A picture of a leering posse of policemen raining blows on a young woman in Islamabad during a protest demonstration by a hundred odd human rightists adorns the front page of the Daily Times of December 18. There are similarly disgusting snapshots in other papers. Is this the image of Pakistan that President Pervez Musharraf wants to project to the world about the state of his gilded democracy? Are occasional sprinklings of protest by students, homemakers, professionals and university teachers such a grave threat to the integrity, solidarity and ideology of President Musharraf’s Pakistan that the demonstrators should be thrashed and dragged off to police stations? Not so long ago, the same Islamabad police distinguished itself when it opened up the skulls of journalists on Constitution Avenue (sic) when they were simply covering a march by a lawyers contingent on the election commission of Pakistan.
President Musharraf’s mishandling of the media in recent times also defies the logic of self-preservation even if it is the cause of it. There was a time not so long ago when the media sang his praises, lauding him for licensing electronic channels and allowing cross-media ownership. Indeed, hardly any new channel was launched without an invitation to General Musharraf to preside over the ceremonies. This was in sharp contrast to the shoddy treatment meted out to the media during the time of the autocratic democrats in the 1990s. Wherever he went, General Musharraf proudly showcased a free media as one of his biggest achievements. Indeed, when the police waded into the offices of Geo TV in Islamabad and wantonly smashed it up last summer, General Musharraf was quick to publicly apologize for the mishap.
But all this changed on that fateful day in Karachi on May 12 when General Musharraf’s allies mowed down dozens of pro-Chief Justice supporters and targeted Aaj TV as well. The dye was cast for the media to take a sharp look at the policies of the man who claimed to be ushering in freedom and democracy but was in fact undermining them.
The Lal Masjid stand-off did not do much credit to General Musharraf or the media. For months the regime prevaricated about how to deal with the extremists until they became outrageously bold and pro-active. Suspicions began to abound about the true motives of Islamabad. One persistent and plausible theory was that the regime was soft on the Lal Masjid extremists because it wanted to distract attention from the CJP affair. By the time the military attacked the Lal Masjid, many in the media had already become sympathetic to the terrorists by default. Unfortunately, when certain reputed anchorpersons in the electronic media went overboard and a couple of print reporters lost all sense of balance or propriety and started lionizing the extremists, the besieged government rushed to the judgment that the media as a whole was bent upon destabilizing and even overthrowing it. A common refrain in the corridors of power at the time was that if the media hadn’t been so biased and powerful the judicial and Lal Masjid crises would have passed without tremors. That is when the government decided to rap the electronic media by means of some stern advice. And when this didn’t yield too many dividends, it decided to shut it down following the promulgation of the Emergency.
All except one of the offending channels (and their anchors) have since been restored. They signed on the dotted line and live to fight another day. But Geo and its offshoots are still serving a stiff prison term. The company has lost over Rs 100 crore in revenues to date. Its application for a license for another channel is pending. Scores of its journalists are camped outside its offices across the country, protesting their fate. The owners have bravely resisted the government’s stern pre-conditions so far but would now like to sue for a dignified truce. They realize that it takes two hands to clap and confrontation is counterproductive. Why then is the regime being so bloody-minded? Why is President Musharraf so personally affronted? Doesn’t he realise that he will need the media to stand by him when confrontations arise between the presidency and parliament in time to come? Doesn’t he understand that the same media which once cheered him is now bound to boo the politicians and should therefore be wooed and strengthened instead of being punished and alienated? Isn’t that the sort of tactical retreat in search of a strategic advance that he loves to beat from time to time?
The Supreme Court has decided not to hear Geo’s petition until January 1. This is most unfortunate because the ban cannot patently be sustained in law even by PCO judges, and justice delayed is justice denied. But this is just the moment for President Musharraf to rise above prejudice and bad advice and restore Geo. That would be a most welcome decision after a long time. And while he is being good, he should also order the police to desist from beating up democracy’s colourful, fragile and wonderful protestors.