The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for end to media control in Pakistan imposed after General Musharraf proclaimed emergency. All national and international news broadcasts within Pakistan have been shut down by government order, though some stations still continue to broadcast internationally by satellite.
"President Musharraf's actions are taking Pakistan in exactly the wrong direction at a time when Pakistanis need more, not less, information. His new media regulations following his suspension of the Constitution allow for no critical coverage of government officials," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program co-ordinator.
Ban on independent news TV channels also continued for the second day on Sunday, and only the state-run Pakistan Television is allowed to continue transmission. International news channels like BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Fox, Sky and others were also suspended through cable networks in many parts of the country.
"For years President Musharraf bragged about allowing a free and open media in the country. Now is the time for him to uphold those principles, not throw them into an authoritarian dust bin," Dietz said in a statement, received here Sunday.
All news channels were off the air following President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of strict controls on all media in the country. The move followed his declaration of a state of emergency earlier in the day. Responding to reports that police entered the Islamabad offices of independent broadcaster Aaj TV and later interrupted its satellite signal, Dietz said "The government knows that Pakistanis will not be satisfied with only receiving news from the official government new services, but we fear what has happened to Aaj TV will soon happen to the rest of the country's independent media."
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