The friendship of princes

The friendship of princes – of potentates and powers that be — is a fickle thing indeed.

That’s to do with the nature of power and what it does to those – individuals and institutions alike – who wield it. It breeds arrogance, entitlement and, most crucially, insecurity. The offers are tempting; they promise you favors, access, support and the impunity that comes from being one of the insiders, of being the chosen ones. It is of course an illusion, because any such friendship is conditional and transactional, withdrawn on the whims of those who wear the crowns.

But when the winds change direction (and they always do), yesterday’s patriots become today’s traitors.

And so it was with former PM Imran Khan’s Chief of Staff Shahbaz Gill, who found himself in increasingly hot, shark-infested waters after making a contentious statement on ARY News. Gill, clearly too used to having an uninterrupted platform on which to share what we can only politely call his views, went a bit too far and ended up behind bars on charges of sedition and inciting mutiny in the armed forces. It is a measure of how seriously Gill’s typically irresponsible utterances are being taken that the PTI, always quick to cry out about oppression and conspiracy, has chosen not to defend his statement, and instead quietly disowned it.

But the dictum about the intoxication that proximity to power induces, applies more to ARY News, the channel that aired Gill’s remarks without censure or interruption. As a punishment, the interior ministry canceled the No Objection Certificate (NOC) granted to the channel, citing ‘adverse reports from intelligence agencies.’ What are these reports and which agencies drafted them? We will likely never know, and now the Sindh high court has predictably suspended the cancelation, allowing the channel to remain on air. The channel itself also lost no time in distancing itself from Gill’s mutinous statement while loudly reiterating its patriotic credentials with an ever-rising note of hysteria.

The fact is that when more or less the same was done to other news channels and media groups in the not-so-distant past, it was ARY that led the charge against them.

Zarrar Khuhro

Measures such as withdrawing the NOC while offering sparse explanations and no option for appeal, are perfectly in line with the tried and tested (and often failed) past attempts to bring the media into line. Predictably, this is called out as oppression, an attack on journalism, free expression and freedom of speech by the targeted news channel, and one has sympathies for the employees who, through no real fault of their own, are now on the receiving end. Calls are being made for the entire journalistic community to band together and unite against these actions because as the head of the channel in question tweeted: “Tomorrow it can [be done] to other channels.”

However, the fact is that when more or less the same was done to other news channels and media groups in the not-so-distant past, it was ARY that led the charge against them, accusing them of being unpatriotic, treasonous and, in some cases, blasphemous. Back in those days, this channel was essentially acting as the media wing of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, a task that it performed with gusto.

Whether it was the Dawn Leaks saga, or later the restrictions placed on Geo TV, ARY maligned and misinformed. Entire news broadcasts and dozens of shows were dedicated to questioning the integrity and patriotic credentials of targeted channels and individuals, and specific news anchors led these charges. Some took it upon themselves to mock these journalists (who were targeted and attacked often physically), and laugh at their injuries and cast doubts on their claims. Indeed, those attacked were accused of staging ‘dramas’ to seek asylum abroad by the same anchor who himself is said to have left the country to avoid censure and possibly arrest. To see the same people who blatantly violated every principle of their profession now cry out for truth, justice and the integrity of journalism is, in a word, laughable.

Mistakes can be made, and people can indeed be misled into taking a stance that they may later consider was wrong, but this clearly was not the case. If it were so, ARY would not have been forced to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in defamation cases in the United Kingdom after being successfully sued by a host of targets, from Mian Mansha to Ishaq Dar. Had the apology been sincere, it would not have been forced out of them by UK courts and would have been aired on their Pakistani transmissions and not just – in keeping with court orders – in the UK. Had there been a sincere realization that they were wrong, the same tactic would not have been repeated over and over again.

All one can hope for in this entire sorry affair, is that some lessons will be learned, both by the channel ownership and also those whose patronage they enjoyed. But this is wishful thinking and, in the end, those who abandon principle for profit would do well to remember the words Shakespeare spoke through Cardinal Wolsey:

“Had I but served my God with half the zeal

I served my king, he would not in mine age

Have left me naked to mine enemies.”

- Zarrar Khuhro is a Pakistani journalist who has worked extensively in both the print and electronic media industry. He is currently hosting a talk show on Dawn News. 

Twitter: @ZarrarKhuhro