In a secret meeting, Pakistan’s powerful military ordered the press to stop covering Imran Khan

[RiazHaq]

freedom of press @RiazHaq

Pakistan has little press freedom right now.

India has even less, according to 2023 World Press Freedom Index.

 

[General Dong]

Faujeet?

Surely you jest?!

Just because I oppose a certain political party / cult of personality - or the sheer foolishness of it all - doesn't automatically make me the minion of an opposing party, cupcake.

Learn to accept criticism without assigning labels to people, the easiest job in the world. As a human, I'm far more complex than that! Besides, the world isn't all black and white, it's shades of grey everywhere! But of course, you need a certain mental capacity to see things for what they are.

And while I don't feel like I've to explain myself here, I'm apolitical, for a number of reasons. Though I won't dwell into the 'whys' here. Let's just say I'm a sociology enthusiast who likes to observe human herds from afar.

And it amuses me more than I'd like to admit!

apolitical, just like your harami masters in GHQ. surely you jest!

 

[nahtanbob]

Pakistan has little press freedom right now.

India has even less, according to 2023 World Press Freedom Index.

Quoting random indexes does not cut it. you should find out how the indexes are constructed. When was the last time Indian Army imprisoned wide swath of political leaders ?

On second thought you should stick with your happiness index

Pakistan has little press freedom right now.

India has even less, according to 2023 World Press Freedom Index.

Quoting random indexes does not cut it. you should find out how the indexes are constructed. When was the last time Indian Army imprisoned wide swath of political leaders ?

On second thought you should stick with your happiness index

 

[SQ8]

Faujeet?

Surely you jest?!

Just because I oppose a certain political party / cult of personality - or the sheer foolishness of it all - doesn't automatically make me the minion of an opposing party, cupcake.

Learn to accept criticism without assigning labels to people, the easiest job in the world. As a human, I'm far more complex than that! Besides, the world isn't all black and white, it's shades of grey everywhere! But of course, you need a certain mental capacity to see things for what they are.

And while I don't feel like I've to explain myself here, I'm apolitical, for a number of reasons. Though I won't dwell into the 'whys' here. Let's just say I'm a sociology enthusiast who likes to observe human herds from afar.

And it amuses me more than I'd like to admit!

 

[khansaheeb]

These morons r worst people on the face of earth ...

They just care about their power and the empire they created in which they thrive on blood of civilians ...

Persons who think too much of their right to lead and push the country to the brink are the cause of their own downfall. Impatient IK pushed the political boundaries to a breaking point and now has to pay for the consequences. There was only going to be one outcome to his crude confrontational political stint and he was masterfully outplayed in every way by a very old colonial grown system. The only question is what is to become of him and who will fight for him. Those who egged him on will no doubt let him be sacrificed , so it seems.

 

[Thinker3]

Persons who think too much of their right to lead and push the country to the brink are the cause of their own downfall. Impatient IK pushed the political boundaries to a breaking point and now has to pay for the consequences. There was only going to be one outcome to his crude confrontational political stint and he was masterfully outplayed in every way by a very old colonial grown system. The only question is what is to become of him and who will fight for him. Those who egged him on will no doubt let him be sacrificed , so it seems.

How do you think they outplayed IK? and kindly explain what you said A VERY OLD COLONIAL GROWN SYSTEM?

 

[Menace2Society]

It's interesting (not in a good way), how the military dismantled the party. Arrest the leader, anger his followers causing them to riot for a day, allow the riots to fester and then arrest the leaders, make them resign and maybe open a way to ban the party. Who would've thought that's how this will go down? But it will be very weird if IK ends up winning the next general election in a landslide, I think he will eventually make peace with the establishment after all it's the most powerful empire in the country.

He should publicly hang everyone involved in attacking him and his party and chuck their families in a meat grinder. I don't think he is this ruthless and nor do I think he will get this opportunity. The Sharifs and Zardaris have their network too deeply embedded.

 

[khansaheeb]

It's interesting (not in a good way), how the military dismantled the party. Arrest the leader, anger his followers causing them to riot for a day, allow the riots to fester and then arrest the leaders, make them resign and maybe open a way to ban the party. Who would've thought that's how this will go down? But it will be very weird if IK ends up winning the next general election in a landslide, I think he will eventually make peace with the establishment after all it's the most powerful empire in the country.

That's why his days are numbered and his enemies want him eliminated; better a martyr than a leader. As a leader there is no knowing what he may do., as a martyr he will eventually be forgotten.

 

[Dalit]

News about Khan, a former prime minister at the center of a political crisis roiling Pakistan, mostly disappeared from the country’s media.

THE PAKISTANI MILITARY invited the owners of the country’s major media organizations to Islamabad this week for a secret meeting to discuss coverage of the ongoing political and constitutional crisis, Pakistani journalists familiar with the gathering told The Intercept. The invitation was not one that could be refused, and the message was equally direct: Cease all coverage of former Prime Minister Imran Khan amid his ongoing clash with the military.

Following the meeting, which has not been previously reported, top editors at news organizations across Pakistan issued directives to their journalists to pause coverage of Khan, said the Pakistani journalists, who requested anonymity for fear of their safety. An inspection of Pakistani media sites reveals a stark change. Earlier this week and every day for years before, Khan was a leading subject of coverage. He has effectively vanished from the news. The ban was confirmed by more than a half-dozen Pakistani journalists.

“They have lots of levers to hurt media companies,” said one Pakistani journalist who, like the others, asked for anonymity for fear of arrest, torture, and prosecution. “Messing with their print distribution, messing with their cable distribution are just some. Blackmail is another tool.”

Khan is at the center of a political crisis that has paralyzed Pakistani cities, prompted clashes and riots targeting the all-powerful military, and seen tens of thousands of his political supporters sent to prison. You wouldn’t know that from reading the Pakistani press today, even as he continues a campaign against an attempt by the military to exclude him and his party from contesting upcoming elections.

The recent crisis began when Khan was hit with corruption charges, which he and supporters of his political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, claim to be a political exercise aimed at excluding him from politics.

Khan, a former cricket player and philanthropist, has become Pakistan’s most-popular politician by galvanizing public anger against the country’s dynastic political parties. He served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was removed from office by a coalition of opposition parties. While his original rise to power was widely believed to have been patronized from behind the scenes by the military itself, after falling out with military leadership, Khan has become a fierce opponent of their domineering role in politics.

In Pakistan, there is no bigger story than the battle between Khan and the military, which has played out in spectacular fashion, including the extrajudicial arrest of Khan from inside a courtroom, sparking nationwide protests and, eventually, a Supreme Court order to free him. Khan is also the No. 1 driver of ratings and web traffic to news organizations — until Thursday, when he virtually disappeared from the national news media. (The Pakistani embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The explicit directive from the military was not delivered in writing, said sources. A more vaguely worded order was issued by Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, which oversees television stations, barring coverage of “hate mongers, rioters, their facilitators and perpetrators.” The directive does not name Khan, but its meaning is clear. On May 9, following Khan’s arrest, protests erupted around the country, with some leading to arson. Khan has called for an independent inquiry into the cause of the arson and has suggested the military may have carried it out as to create a pretext for the resulting crackdown.

The PTI’s U.S. Twitter account condemned what it called censorship. “Trying to keep Imran Khan off the media is censorship and curtailment of media freedom by the imposed regime in Pakistan,” the party said.

BBC’s Caroline Davies reported that sources at two different Pakistani TV stations had said they were under orders not to mention Khan, even in the ticker tape running along the bottom.

In the wake of the military’s imposed blackout over Pakistani media, Khan has taken to Western press and social media platforms like Twitter to try and get his message out. Even these platforms have not escaped censorship: Many Pakistani social media users have reported being contacted by the military over their posts and asked to remove them, lest they find themselves in prison as thousands of other supporters of Khan’s party have over the past several weeks.

Thousands of Khan’s loyalists have been imprisoned in recent weeks, and most of his party leadership has similarly been jailed, released only on the condition they publicly resign from the party. Several high-profile former officials have recently been forced to give bizarre press conferences following their arrests in which they announce their resignation from the PTI and, often, politics in general.

In Secret Meeting, Pakistani Military Ordered Press to Stop Covering Imran Khan

Pakistan’s military secretly ordered the heads of news organizations to stop covering Imran Khan, the former prime minister roiling Pakistani politics.

theintercept.com

@Maula Jatt @PakSarZameen47 @Menace2Society @Pakstallion @Vapnope @Areesh @DESERT FIGHTER @Desert Fox 1 @N.Siddiqui @Norwegian @TNT @Imad.Khan @Dalit @ziaulislam @EternalMortal @lastofthepatriots @WarKa DaNG @Warking @Talwar e Pakistan @WinterFangs @kingQamaR @Menace2Society @Indus Pakistan@Ghazwa-e-Hind @Norwegian @PakFactor @akramishaqkhan @Zornix @pakpride00090 @Abid123 @Goritoes @SecularNationalist @PakistaniandProud @PAKISTANFOREVER @Dual Wielder @Great Janjua @ahaider97 @PakFactor @Sayfullah @SaadH @villageidiot @Olympus81@Mobius 1 @General Dong @Genghis khan1@alphapak @RealNapster @Kharral @Mobius 1@Goenitz @Muhammad Saftain Anjum @AA_ @Mobius 1 @Great Janjua @The Accountant @PakSword @villageidiot @Kharral @SaadH @Goenitz @PakFactor @Tamerlane @ARMalik @Khan_21 @Yousafzai_M @NaqsheYaar @NooriNuth @SaadH @Kharral @AA_ @SaadH @Tamerlane @villageidiot @waz @PakSword @Mugen @Tamerlane @PakAlp @HerbertPervert @Path-Finder @Tamerlane @Drexluddin Khan Spiveyzai @AlKardai @waz @Areesh @hatehs @Path-Finder @HerbertPervert @Dr. Strangelove

It is a thug army. Just ordinary thugs.

 

[Jango]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1664968081133715458

https://t.co/fMoeu4JUc8

This isn't some two bit newspaper, it's the Guardian publishing such a damning story, after The Ecoomist published one yesterday.

The kind of tales you hear about North Korea, Sudan, Russia, Iran etc.

 

[Dalit]

That's why his days are numbered and his enemies want him eliminated; better a martyr than a leader. As a leader there is no knowing what he may do., as a martyr he will eventually be forgotten.

Imran Khan might be finished, but the Pakistani army has been exposed to the bone. The reputation has been damaged permanently.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665139476484485122

This isn't some two bit newspaper, it's the Guardian publishing such a damning story, after The Ecoomist published one yesterday.

The kind of tales you hear about North Korea, Sudan, Russia, Iran etc.

Well not surprising anymore isn't it. We are already on the way to surpass North Korea in both economic potential and social freedoms.

 

[Mirzali Khan]

as a martyr he will eventually be forgotten.

That's why Bhuttos name is still chanted in Sindh right?

 

[Fish]

View attachment 932878

At the cost of sounding like a smart arse (I 'do' have a degree in psychology, BTW), what you're doing here is mere projection! A psychological defense mechanism of attributing one's own feelings, thoughts, or biases onto someone else.

For example, a biased person may project their own bias onto an unbiased individual by accusing them of being biased. I can go deeper but I'm sure you get the basic gist of it.

You're emotional about the dire situation IK finds himself in, I get it. But you don't have to go around accusing people left and right, to feel a sense of comfort. Sooner or later, one must come to terms with the reality.

Smell the ashes, so to speak!

Also, look at my post history and find one instance of me praising PDM, PMLN, PPP, whatever. I'm a relatively new user here so... should be easy enough to spot.

 

[The Accountant]

Persons who think too much of their right to lead and push the country to the brink are the cause of their own downfall. Impatient IK pushed the political boundaries to a breaking point and now has to pay for the consequences. There was only going to be one outcome to his crude confrontational political stint and he was masterfully outplayed in every way by a very old colonial grown system. The only question is what is to become of him and who will fight for him. Those who egged him on will no doubt let him be sacrificed , so it seems.

Have you seen a change without confrontation ? How many years did nelson mandela had to live in jail ?

What did socrate prefer to drink poison when he had all the chance to save himself ?

We are so hypocrite that rather than saying right is right and wrong is wrong we r critisizing the person who is telling us what is right and what is wrong for telling us on our faces ... no matter he wins or loose but how he lives matter .... when history will be written what it will write about IK and what it will write about bajwa and asim muneer does matter ... for the people of the time yazid was the winner and for people of kofa Hazrat Imam Hussain was to rigid but what history tells us now ?

Even for pagan criteria should galilelo abondon his theory that earth revolves around the sun as all powerful church was against it ?

Brother we have to look into ourselves what r we ? Why r we justifying opressors acts ?