Former Pakistani President and the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari (2L) arrives for his bail appeal at Islamabad High Court on June 10, 2019. | Photo Credit: AFP

Islamabad

02 July 2019 22:27 IST

Move triggers debate over censorship

On Saturday, journalist Hamid Mir interviewed former President and co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari, in Parliament House in Islamabad. The interview was to be aired at 8 pm on Geo News on Monday.

The interview went on air but after a few minutes, it was taken off air without any explanation. Mr. Mir tweeted: “Interview of Asif Zardari stopped on Geo News within few minutes.. those who stopped it have no courage to accept publicly that they stopped it.”

The incident started a debate on Twitter about media censorship in Pakistan and whether someone who is under arrest should be interviewed in the first place. Mr. Zardari is under arrest and being investigated for corruption, including a fake bank accounts case, by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

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Mr. Mir told The Hindu that Mr. Zardari came to Parliament on a production order (with permission to attend a Parliament session), so there is nothing illegal about the interview. “Asif Zardari spoke to other journalists also but he gave me exclusive time separately. We broke the story the same day (Saturday). We ran the promo for the next two days, but finally when the interview started, it was stopped by Geo.”

Mr. Mir added that he was told by Geo that they were under pressure but they only announced ‘this interview cannot be broadcast today’. “I announced on Twitter that it was stopped from outside.”

Probe against Khan

Mr. Mir said Mr. Zardari mentioned about some investigation against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the U.K. “Maybe that’s what bothered the government.”

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) believes this interview should have never been done in the first place. “How can we interview criminals arrested for money laundering? Will we interview someone arrested on drug possession charges? We have to draw the line somewhere,” Mr. Zaidi told The Hindu.

Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a spokesperson of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, told The Hindu that this government believes in censorship like no other political party in Pakistan’s history.

“When they can even ban harmless, innocent words in Parliament, they can ban anything and everything. Under what law they asked Geo News to take off an important interview? He hasn’t been convicted of anything. This government is scared of the truth coming out and their lies being exposed. This is a shameless government.”

Former Prime Minister and senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told The Hindu that “suppression of alternative viewpoints and dissent never works, not even in martial law regimes. We supposedly have democratic rule in Pakistan.”

Some analysts say journalists always keep pushing the limits. “Law fare is a tool for implementing political manipulations and achieving political goals,” said one journalist on condition of anonymity.