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Pakistan tension rises as Zadari aide quits, protests mount
Bloomberg - March 14, 2009
Farhan Sharif – Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari faces mounting public disorder after protest leaders defied arrest threats and a key minister quit over moves to block media coverage of demonstrations.
Information Minister Sherry Rehman resigned yesterday after the government obstructed coverage by the Geo News television channel, the Daily Times said, citing people it didn't identify. She stepped down after regulators restricted the cable station's transmissions without consulting her, according to the report.
"They seem unhappy with our way of covering the current political developments," Azhar Abbas, managing director of Geo News, said in a telephone interview today. "Especially they disliked us reminding them of their commitments they made before they came into power."
Rehman didn't respond to messages left on her mobile phone, and information ministry officials didn't answer phone calls.
Zardari is trying to suppress demonstrations by lawyers who pledged to gather in Islamabad for a March 16 rally to demand the reinstatement of 60 judges sacked in 2007 by Musharraf, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Police arrested more than 1,000 demonstrators in the past few days and blocked the highway from Karachi to Islamabad.
Lawyers demonstrate
Demonstrations by lawyers last September stoked a crisis in the nuclear-armed nation, toppling former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. The US contacted Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, who supports the protests, to urge calm because their rift distracts the government from tackling Islamic extremists along the border with Afghanistan.
Zardari last month suspended local authority and installed his own governor in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, which had been run by Sharif's brother until the Supreme Court barred both men from holding political office. Zardari's administration is also struggling to revive a slumping economy after turning to the International Monetary Fund for aid.
"The government decided to continue efforts to defuse the present political tension through dialogue, reconciliation, respect for the Constitution and democratic principles," said Farhat Ullah Babar, spokesman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, in an statement issued early today.
Government officials yesterday directed cable operators to place Geo News at the tail end of the frequency range, making it difficult for viewers to watch the channel, the broadcaster said in a statement. Transmission of Geo News was blocked in parts of Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad and 12 other areas, it said.
In November 2007, Former President Pervez Musharraf also imposed bans on Geo News and other broadcasters in a move that Abbas said significantly hurt the freedom of the media.
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