Talha Asgha Season Of Silence
1511 words to be checked
Talha Asghar
Roll No: 153/MC/2K18
Urdu To English
Season Of Silence
AsmaShirazi
The winter season has
started, the leaves are start falling from the trees and that is too smoothly.
It is a strange weather, winter is here but the fug is increasing, the heat of
the sun is become down and the light start dimming, this season of sadness is
very painful. And even more because it is a season of silence.
It
was October 2007. In Islamabad climate starts changing, winter is almost
coming, and trees were dropping the old leaves of spring. Political climate was
also starts changing, the voice of NRO was start heard, Malik Badar’s
leadership needs some reassurance to return to his own country, the people was calling
this is a deal. However, on that time, Muhattarma Benazir Bhutto announced her
return to Pakistan on 18thof October. Bibi was welcome with 100 plus
bodies.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court was holding the hearings on General Musharraf for two
posts and his eligibility for the presidency. Musharraf had facing difficulty
in contesting the elections and there was a huge pressure on the courts. A state
of emergency was declared in the country on 3rd of November.
On this evening there was a great silence in Islamabad. We all were
standingoutside the Supreme Court. The national and international media was
also there to heard the decision of the larger bench of the Supreme Court to remove
the emergency. We all were once watching the same senario in the country when a
dictator was playing againwith the constitution of the country for the second
time. Top judges were removed and PCO courts were appointed.
Before November 3, there were reports that if an emergency was declared, some ‘hate
saying’ anchors would be banned and on the same night of 3rd
November five anchors, including me, Hamid Mir, NusratJaved, MushtaqMinhas,
KashifAbbasi and Dr. Shahid Masood was included, our all kinds of
appearances on television were banned. It was supposed that in the
movement for the reevaluation of judges, we played an huge role in opposing the
public opinion against General Musharraf’s
government.
Except of this attempt, the two major channels of Pakistan’s broadcast were
stopped and also some newspapers were also starts banned. General Musharraf starts
create an environment before the general election for his own profit that would
help him. For the willing public opinion and his favorable government.
In this all matter, Pakistan Union of Journalists decided that they would not
allow General Musharraf to stop freedom of words expression, that would stop
and down the path way of dictatorship. The biggest and longestrunning protest
camp in the history of Pakistan was set up in front of a temporary one room press
club in Melody.
We all were standing outside the press club from the morning to till evening, and
here on the streets we anchors whose programs was banned, we on aired the
programs to the public, and the people who came from different areas and far wide
to see and meet us.
The senior most Journalists,Faraz Sahib, MinhajBarna and Late. Afzal Khan who
were ready to beat the dictatorship. The members of civil society, students and
lawyerscome here and I used to read Ahmad Faraz Sahib's famous poem MUHASIRA in
the protesting environment and trying to create a revolutionary environment.
Muhattarma Benazir Bhutto was also once joined our demonstration in front of TV
where she not only assured fully cooperation in the struggle for free and
independent media but also she stay side by side till her last moment of her
life. She was killed on 27th of December. The day, On whichshe
passed away and the whole country was in a sorrow and anger, Then we understood
why the media was banned.
When the Government of General Musharraf came to an end, it was understood that
now the media industry would have to be run by giving freedom and independence and
not by restrictions, these all voices would have to be not be silenced by
bullets but by abuse and bad language. And not by removing them from the
scene, but by conspiring to destroy their reputation.
It is no longer a secret that first the journalists 'unions were divided, the
united journalists' organizations were divided like a fist against the
dictator, conflicts were fanned in the name of interests. As a result,
matters slipped out of the hands of the divided journalists and into the hands
of the owners, and gradually the credibility was sacrificed.
This series continues today ... First censorship and then
self-censorship. Now no one needs to be banned and no one hesitates to
shut up. Now there will be not one but many protest camps. It is
still time to break the silence of this season, to speak, with one voice and
one language because not now but never.
Independence OfThe Press: Censorship Spreads The News Rather Than Suppresses
It.
Abid Hussain
• 17 April 2018
On 8th of April, When Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), an
organization that is knowned as advocates for the basic rights of the people of
the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), held a rally in the provincial
capital Peshawar. like other political rallies in the country but it was coverage
only on the electronic media.
There was a large number of people attending the rally was estimated about 20,000
to 30,000, but only social media was the way to know and see anything about it.
The next day this was published in the newspapers, except for the English
newspaper Dawn, the news of this meeting of the PTM appeared only on their inside
pages.
Addressing a function at the Pakistan Army's GHQ headquarters in Rawalpindi after
four days of the meeting, Army Chief General QamarJavedBajwa, without naming
the PTM, criticized the organization and saying, "Since peace in FATA. People
have started another movement and some people from inside and outside are
looking for the integrity of Pakistan”.
Two days after the army chief's statement, Babar Sattar, a columnist and lawyer
for The News, an English language newspaper affiliated with the Jang Group,
wrote on his Twitter handle: It has been said that if we do not touch on
sensitive topics, my weekly column will not be published this time.
A day later, The News on Sunday published a special supplement about PTM in The
News on Sunday, but when the articles appeared on the website, Farah Zia, the
magazine's editor, received a strict message from the administration. That
they should be removed from there.
Asked about this, Farah Zia told the BBC: "On Sunday, when our articles
about the Pashtun TahafuzMovement (PTM) appeared on our website after being
published in a newspaper and they were discussed on social media, we received a
message from the administration, they should be removed from the website now.
"This is probably the first time that we received a message about the
removal of one of our articles from the website, but she cannot say for sure why,"
she said.
"The move is a reaction, but it is not clear why our administration was
under external pressure or whether it made the decision out of precautionary
measures," said Farah Zia. Instead of suppressing the news, the censorship
spreads more and more and this is what happened even after this decision.
"People posted pictures of newspaper clippings on the social media and
many even said that the sales of the newspaper would have been increased after
that. And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these
processes. There are so many type and it's hard to say.
On other hand, Gul Bukhari, a columnist for the English newspaper The Nation,
had to face such a situation when his weekly column in which she wrote about the
PTM was not published.
Speaking to the BBC, Gul Bukhari said that she had never faced any kind of
censorship in the past, but this time her editor called and they informed her
that due to the sensitivity of the situation, she was currently writing the
article that can't be published.
"I can understand why the newspaper took this decision keeping in view the
circumstances and it is better to take a step back considering the
circumstances rather than committing suicide."
Gul Bukhari also questioned the usefulness of censorship, saying, "In
today's world, it is foolish to resort to censorship and the means of
transmitting information have greatly increased."It's not the 70's and
80's. "
Asked about past censorship, Zahra Yousaf, a member of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and a journalist, told the BBC that after
undergoing censorship during the Zia era, she believed that freedom of the
press Will no longer be able to be removed.
"I myself have worked as a journalist during Zia's dictatorship, but the current
censorship seems more dangerous and conspiratorial to me because things are not
clear and perhaps the judiciary is also in favor of this censorship."
It is very important to mention here that in recent times, Pakistani media and
journalists have been targeted by the state all the time.
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