Fingers point to military as top Pak news channel forced off air
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s largest TV network Geo TV has disappeared from most of the country, having once again fallen prey to the tussle between the powerful military and civilian government.
Cable TV operators are playing hide and seek with The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, as they start and stop transmission of the channel for short periods.
Reports say the network’s news and entertainment channels have been downgraded in the cable channel numbering too.
While the civilian government wants Geo back on air, the military wants it shut down. And the country’s chief justice, seen to be backed by the military, seems to be sitting on the fence. “If the law allows a channel to operate, then no one can get it off air except the Almighty,” justice Mian Saqib Nisar had said. At the same time, he has ordered the channel to pay staff their salaries before it can be allowed back on air.
“We are off the air in 80% of the country,” Mir Ibrahim Rahman, the chief executive of the network told The New York Times. “We are going to the Supreme Court,” he said, “but we have been told not to expect justice.”
Geo News, which is owned by Jang Group and considered the most influential and watched news network, is accused by rivals of favouring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and critical of his chief political rival, Imran Khan. It has taken a critical line on the ouster of Sharif and blamed it on the military.