Pakistans Permanent Revolution

Re: # 162

Sattar ayk badboo tii tarah hay..bin bullaey aata hayy, mahaul kharab karta orr daffah hojata hay..magarr hayy bayzarar..badboo ki tarah. Tahmed sahab nayy poochhaa n i obliged.

#160 by abu_safwaan

Please don`t allow mirzaees to distract you from the subject at hand.

nasah #156 i dont see how musharraf or any government can impose press restrictions in the soviet style even if they tried - given the internet and global newscasts and the large pakistani expatriate community, educated pakistanis (or any other people) can never again be kept in the dark. the jahils in pakistan - of the hafisa kind - will remain in the dark.

nevertheless, Dawn is a fine newspaper and its existence is indeed synonymous with Pakistan, and for the government to try to bring it to financial ruin is just one more step in the wrong direction by musharraf as he seeks to cling to power.

#146 abu safwan: by the same token, a christian could ask you to provide proof that muhammed was a prophet. or a jewish person could ask a christian to provide proof (using DNA analysis no doubt) that jesus was the son of God. or a zorastrian could demand that jews provide proof that moses did indeed hear the voice of God on the mountain, and did not merely rehash legends from ancient babylon. and so on....

my point is very simple: religion is about belief. a belief by definition is something that cannot be proved. and the Quran exhorts mankind not to take matters into their own hands in matters of belief, since such matters are between the individual and God. If only we muslims followed this wise teaching in the Quran, we would not be in the mess that we are - with sectarian violence, professional priests, confusion on matters of science as well as on matters of individual rights, law and order and justice.

Re: # 158

Don`t worry about the validity of my Prophet (PBUH), i can proove his prophethood scientifically from Quran a book that had information which was 1400 years ahead of its time. Sir jee when all of you take off the glasses of bigotry then you;`ll see that 34000 americans come within the folds of Islam every year despite all the bad media for a reason. I have no problem people believing in whatever they want to believe in, problem comes when they believe in absurdities and then insists that there delusions are the true Islam. If we believe that Jesus was a mere prophet not actually son of GOD then we dont insist that they take us as christians as well. Its this insistance that, we will break the basic creed of your faith but should still be considered mainstream, infact our lunacies must be held as the true religion. If you have invented new ideas that contradict the basic teaching of a faith then its not that same faith anymore, give it a differnt name, besides you know what they say, What`s in the name anyway?

Re: # 160

Are you aware of the fact that the 34000 converst to Islam are largely from the prison population and other backward, disaffected groups? John Walker Lindh, the convert associated witht he 7/7 bombing. Same thin in Europe. Islam does not inspire the best and brightest to come into their folds whether it is from Asia, Europe or the States. Reading your posts its is abundantly clear as to why that is. Spare me the usual spewing of hatred.

Re: # 177
Eastmmwest Pulthariparankuljaranpulyalam

I think i have told u before that pre-requisite for induging me in a serious conversation is the ability to enjoy a hamburgre w/out a guilty consience. I also refuse to engage in thelogical matters with a people who revere monkey and cow-piss as holy. do tell us more about the art of fryingg doughnuts, science of cleanin motels and the wisdom behind the bycott of deodrant

Re: # 179

Thank you for displaying your limited intellectual faculties for eveyone to see.

Fortunately the likes of gazankahn give all people hope that reason and basic human decency triumph over blind adherence to dogma. Those limited IQ ``rejects`` who couldn`t cut it in more competitive societies like Abu need to hide behind their mom`s burqas.

#156 by nasah

Yeah musharraf stopped all government ads for Dawn because of their independent reporting ..

Here is a glimpse of `Press Freedom` in Musharraf`s Pakistan -- a foremost newspaper of Pakistan DAWN which in my meomory is almost synonymous with the creation and existence of Pakistan -- has to say about Musharraf personal attempt to laser-bomb this another 65 year old Jinnah`s created icon of Pakistan -- an English newpaper that stands shoulder to shoulder with worlds foremost newpapers in the quality, perspective and the depth of world class journalism.

This is another shameful blot on the forehead of the President of Pakistan -- a forehead that is by now is almost filled with the small-pox pits amost the size of the moon craters of mister Musharraf`s misdeeds:


(An open letter from the CEO of Dawn Group of Newspapers)

``Dear Madam / Sir,

I am writing to draw your attention to an important matter that indicates the rapidly worsening environment for the freedom of press in Pakistan.

It has always been difficult for governments to coexist with a free and independent press in Pakistan. Of late, however, the government headed by President Musharraf has become increasingly intolerant towards criticism in the press and towards the publishing of news that reflects poorly on the performance of his government on security matters.

One of the intended casualties of this swelling hostility between government and press in Pakistan is the DAWN Group of Newspapers, the country’s largest independent English language newspaper and magazines publishing house.

Since December 2006, the DAWN Group is facing massive advertising cuts equivalent to two thirds of total government advertising. This has occurred primarily as a consequence of a decision ostensibly taken by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s government, but in reality ordered by General Musharraf and engineered by several of his advisors that constitute the government’s inner cabinet.

It is clear that objections to the propriety of the DAWN Group’s editorial policies emanate mainly from President Musharraf’s office and his stance is heavily influenced by key advisors who have been entrusted with responsibility for implementing crisis management and conflict control in flashpoint areas. Particularly sensitive for the agreement are the escalating developments in Pakistan’s western province of Baluchistan, and in the tribal agencies of North & South Wazirstan on the Afghan border. Also irksome have been the DAWN Group’s related attempts to monitor a recurring tendency toward covert militancy among responsible decision-makers in government.

While preparing this dossier, I have attempted to include details and supporting documentation wherever possible, to facilitate your assessment as a key practitioner in the press rights movement internationally. Recent events in Pakistan indicate that attempts by the government to curtail the autonomy of the judiciary have been on the increase. This may have facilitated a temporary unintended pause in the government’s relentless campaign to muzzle the press. But such pauses presage a return to more coercive methods by government against the press, once the messy business of the executive - judicial conflict is brought to a successful halt.

If you peruse the documents accompanying this letter, you will find a chronology of events that cover the continuing conflict between the DAWN Group and the Government of Pakistan in the critical years 2004 to 2007. (Refer Appendix A 1.0) and that reflects some of the main causes of the present breakdown of communication between the government and the DAWN Group.

In the first phase, approximating with the years 2004 to 2005, the Government of Pakistan essentially worked by attempting to exert pressure on the Dawn Group by proxy - the proxy in this case being the Provincial Government of Sindh. It is in Sindh’southern metropolis of Karachi, that the headquarters of the DAWN Group of Newspapers are located.

This period first witnessed the government’s exerting of harsh pressures on our daily evening newspaper - The STAR - by attempting to intimidate and harass journalists with false cases and concocted charges, and by a failed attempt to implicate the writer of this letter, as CEO of the Group, in a totally fabricated incident of terrorism and illegal weapons possession. (Refer Appendix A 1.1.1, to, 1.1.4 and 2.1.2 )

This attempt culminated with a complete ban on advertising on DAWN Group newspapers and magazines by the Government of Sindh. However, in response to a petition filed by DAWN’s lawyers, the Sindh High Court ruled in DAWN’s favour. The Sindh Government sensing an impeding debacle withdrew the advertising ban in advance of the Court’s final verdict.

The second stage involved the direct exerting of pressure by the Federal Government itself. After a series of fumbling measures and half-hearted advertisement bans by the Federal Government with respect to DAWN in 2005, a turning point was reached when one of our influential current affairs magazines, the HERALD, published a series of controversial stories and articles from June 2005 onwards on topics such as the Pakistan Government’s war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in North and South Wazirstan; a possible resurgence of covert government support to Kashmiri militants; and also on the mushrooming policy debacle for government with respect to the Bugti insurgency in Baluchistan. (Refer Appendix A 1.2.1, to, 1.2.4 and 2.2.2 )

In September 2006 when the government approached DAWN in its attempt to seek a news blackout regarding Baluchistan and the troubled FATA agencies of North and South Wazirstan, the editor of DAWN, Mr. Abbas Nasir, and the Directors of the Board of the DAWN Group, concluded that the government’s ‘request’ was unreasonable and needed to be firmly turned down. (Refer Appendix A 2.2.2 September – December 2006)

As a consequence, the government imposed an almost comprehensive ban on Federal Government advertising. (Refer Appendix A 2.2.2t) with an intent to provoke the financial collapse of the DAWN Group.

The DAWN Group had somewhat anticipated events from the increasingly strident tone of government criticism of its news policies and from the subsequent escalation in unreasonable informational demands from the government. As a precautionary measure aimed at reducing large financial deficits, we were forced to suspend the publication of our newspaper, the STAR, an important, but financial deficit generating newspaper, which has existed for over half a century and had been founded by working journalists of the DAWN Group.

Financial conditions within DAWN now became even more vulnerable to outside pressures as a consequence of our decision to commence work on a new TV channel – DAWN News. The grant of television broadcasting licences by the government towards such end is farmed out to a government organisation - the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) set up courtesy of an Ordinance passed in 2002.

The President of Pakistan had on three different occasions in the last three years publicly announced that the controversial cross-media ownership rule (illegally tagged onto the PEMRA Ordinance as a subsequent rule/regulation by the authority) would be withdrawn and the large resource of talent available in the print media would be allowed to participate in the burgeoning electronic media revolution in Pakistan. Public opinion expressed itself in the widely held conviction that with the entry of the mainstream print media in the electronic media profession, discriminatory attitudes and the repressive stance of PEMRA with respect to press freedoms in the electronic media (Refer Appendix B & Appendix C) would be rolled back.

However, the government’s current position in the courts with respect to DAWN’s application for a television broadcast licence . (Refer Appendix A 2.3.2) has forced a rapid reassessment of public opinion with respect to the bonafides of government intention and clearly demonstrates that President Musharraf’s government is bent on pursuing a policy of blatant cronyism vis a vis the inclusion of selected and preferred print media houses in the electronic media revolution , and the rejection of others considered as hostile or non-compliant to government needs.

The government also appears determined to continue the domination of all news content on TV channels and on FM radio through harsh and repressive regulatory directives from PEMRA, evidenced in the grant of temporary uplink permissions in place of valid broadcasting licenses to selected channels of PEMRA’s preference.

The recent spate of programmes banned on television by PEMRA and a physical attack engineered by government on the offices of a prominent TV news channel-cum-newspaper office, clearly demonstrate the prevalence of government’s excesses in this matter.

In early December 2005 when the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Shaukat Aziz summoned the undersigned to a meeting at Governor House (Sindh) to announce the Sindh Government’s decision to withdraw its advertising ban on the DAWN Group, he clearly informed me that the government was keen that DAWN should go ahead and set up a TV channel for the broadcast of English language news.

The President’s constant public declarations regarding the withdrawal of the notoriously exclusionary cross-media ownership clause in the PEMRA rules and regulations and Parliament’s decision to finally withdraw this rule have not resulted in the licenses promised to newspaper publishing houses outside of government favour- this despite the passing of the legislation by both houses of Parliament . Such permissions have only been granted arbitrarily to selected groups by the government.

This has led to a situation where we, at DAWN, in anticipation of the government decision to implement the new law have set up an entire organisation in Pakistan, employing over 350 journalists, technicians and managerial personnel and are anxiously awaiting the promised government license, all the while being forced to squander large financial outlays in anticipation of this.

The government’s refusal to give us a license mainly stems from our refusal to submit to its unethical pressures while reporting events in Baluchistan and North & South Waziristan. This refusal has become an acute cause of concern for the future financial viability of our publishing group.

Clearly the government would dearly like to see us lay off our journalists as they are viewed as a potential source of unwelcome criticism of government policies, rather than as compliant sheep to be hurriedly shepherded by PEMRA according to government whim.

Our colleagues in organisations devoted to protecting the freedom of the press throughout the world have always been a source of moral inspiration and help to us in our struggle for press freedoms in Pakistan.

We therefore urge you to extend your help in this matter and would appreciate if you address your concerns to the authorities in Pakistan regarding the following areas:

1. That the advertising ban by the Federal Government on the DAWN Group’s advertising is both unwarranted and unethical and a transparent mechanism to exert pressure on the newspaper group’s policies in contravention of the internationally accepted norms of objective news reporting.

2. That the decision to withhold a television broadcast license to the DAWN Group by the government is in violation of the judgments of the High Court of Sindh and the consent declarations made by PEMRA and the Federal Minister of Information in the Sindh High Court. Such right should be granted to other applying media groups as well on the same terms .

3. That the Government of Pakistan continue to submit its policies in Baluchistan and its agreements with the pro Taliban tribesmen of North & South Waziristan to the rigorous assessment of public and media scrutiny.

4. That the Government of Pakistan desist from abducting and arresting journalists in the judicious performance of their duties, and desist from physically attacking newspaper offices as has occurred last week in Islamabad.



Your concerns in this respect may be addressed to:

The President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf,

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Shaukat Aziz,

The Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Rana Bhagwandas,

The Federal Minister for Information Development, Government of Pakistan, Mr Mohammed Ali Durrani.

In addition your concerns should also be expressed to other key decision makers in the Government of Pakistan, urging all of them to desist from repressive, illegal and unethical practices deployed in their effort to subvert press freedoms.

For your ease of communication, I am including relevant fax contact details:

General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan ++9251-9221388

Mr Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan ++9251-9212866

Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan++9251-9213452

Mr Mohammed Ali Durrani, Federal Minister for Information Development, Government of Pakistan ++9251- 9203740

Thank you in anticipation for your much needed support in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Hameed Haroon.

CEO & Publisher,

DAWN Group of Newspapers

Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D``

(Todays Dawn)

#154 Salim

[He does more service to Pakistan than those self-styled patriots who would sweep the dirt under the rug.]

Perhaps. But there is also the Manto method.

Call the dirt gold and take pride in it!

Tell the world how misunderstood dirt is!

Revise definitions if necessary.

Preferably through a wholesale assault on the Wikipedia!

Not to mention the Khalistanis across the Atlantic.

#149 ahmedmadani {``Mr.Arjun has lost sense of proporation and its sad but his madness has method. He is suffering from mental disorder called Pakistan Phobia and it is uncurable, so do not expect better prognosis. Hope for best but prepare for worst about that illness.``}

Madani Sahib,
For some reason, I have the feeling that Mr. Arjun is secretly a well-wisher of Pakistan. He does not lie. He speaks the truth, albeit very bluntly and somewhat bitterly. The best response to his often valid points is to make a list of them and start working sincerely to correct the discrepancies that he points out. If I were Shaukat Aziz I would offer him a portfolio for identifying Pakistan`s pressing problems. Recognition is the first step toward resolution. We should be grateful to Mr. Arjun. He does more service to Pakistan than those self-styled patriots who would sweep the dirt under the rug. Thanks.

#151 by ahmedmadani

I`m sure Ms. Pande is right now working hard on her article about the `Ninjas` of Islamabad :)

...contd... #150

An interesting parallel can be drawn between them and `Taliban` which literally means `students`. The vital difference being that in the Taliban movement, women had no role, while this movement is spearheaded by the very women which the Taliban system appears to suppress. That difference is because of the Taliban`s strict tribal Pathan traditions (and not because of any Islamic injunctions), while these Pakistani women, even while being mostly Pathans, are all from conventionally educated urban backgrounds.

As for strength, there`re are about six thousand girls in Hafsa alone, while there`re more than 3 million seminary students in Pakistan. These in no way should be underestimated.

Re: # 152

Dude, the expressed intent of these female zealots is to become mothers of future taliban... taliban movement seems to be a step ahead, they are looking at the future and preparing the ground for massive breeding of their progenies to bulk up their numbers... it`s a solid plan...

You pakis are screw@ed.... :)

#130 by kaalchakra

``If in any state a Muslim cannot live the life of a true Muslim then he or she has two options: Either leave the country and go where he or she can, or if he or she feels they (can) have the political power to bring their environment in line with Islam, then to take all necessary steps to do so.`` So one can assume that the students now feel they have (gained) the necessary power to make their environment Islamic.

This is true. They tested the waters first with the peaceful library sit-in, then raised their demands when the initial demands were met. When they were threatened to be bulldozed, they called in the male madrassa students and tested again while waiting it out. When the government was found indecisive plus jolted by the CJ crisis, they decided to make their presence known as a powerful new entity challenging the status quo. This has nothing to do with the MMA or any other of the `sarkari moulvis` as Urstruly has correctly said.