http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=32419
DUBAI: Media authorities in Dubai said Saturday they were considering
whether to allow two leading private Pakistani news channels to
resume broadcasting after shutting them down the day before.
"We are
in contact with them to see if there is a possibility to (allow
them to) resume" broadcasting, Amina Rustamani, head of Dubai's
media watchdog was quoted as saying.
The two networks,
Geo and ARYOne, said on Saturday that they were shut down the night
before amid pressure from Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Geo and ARYOne
had been blacked out on cable in Pakistan since November 3, when
Musharraf imposed a state of emergency, but had still been available
on satellite and the Internet until Friday night when they were
fully closed.
Both channels
said the Islamabad government had been pushing them to stop showing
their political talkshows.
Rustamani said
the channels had long been operating out of Dubai Media City, a
free zone where scores of regional and international news organizations
are based.
She said it
was necessary to explain to the two channels the policy of the United
Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, and guidelines applying to
media operating out of the free zone, but she declined to go into
details of the criteria they would have to abide by in order to
resume broadcasting.
She said it
was necessary to explain to the two channels the policy of the United
Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, and guidelines applying to
media operating out of the free zone.
But Rustamani,
executive director of media at Dubai Media City, declined to go
into details of the criteria they would have to abide by in order
to resume broadcasting.
The director
of the National Media Council which overseas all media in the UAE,
Ibrahim al-Abed, said the oil-rich Gulf country pursues a policy
of "moderation, neutrality and non-interference in others'
affairs."
In keeping with
these principles, the UAE is "keen on maintaining total and
objective neutrality toward the political events unfolding in Pakistan,"
Abed was quoted as saying by a local news agency.
"The closure
of the two television channels is compatible with the UAE's foreign
policy," he added.
Rustamani was
quoted by the news agency as also saying that Dubai Media City cannot
allow media it hosts to put out material that flouts UAE policies.
Dubai Media
City is "keen on safeguarding cooperation with the two channels,
and its administration is currently discussing with those in charge
of the channels the content of their news programmes," she
said, expressing confidence that a settlement can be reached.
Asked if the
shutdown might scare off other foreign news organisations whose
presence in Dubai has turned the emirate into a regional media hub,
Rustamani was quoted as saying: "There are (press) laws in
any country."
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