A Matter of Principle

We are currently witness to the fiercest, most long drawn out
confrontation seen in Pakistan between the state and the press — an
example of equally serious proportions being the takeover of
Progressive Papers Limited, including The Pakistan Times in 1958. But
that was during martial law. What’s happening now is being done by a
‘democratically elected’ government with ‘the biggest mandate ever’.
The government, predictably, is using all the means in its power to
harass, intimidate, and malign the Group, its owner, and its
employees, including through intelligence agencies and daily diatribes
on television. Jang publications, less predictably, have come out in
the open about the pressures they are facing. Journalists and
newspaper organisations have joined in what they perceive is a fight
for press freedom. Opposition parties have jumped into the fray.
But people are still asking if it is really a matter of press freedom
— or of taxes. Why has a newspaper organisation known for its
pragmatic and business-oriented policy taken this ‘extreme’ stance?
What has given Mir Shakilur Rehman the guts to stand up and fight now?
The answer to the last question could lie in the observation of Asma
Jahangir at a charged meeting at Lahore Press Club last week: “Mir
Shakil’s departure from past policy has been made possible by the long
and sustained fight for press freedom by working journalists, unions
and human rights groups.”

It could also lie in the fact that this is a fight for the Group’s
very survival. If Jang publications continue to dwindle in size due to
shortage of newsprint, they will lose readers. And business —
newspapers make most of their money from the advertisements they
print, not from subscriptions and sales. Rivals will gleefully jump
into the vaccum — not just already established newspaper rivals, but
new ones.

Remember when one of the Sharif scions took a ‘rekky’ trip to India a
couple of years ago, to check out, among other things, the possibility
of importing newsprint from next door instead of further away? And
let’s not overlook the recent buying up of a daily newspaper by a
ruling party loyalist.

So how did matters come to this pass? The tension had been building up
since last year, particularly July-August 1998, coinciding with Nawaz
Sharif's announcement of the controversial Constitutional Amendment 15
(the ‘Shariat Bill’) - and the planned launch of Geo, an offshore
South Asian satellite channel backed by the Jang Group.

“The government feels that the Jang Group is a monster in the making,
with its move into the electronic media challenging the official
monopoly on truth,” is The News Senior Editor Imran Aslam, who is
associated with the project.

The government's total control on the electronic media is a major
hindrance to the freedom of expression and information. In a nation
where only about 30 per cent of the population is functionally
literate, the Jang Group's virtual monopoly on the print media - it is
estimated to publish some 55 per cent of all reading material in
Pakistan - makes it a force to be reckoned with.

Information Minister Mushahid Hussain’s claim that the Jang Group was
‘blackmailing’ the government because of its refusal to allow the
Group to move into the electronic media doesn’t hold water.”We don’t
need government permission,” states Imran Aslam. “Geo is operated by
an off-shore company.”

What Geo does need to run, however, is money. Lots of it. And by
hitting the Jang Group’s ‘milch cow’, the government has ensured that
the Group is too tied up running pillar to post for newsprint and to
unfreeze its bank accounts to even think about moving ahead with the
project.

The newsprint crisis is visible in the suspension of several weekly
Jang publications, and the reduction of daily The News and Jang to
skeletons.

It is important to understand the issue of newsprint, a rare commodity
in Pakistan, which imports rather than manufactures it. In this ‘free
market’ age, the government retains controls over its import.
Newspapers and periodicals pay 5 per cent duty, as compared to
commercial importers who pay 10 per cent, and are allowed a ‘quota’
according to their need, as certified by the government Audit Bureau
of Circulation (ABC).

Newspapers traditionally inflate circulation figures, allowing them to
import more than needed. The surplus is profitably sold in the black
market - a side-trade that many publication houses indulge in, with
the authorities traditionally looking the other way.

In December, the FIA raided the largest paper market, Rehan Paper Mart
in Karachi, and unsuccessfully attempted to implicate the Jang Group
in cases of illegally selling its newsprint quota.

“Everyone sells newsprint, but it just so happens that the Jang Group
has not been doing this, at least in recent years,” admits a senior
officer.

As for the tax issue, journalists organisations hold that these cases
should be handled by income tax tribunals. But the government
continued harassing the Group even after an Income Tax Appellate
Tribunal ruled in its favour, prompting the infamous remark on the
audio-cassette: “If I had directed him, even the judge’s father would
not have ruled in your favour”.

As Opposition Senator Aitzaz Ahsan asked, why are income tax cases
being filed selectively, and why is no action is taken against the
prime minister who paid no more than Rs 477 in taxes last year, while
Senator Saifur Rehman himself has paid zero income tax.
The tax issue also doesn’t hold water considering the offer made to
Mir Shakeel: sack and replace certain journalists, support the
government on various policy issues, don’t publish news against the
ruling family and its business interests, and the cases can be
withdrawn.

The government has been unable to convincingly deny that these demands
and threats were made. Instead, there was a feeble suggestion by
Minister for Information, Senator Mushahid Hussain that a five-member
committee be set up, including leaders of the house and opposition in
the Senate, and journalists, to look into the matter.
As independent observers have pointed out, there should be nothing for
any ad hoc committee to negotiate on the matter of tax claims — there
are tribunals for the purppose.

There is a widespread feeling that after muzzling the other
institutions, the government has turned on the press. It is a welcome
step that the APNS has taken, to support the Jang Group and go to
court on the issue of press freedom. After all, at stake is not just
the survival of one group, but of press freedom and democracy as a
whole, because, as is widely being commented, if Jang Group
capitulates, no other newspaper will dare to defy government diktat
for a long time to come.