Sharif cited the finance ministry’s statement which had earlier this week said Pakistan suffered losses of $684 million per day due to the protests.
The prime minister urged the government to think about the future course of action regarding these protests, saying that it cannot be “business as usual.”
“We cannot let Pakistan be sacrificed under any circumstances,” Sharif said. “We will break the hand that wants to sacrifice Pakistan.”
The PTI’s protest took place during a three-day visit by the president of Belarus, who arrived in Islamabad with a 68-member delegation from his country, to take part in talks related to trade and investment.
Khan, who was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022, has been in prison since last year. He faces a slew of charges from terrorism to corruption that he says are politically motivated to keep him in jail and away from politics.
The charges kept Khan away from Feb. 8 general elections that his party says were rigged, an accusation denied by the election commission.
Qatari ambassador discusses bilateral investment and ties with Sindh governor
- Qatari envoy expressed interest in large-scale investments in Pakistan, particularly Karachi, says Sindh Governor
- PM Shehbaz Sharif last month visited Qatar to boost foreign trade, investment to stabilize $350 billion economy
KARACHI: Qatar’s Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Mubarak Ali Essa Al-Khater met Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori on Wednesday to discuss ways to increase bilateral investment and foster stronger ties between the two countries, the Governor House said.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month visited Qatar as he sought to bolster economic cooperation amid the country’s efforts to boost foreign investment and stabilize its frail $350 billion economy.
Islamabad and Doha have attempted to forge closer business ties over the past few months, with a Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) team also expected to visit Pakistan this month to set up an information technology (IT) park.
Al-Khater called on Tessori at the Governor House in Karachi where the two held a detailed meeting to discuss investment and other matters.
“The meeting focused on matters of mutual interest and fostering stronger bilateral ties,” the Governor House said. “During the visit, the Ambassador praised the Governor’s initiative and expressed Qatar’s desire to strengthen relations further with Pakistan, particularly in economic collaboration.”
Tessori spoke to reporters after the meeting, acknowledging that Qatar had always supported Pakistan. He added that Pakistanis harbored “immense affection for Qatar.”
“He shared that the Ambassador conveyed Qatar’s keen interest in large-scale investments in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi,” the statement said.
Tessori highlighted that Qatar was interested in government-to-government investments and joint ventures with Pakistani businesses.
The Sindh governor said Al-Khater assured him of local Qatari investors’ readiness to invest in Pakistan.
“I will provide detailed insights into sectors that can yield immediate results for investments, ensuring that this partnership benefits both nations significantly,” Tessori said.
He emphasized that Qatar’s interest is particularly crucial given Pakistan’s current economic challenges.
“We are committed to providing a conducive environment and guarantees for Qatari investors to achieve substantial returns,” Tessori said.
Pakistan’s desire to forge closer economic ties with allies come amid its attempts to increase trade and foreign investment after the country narrowly escaped a default last year by securing a last-gasp $3 billion financial assistance package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan dispatches 21st aid consignment for Gaza, Lebanon and Syria
- Islamabad dispatches 17 tons of blankets, food, medicines to Damascus in Syria from Rawalpindi
- Israel’s military campaigns have killed over 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October last year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Wednesday dispatched its 21st relief consignment for the war-affected people of Syria, Lebanon and Gaza who have suffered from Israeli military aggression in the Middle East.
Israel has been attacking what it calls Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, leading Israel to launch a military campaign in which more than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and more than 3,500 people in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, Israel approved a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that ended nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the war in Gaza. International aid agencies and the World Health Organization (WHO) have warned Israel’s military operations in Gaza have caused starvation and diseases for thousands of people in the area.
“On the directives of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) continues to provide humanitarian aid to the war-affected people of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria,” the NDMA said in a statement.
The 21st consignment was dispatched from Pakistan’s eastern city of Rawalpindi to Syria. The relief items were sent with the help of the Pakistan Air Force, the NDMA said, adding that they comprised 17 tons of supplies which included blankets, food and medicines.
The NDMA said Pakistan has dispatched a total of 1,273 tons of relief items to the war-affected people of Gaza, 372 tons to the people of Lebanon, and 111 tons to Syria.
“The Government of Pakistan continues to send relief supplies based on the needs of the war-affected populations of Lebanon and Palestine,” the authority said.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other multilateral platforms and demanded international powers and bodies stop Israeli military actions in Gaza.
