‘Angels’ blocking Geo, The News, Jang

 

ISLAMABAD: Who says the chief of the ‘angels’ is ordering and monitoring the closure of all channels of the Geo Group through cable operators and stopping the distribution of daily Jang, which existed even at the time of the creation of Pakistan, and The News in cantonment areas? This is indeed happening in all cities across the country.
Geo has been blocked, and the circulation of Jang and The News stopped in all cantonments and companies and corporations under military officials’ control. Besides, in civil areas, attempts are under way to block Geo, and it has been pushed to the last numbers on TV in some areas. Following the life attempt on Hamid Mir, the well-known anchor of Geo News, the transmission of Geo group channels was initially being stopped in the cantonment areas but now the ISI has started contacting the cable operators in civilian areas and operators are being “asked” to block all Geo channels even in non-cantonment areas. The Geo/Jang Group, which according to its spokesman, was already facing the worst financial crisis in recent months has been badly damaged financially by the most recent blackout of its channels in many areas of different cities across the country.

The spokesman has said that agencies are playing a very negative role by blacking out the media channels and forcefully stopping the distribution of newspapers which played a role in the making of this country. The ISI is being maligned and defamed across the world because of this attack on media freedom. The spokesman has also added that the institution should not be maligned in this way and the agency should give up practices which are against the dignity and respect of their own institution, which is getting weaker and more isolated because of such illegal and unconstitutional acts.

The image of an institution is the most important thing which should not be compromised just because of ego and personal differences with individuals. Those holding such big and prestigious offices never come to the level of ordering subordinates to press cable operators to block TV channels or stop distribution of newspapers.

In a civilized society, in a situation like the one in Pakistan now, any institution would have given its complete point of view for publication in the said newspaper and would have followed the process of law to act against the media organisation if according to any institution there are intolerable excesses by the newspaper or news channel. However, what is happening in Pakistan is utterly disgusting and shameful. While an application has been moved to the Pemra through the Ministry of Defence, without waiting for the decision of Pemra’s authority, rogue elements have started getting Geo Group channels closed first in cantonments areas and now even in civilian areas. Distribution of newspapers was already stopped. Is this is what the institutions have learnt so far?

On November 3, 2007, neither the sitting government was toppled nor parliament dissolved. Rather parliament has passed a resolution to support the Nov 3 unconstitutional acts. Only one institution was attacked, yet it was an act of high treason. The present high treason case will set this principle that it is never necessary that a government is toppled or parliament or government is sacked by “revolutionaries” for committing the act of high treason, rather openly and obvious violation of any basic article of the Constitution is high treason. In the present case, one of the fundamental articles of the Constitution is being violated, which in future will formulate the act of high treason.

No one from the ISPR was ready to speak on the issue. However, retired officials close to the ISPR denied that any ISI individual was involved in threatening cable operators to block Geo in civilian areas. On the other hand, the Jang Group spokesman acknowledged some contacts with the government and the ISI but maintained that no concrete development regarding restoration of Geo channels had taken place.

The Jang Group has a history of facing adverse steps of the governments and institutions for speaking the truth. According to the Group’s spokesman, blocking of advertisements is a routine issue but the group was subjected to many harassing tactics in the past decades.

According to the spokesman, the whole nation remembers the closure of Geo for about three months when the channel and its newspaper group stood for the rule of law and the Constitution and faced losses to the tune of Rs6 billion, which were never given to the group and hearing a petition regarding this issue in Sindh High Court (SHC) is getting delayed because of responses from the government came very slow.

A spokesman for the Jang Group, when asked by this scribe how long this standoff of the group with government will continue, he replied that the group was already facing extreme financial constraints but now the situation will get worse and it will be facing great losses.

Asked how the group will face such a situation, the spokesman responded that after the latest brutal acts by the institutions to get the whole business of the group closed, there will remain no option but to lay off employees as it will become unavoidable.

When asked that Jang Group had faced all the worst government actions against it boldly and never adopted anti-workers policy in past, the spokesman insisted that the group’s management was not expecting such a shutdown on massive scale by state institutions in a situation when the sitting government and its regulatory body is completely helpless.

Journalists and media workers attached with the Geo/Jang Group are already facing bad conditions because of sky-rocketing inflation and any such a step would prove fatal for the journalist community and media workers, the spokesman said that the group had already faced huge losses and will fight to recover its financial health and even if it remains with no option but to say goodbye to its employees, it will do so in different phases.

Asked in how many phases and how many employees would be sent home in the first phase, the spokesman responded that 1,000 employees, including journalists and media workers, will be laid off in the first phase because of losses inflicted so far by the forceful closure by the institutions.

It would be a horrible scenario for the journalist community and media workers of the country as the leading media group of Pakistan would be laying off thousands of employees and simply in the first phase, 1,000 families will suffer across Pakistan.

It will be more horrifying to remember all this in history that how the top journalist Hamid Mir was first attacked and then his organization was pushed against the wall and was forced to face financial losses along with continued threats to its workers.

Karzai accuses Pakistan of blocking Kabul’s peace deal with Taliban

KABUL: In a phone call with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan of being behind a recent series of attacks and of blocking his government from striking a peace deal with Taliban, the Afghan president’s office said on Sunday.

Karzai routinely makes such accusations against Islamabad, but his tone in recent days has been particularly pointed and direct. They come after three attacks in five days in the capital Kabul, the latest coming on Saturday when assailants fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the country’s electoral commission ahead of next week’s general election.

Karzai told Kerry on Saturday the attacks were complex in nature and stage-managed by “foreign intelligence agencies,” a reference to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. He also told Kerry that he did not accept US arguments that it had no influence “over countries that support terrorism,” and said the US’s refusal to go after the Pakistani intelligence agency could further hurt its relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the recent violence in Kabul. Islamabad has a long and complicated relationship with the group, but few analysts accept Karzai’s allegations that Pakistani intelligence agencies and not the Taliban are staging attacks.

Pakistan denies that it is assisting the Taliban. “It is highly disturbing that attempts are being made to somehow implicate Pakistan in this terrorist incident,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement issued after the Afghan presidency blamed Pakistan a March 21 assault on the Serena Hotel that left nine dead. “We reject the insinuation. The tendency to immediately blame Pakistan is unhelpful and should be discarded.

“Karzai is not allowed to run for re-election in the April 5 ballot, as he is barred by the constitution from seeking a third term in office. He is seen as positioning himself for life after the presidency, depicting himself as a tough-speaking nationalist.

Karzai has also refused to sign a bilateral security agreement with the United States which would allow for the US and Nato to leave behind a residual force of about 12,000 soldiers after the final withdrawal of international combat troops takes place at the end of this year.

Despite widespread support for the agreement, Karzai says he first wants the US to move forward with a peace pact with the Taliban, presumably by putting pressure on neighbor Pakistan.

During the telephone conversation, according to the Afghan presidency, Karzai told Kerry that the Taliban were willing to talk to his High Peace Council, an 80-member body tasked by the president to spearhead reconciliation with his armed opposition, but Pakistan was preventing them. The presidency did not provide further details.

The Taliban has denied any talks with Karzai and say it does not want to speak with the Afghan president. However several Taliban leaders have met with members of Karzai’s High Peace Council in the United Arab Emirates, according to both Taliban and high peace council members, who have previously spoken to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so as not to disrupt the delicate diplomacy.

Also on Sunday, a roadside bomb killed a Romanian service member with the international military coalition in Afghanistan in a southeastern province, said Coalition spokesman Capt. Patrick Simmons. The bomb was set off by remote control as a convoy reached the outskirts of Qalat, capital of Zabul province, said district governor Abdul Khaliq Ayubi. He said another three troops were wounded.

The Romanian defense ministry said Claudiu Constantin Vulpoiu died in the early Sunday attack. Romania has 1,029 troops serving in the Nato mission in Afghanistan and 23 have been killed. Most of Afghanistan’s security is now in the hands of the Afghan National Security Forces ahead of the withdrawal of international combat troops at the end of December. Still, international service personnel occasionally patrol troubled areas and assist Afghan troops when requested.

In Tirin Kot, the capital of southern Uruzgan province, a remotely detonated explosive devise apparently planted in a car killed one person and injured 14 others, according to Provincial Deputy Police Chief Mohammed Aslam Kochi. No one took responsibility for either incidents but the Taliban are suspected in both explosions. A stubborn insurgency still rages in Afghanistan’s south and east.

China blocking Philippines’ vessels a provocative move: US

Concerned by reports that China has blocked two vessels of the Philippines in the South China Sea, the US on Wednesday described it as a provocative move that raised tensions.
“We are troubled by reports that China’s Coast Guard blocked efforts by two Filipino vessels to re-supply the Philippines’ outpost at Second Thomas Shoal. This is a provocative move that raises tensions,” State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
“Pending resolution of competing claims in the South China Sea, there should be no interference with the efforts of claimants to maintain the status quo,” she said.
The Philippines has maintained a presence at Second Thomas Shoal since 1999, as other claimants have maintained a presence elsewhere in the South China Sea, she added.
“The regular resupply and rotation of personnel positioned in the South China Sea at locations that have existed since before the Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea was issued by ASEAN and China in 2002 is consistent with maintenance of the status quo. Other claimants regularly resupply and repair their outposts without interference,” Psaki said.
“Freedom of navigation and overflight is a linchpin of security in the Pacific. Safe and unimpeded lawful commerce, freedom of navigation, stability, and respect for international law must be maintained,” said the spokesperson.