International players joined protesting Pakistani journalists as their countrywide demonstration against a fresh law to mute media enters the fourth day.
President General Pervez Musharraf put into effect at the start of this week a new law that empowers media regulatory watchdog to cancel license and seize equipment of those television channels, which violate rules.
Media persons have since been protesting against the regulation they blame was enacted to stop television channels covering an anti-Musharraf movement that started after he suspended the country's top judge on March 9 this year.
In the series of latest protests, journalists held two separate demonstrations in the federal capital. Rallies were also carried out in all other major cities as part of a Black Day.
In the morning on Thursday, journalists protested in front of the Parliament after police stopped them cover the National Assembly proceedings. They chanted "Go Musharraf Go" and obstructed several ministers' vehicles.
On Wednesday evening, media persons scuffled inside the National Assembly press gallery with information department employees who tried to defuse their boycott. A separate demonstration was held in the evening in front of the Islamabad Press Club.
FEEL HURT Unions for journalists say they are on the streets to denounce curbs on media because they feel hurt. "The freedom of expression is being suppressed in a brutal way, no one can stop us demanding our rights," a union leader told a gathering of around 400 journalists.
Media outfits have been under attack in Pakistan after private television channels started showing live ten of thousands of people who attended rallies to welcome suspended Chief Justice in all big cities. The office of a private Geo television channel in Islamabad was raided by police in early March.
Some unknown assailants fired bullets for five hours at the Karachi office of another private Aaj television channel when pro and anti-Musharraf political groups clashed in the city. In the past too, killings and abductions of journalists for professional reasons have been frequent in Pakistan.
SQUEEZED Several governments and rights groups have also condemned curbs on media to mount pressure on Musharraf. New York-based Human Rights Watch urged President Musharraf to lift restrictions in a statement on Wednesday, denouncing the move as a disgraceful assault on press freedom.
European Union and Commission ambassadors to Islamabad said in a statement on Thursday they were "concerned by recent setbacks with regard to media freedom," especially reports that private TV stations had been blocked. Britain's High Commissioner to Pakistan, Robert Brinkley, has said that London is keeping a close watch on developments in Pakistan.
Brinkley further expressed his government's concern over the restrictions imposed on leading TV channels in Pakistan by the Musharraf regime. The United States has cautioned Pakistan against curbing media's freedom in the wake of the ongoing judicial crisis.
A SWEAT-HEART DEAL The pressure has already started telling on official nerves. The government on Thursday agreed to withdraw the controversial law. The agreement was reached at during a six-hour meeting between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Pakistan Broadcasting Association.
The regulations were suspended until a joint committee comprising media and government representatives could review them, PBA and information ministry officials said. According to PBA and Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, the committee will consist of three media representatives and as many from the government. But whether and when this new development will cool down, the inflated temper is still a question.
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