http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=83916

LONDON: Reporters Without Borders has written to President Pervez Musharraf asking him to quickly rescind his ban on the Geo TV group's various television stations and two independent radio stations, Power99 FM and Mast FM 103. Following is the text:

Mr Pervez Musharraf
President
Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Dear Mr President,

The authorities in Dubai have just given the privately-owned TV station Geo News permission to resume broadcasting from the Emirate but its programmes are still banned in Pakistan.

Your government is also preventing broadcasting by two privately-owned radio stations, whose equipment was seized when the state of emergency was imposed.

We hail the Dubai government's decision to restore Geo News's rights. Your government must now quickly follow this example and allow Pakistani cable operators to resume distribution of all of Geo TV's stations.

Similarly, the sanctions that were unfairly imposed on the Pakistani news radio stations, Power99 FM and Mast FM 103, must be lifted immediately.

Amina Rustamani of the Dubai Media Centre has announced that the Geo TV's Geo News is again authorised to broadcast fromthe Emirate.

"Geo News will resume broadcasting at midnight from the Dubai Media Centre following productive discussion between the two parties," Rustamani said.

In Pakistan, the only people with access to Geo TV's stations are those with satellite dishes, the importation of which is restricted. As well as blocking Geo News, your government has also banned the broadcasts of the group's sports, entertainment and youth channels.

"They are trying to strangle us financially by all possible means," Geo TV president told us in a letter. "We are losing half a million dollars a day, a figure the government is well aware of and which must have been factored into its calculations," he wrote. "We are ready to dialogue with honour, but we will not submit to any humiliating accord and to conditions that undermine our credibility."

On 5 November, Geo TV petitioned the Sindh High Court to lift the ban, but the government's representative is sidestepping any substantive debate and on 27 November, the government again claimed that it did not know why the station was blocked.

The Association of Independent Radio (AIR) has condemned the plight of Power99 FM and Mast FM 103 resulting from the seizure of their equipment on 3 November.

"It was the editorial line of these two radio stations, above all, the attention they paid to current affairs, that prompted their closure," AIR chairman Najib Ahmed said.

Employees at the two stations told Reporters Without Borders that the government has done nothing to enable them to resume broadcasting. Although, they were very popular, both because of their own news programmes and their retransmission of the Urdu-language news programmes of the BBC and Deutsche Welle, they are now on the verge of bankruptcy.

We are shocked by the methodical way your government has persecuted Geo TV and the independent radio stations. It seems that the sanctions aimed at bankrupting these independent companies are linked to their refusal to bow to certain dictates, in particular, the code of conduct established after the declaration of the state of emergency.

Mr President, the arbitrary manner in which these popular and respected news media are being treated is having disastrous consequences for your country's international image and for the hundreds of Pakistani journalists who risk losing their jobs. As you have announced that the state of emergency is to be lifted soon, we urge you, as a goodwill gesture, to restore all of Geo TV's stations as well as Power99 FM and Mast FM 103.

We trust in your commitment to press freedom.

Sincerely,
Robert Menard
Secretary-General

The conference organized by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) to promote the freedom of the media, the safety of journalists and to find ways to attain these goals, has made no bones about the dark times the media in Pakistan today finds itself in. The conference, held in Islamabad against the backdrop of a continued ban on media channels and restrictions on the content of others, as well as incidents in which journalists have been beaten, harassed, arrested or threatened, brought together media professionals from across the country, a wide representation of persons from civil society and members of the diplomatic community. In the context of Pakistan's politics, it was significant that the US envoy to Pakistan, Anne W Patterson, joined others present at the conference in calling for complete media freedom and democracy.

In its detailed declaration, drawn up after intense discussion and debate, SAFMA, an organization that over the past few years has taken a strong line against unjust media laws and played a considerable role in raising awareness about them, emphasized that media restrictions and the threat faced today by journalists are a consequence of undemocratic and autocratic rule. It noted that under dictatorial dispensations, access to information is restricted, whereas in democracies the freedom of information is respected. The declaration also stated that an independent media is a pre-requisite for a transparent government, which could be held accountable to the people of a nation. Reiterating its consistent stance against repressive media laws, including the Pakistan Media Electronic Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance and the Pakistan Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance (PNNABRO), SAFMA drew out, through its Charter of Media Freedoms, issued at the end of the conference, a vivid, and sometimes disturbing picture of Pakistani society today, including the damage inflicted on it by state repression. Importantly, at a conference attended by media professionals, editors and owners, the issue of devising and following an agreed code of ethics by media organizations themselves was discussed, as were ways to ensure this was followed, independent of government control.

While the conference brought together many strands of thinking within civil society, and attempted to unify it as a broader front against authoritarian control in all its various forms, one of the key contributions of the SAFMA declaration came in its firm assertion that the right to information was one that every citizen should have. The issue of limitations on media freedoms or the closure of specific channels was thus taken beyond the matter of action against a particular group of owners, or specific journalists and anchor people, to one that in fact included all people in the country.

The call given by SAFMA to civil society to work jointly for the end to emergency rule, the restoration of all basic freedoms and for greater openness in government comes at a time when there is already considerable activism by various groups, including lawyers, journalists, students and NGO workers. The strong, unequivocal message put out by SAFMA at this time will help further unite these groups, and provide a clear-cut vision of a freer future for which they, and with them all citizens, can strive.