What is behind the crackdown on freedom of speech in Pakistan?

[HAIDER]

It's more like Pakistan Modi League ( Nawaz group). PMLn.

 

[Dalit]

LOL yep the Pak armed forces engineered Panama leaks and the London flats.

Has anyone else noticed how Indians are coming out in support of Nawaz and against Imran Khan?

Should there be any surprise? Nawaz Sharif belongs to the Modi fold. That is not even a discussion anymore. Only a biased person would deny this fact.

Only an enemy of Pakistan would vote for Nawaz Modi league.

 

[Ghareeb_Da_Baal]

 

[Dalit]

These freedom of speech loving journalists who are clearly on Nawaz Sharif's payroll have zero issues with Panama revelations and London flat corruption. To them this is normal routine and even a right of political parties to indulge in Pakistan. Killing unarmed women at Model Town is nothing to worry about. It is the right of mighty Nawaz Sharif to kill. Corruption, looting and indebting Pakistan with IMF loans is a wonderful achievement. This is the Pakistan they envisage and want to create for our children.

A big fvcking middle finger to these cvnts. We are going to finish them off and ruthlessly so. Zero fvcking mercy. We will do whatever it takes to bring about change. No one can do fvck about that.

 

[Thorough Pro]

This article is as stinky as indian mentality if not more. Pakistan is the most free country in the world when it comes to freedom of speech.

The security establishment is trying to push a certain narrative on the Pakistani public ahead of the July 25 elections.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/crackdown-freedom-speech-pakistan-180712120033733.html

Last week, a journalist was suspended after he asked Pakistan's military spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, an uncomfortable question.

"Now that Nawaz Sharif has been sidelined, and former President Asif Zardari is about to be, maybe you should take care of the scourge called Imran Khan, too, as he will not spare anyone either?" Express News reporter Ahmed Mansoor asked at a press conference.

His comment implied what many in Pakistan have been wondering about: the perceived meddling of the security establishment in politics to pave the way for its favourite candidate, Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI), to win the upcoming general election. And it seems Mansoor's question was not well-received.

His suspension comes at the backdrop of a months-long crackdown on the freedom of expression in Pakistan in advance of the July 25 vote. For those who follow Pakistan's domestic affairs closely, it is clear that this effort to silence independent voices in the media is part of an attempt to unlawfully engineer the country's political landscape.

Controlling the public narrative
Today, it is quite difficult to steer the public discourse in Pakistan in one direction. Gone are the days when there was only one state-owned television channel that tightly controlled what people were allowed to hear or believe.

Pakistan now has dozens of independent news channels, and thanks to high mobile and internet penetration, the public lives and breathes politics. News shows are the most popular form of entertainment, and a vibrant social mediaallows the public to follow and comment on minute-to-minute developments. Conversations on militancy, foreign policy and court cases of politicians are staples at work, the dinner table and social gatherings.

As a result of all this, the general public has acquired a certain level of independence of thought and is no longer buying official narratives.

And despite the presence of security-establishment-friendly journalists and anchors, who push a certain discourse and observe the red lines, there are still some others who continue to do factual reporting.

That is why, in an effort to the reign in the "runaway" narrative before the elections, a brutal crackdown on media houses and journalists was unleashed.

In April, Geo TV, the most critical of the lot and the market leader, was taken off the air and its journalists were threatened. It came back only after its management reportedly agreed to all demands of the military. However, its broadcast is still being blocked in several areas of Pakistan.

In May, the circulation of Dawn, Pakistan's oldest and most-respected English-language daily newspaper, was blocked across the country. This came right after it published an interview with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in which he questioned the lack of progress in the trial of the alleged mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed - a sensitive matter for Pakistan's security establishment.

Then, in June, at another press conference, Ghafoor declared that the military is monitoring "social media and who's doing what" and warned of "social media cells". He also showed a presentation slide with the social media avatars of prominent Pakistani journalists which some perceived as a veiled threat.

These are just a few examples of the ongoing campaign by the security establishment to intimidate critical media professionals in an attempt to turn public opinion against Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party and in favour of Imran Khan's PTI.

All this has to be viewed in the context of the country's recent political history.

Political games
Last year, Sharif was forced to step down as prime minister after the country's supreme court unanimously disqualified him on grounds that he lied during a corruption investigation.

But some Pakistanis saw the story differently: It was Sharif's attempt to try former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for treason, implement an independent foreign policy and force the military to curb support for Islamist and militant groups that got him ousted.

Now, there are new attempts to block Sharif's return to power and bring in a weak, puppet-like coalition parliament instead. The establishment needs a compliant and cooperative parliament to undo the 18th constitutional amendment, which was enacted in 2010.

This amendment has been a thorn in the security establishment's side for two key reasons. First, it makes the direct military intervention in civilian affairs and its endorsement by the judiciary a near impossibility. Second, it devolves power and resources to the provinces, capping funds available to the federal centre.

Successive transfers of power from one popularly elected government to the next in the long term would sound the death knell for the military's outsized role in Pakistan's politics and policymaking.

But to reverse the 18th amendment, without throwing the country into political turmoil and mass riots, the military needs a change in government and to make this a reality it needs to sell a narrative.

Sharif has been portrayed as a dishonest politician involved in election-rigging andcorruption. After an inquiry into alleged vote-rigging at the 2013 elections failed to produce any results, the former prime minister was then targeted with a corruption court case for failing to disclose the source of funds used to pay for two luxury apartments in the UK.

This narrative has also failed so far, as polls continue to show that the PML-N is leadingin the polls ahead of the PTI. When Sharif returned with his daughter, Maryam, on July 13 to serve his jail sentence, he was greeted by a large crowd of supporters at the airport in Lahore. Thousands joined the rally despite the roadblocks, riot police and the shutting down of mobile networks.

What we are witnessing in Pakistan at the moment is the first mass resistance to the military's political engineering attempts since East Pakistan seceded to become Bangladesh after the Pakistani army's bloody attacks on the Bengali population in 1971.

The poll results on July 25, however, will show how much of this revolt will translate itself into a push-back to bring Sharif's party to power again.

 

[Dalit]

Majority of Pakistanis wants Nawaz and Zardari to be skinned alived. News outlets like Al-Jazeera should focus on the "will of the people" rather then trying to portray a certain foreign narrative.

Al Jazeera is no different to CNN and Fox News. All media outlets serve one or the other narrative and side.

Al Jazeera has become an anti Pak outlet for quite some time now.

This article is as stinky as indian mentality if not more. Pakistan is the most free country in the world when it comes to freedom of speech.

The amount of freedom media has in Pakistan is unprecedented. No where on the planet has media such freedom to speak their mind.

The security establishment is trying to push a certain narrative on the Pakistani public ahead of the July 25 elections.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/crackdown-freedom-speech-pakistan-180712120033733.html

Last week, a journalist was suspended after he asked Pakistan's military spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, an uncomfortable question.

"Now that Nawaz Sharif has been sidelined, and former President Asif Zardari is about to be, maybe you should take care of the scourge called Imran Khan, too, as he will not spare anyone either?" Express News reporter Ahmed Mansoor asked at a press conference.

His comment implied what many in Pakistan have been wondering about: the perceived meddling of the security establishment in politics to pave the way for its favourite candidate, Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI), to win the upcoming general election. And it seems Mansoor's question was not well-received.

His suspension comes at the backdrop of a months-long crackdown on the freedom of expression in Pakistan in advance of the July 25 vote. For those who follow Pakistan's domestic affairs closely, it is clear that this effort to silence independent voices in the media is part of an attempt to unlawfully engineer the country's political landscape.

Controlling the public narrative
Today, it is quite difficult to steer the public discourse in Pakistan in one direction. Gone are the days when there was only one state-owned television channel that tightly controlled what people were allowed to hear or believe.

Pakistan now has dozens of independent news channels, and thanks to high mobile and internet penetration, the public lives and breathes politics. News shows are the most popular form of entertainment, and a vibrant social mediaallows the public to follow and comment on minute-to-minute developments. Conversations on militancy, foreign policy and court cases of politicians are staples at work, the dinner table and social gatherings.

As a result of all this, the general public has acquired a certain level of independence of thought and is no longer buying official narratives.

And despite the presence of security-establishment-friendly journalists and anchors, who push a certain discourse and observe the red lines, there are still some others who continue to do factual reporting.

That is why, in an effort to the reign in the "runaway" narrative before the elections, a brutal crackdown on media houses and journalists was unleashed.

In April, Geo TV, the most critical of the lot and the market leader, was taken off the air and its journalists were threatened. It came back only after its management reportedly agreed to all demands of the military. However, its broadcast is still being blocked in several areas of Pakistan.

In May, the circulation of Dawn, Pakistan's oldest and most-respected English-language daily newspaper, was blocked across the country. This came right after it published an interview with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in which he questioned the lack of progress in the trial of the alleged mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Hafiz Saeed - a sensitive matter for Pakistan's security establishment.

Then, in June, at another press conference, Ghafoor declared that the military is monitoring "social media and who's doing what" and warned of "social media cells". He also showed a presentation slide with the social media avatars of prominent Pakistani journalists which some perceived as a veiled threat.

These are just a few examples of the ongoing campaign by the security establishment to intimidate critical media professionals in an attempt to turn public opinion against Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party and in favour of Imran Khan's PTI.

All this has to be viewed in the context of the country's recent political history.

Political games
Last year, Sharif was forced to step down as prime minister after the country's supreme court unanimously disqualified him on grounds that he lied during a corruption investigation.

But some Pakistanis saw the story differently: It was Sharif's attempt to try former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for treason, implement an independent foreign policy and force the military to curb support for Islamist and militant groups that got him ousted.

Now, there are new attempts to block Sharif's return to power and bring in a weak, puppet-like coalition parliament instead. The establishment needs a compliant and cooperative parliament to undo the 18th constitutional amendment, which was enacted in 2010.

This amendment has been a thorn in the security establishment's side for two key reasons. First, it makes the direct military intervention in civilian affairs and its endorsement by the judiciary a near impossibility. Second, it devolves power and resources to the provinces, capping funds available to the federal centre.

Successive transfers of power from one popularly elected government to the next in the long term would sound the death knell for the military's outsized role in Pakistan's politics and policymaking.

But to reverse the 18th amendment, without throwing the country into political turmoil and mass riots, the military needs a change in government and to make this a reality it needs to sell a narrative.

Sharif has been portrayed as a dishonest politician involved in election-rigging andcorruption. After an inquiry into alleged vote-rigging at the 2013 elections failed to produce any results, the former prime minister was then targeted with a corruption court case for failing to disclose the source of funds used to pay for two luxury apartments in the UK.

This narrative has also failed so far, as polls continue to show that the PML-N is leadingin the polls ahead of the PTI. When Sharif returned with his daughter, Maryam, on July 13 to serve his jail sentence, he was greeted by a large crowd of supporters at the airport in Lahore. Thousands joined the rally despite the roadblocks, riot police and the shutting down of mobile networks.

What we are witnessing in Pakistan at the moment is the first mass resistance to the military's political engineering attempts since East Pakistan seceded to become Bangladesh after the Pakistani army's bloody attacks on the Bengali population in 1971.

The poll results on July 25, however, will show how much of this revolt will translate itself into a push-back to bring Sharif's party to power again.

No one can control public narrative or mind. The people have the freedom to think and believe whatever they like. This not a game or a TV set which can be controlled through a remote control.

People always make up their own mind. Just like last time Zardari and Nawaz Sharif won. Who was controlling back then?

India and Western world is afraid of its own actions. You reap what you sow. Your time is up now. You have lost the war.

 

[MBT 3000]

BS, al jazeera is #fakenews
shame on qatar for spreading such BS

 

[Sheikh Rauf]

NGO's news thru indian... libral leftist human right activits crying as much as they gets dollars.

 

[Hrk19]

BS, al jazeera is #fakenews
shame on qatar for spreading such BS

and the qataris even have the gall to cry oppression when neighbojring states decided enough was enough and started punishing them.

 

[Path-Finder]

The system that was installed by the yanks during zardari era is under threat.

These shugal society journos are feeling the pinch and they should be.


Who knows dawn leaks maybe heading to court!!!!

 

[EpiiC]

These freedom of speech loving journalists who are clearly on Nawaz Sharif's payroll have zero issues with Panama revelations and London flat corruption. To them this is normal routine and even a right of political parties to indulge in Pakistan. Killing unarmed women at Model Town is nothing to worry about. It is the right of mighty Nawaz Sharif to kill. Corruption, looting and indebting Pakistan with IMF loans is a wonderful achievement. This is the Pakistan they envisage and want to create for our children.

A big fvcking middle finger to these cvnts. We are going to finish them off and ruthlessly so. Zero fvcking mercy. We will do whatever it takes to bring about change. No one can do fvck about that.

We should have had this attitude in 1948....... Right now we would have had gdp per capita $10,000++ ..... but alas we are 20th Failed State of the world.....

 

[El Sidd]

We should have had this attitude in 1948....... Right now we would have had gdp per capita $10,000++ ..... but alas we are 20th Failed State of the world.....

51.

Liaquats killing ensured Pakistan will never be economically fair.

People have been eating Haram and producing like bunnies for the past 40 years.

We have cheap Labor. All you need is a Stick to flock These into work.

The Problem here is Pakistan is shifting its economic Model and India and aman ki aasha cant take it.

#RaWFacts

 

[Thumboor]

Nawaz is reaping the benefits of his corruption, when he bought the london flats he was sowing the seeds of his own destruction.
No amount of media spin of him as being a 'victim' and the army being the oppressors, will ever change the truth.

 

[HAIDER]

BS, al jazeera is #fakenews
shame on qatar for spreading such BS

Qatari based Aljazeera will right more against Pakistan to keep in under pressure to keep intact multi billion dollar gas contract. Which is already challenged in court due to huge port fee,kick backs and pricing. Next govt should review this contract .

 

[airmarshal]

Its simple.

Nawaz Sharif and Zardari, the crooks who have ruled the country for last 10 years are darlings of the West. They want such leaders in Third World country as they keep their home countries weak and malleable to whims of the western powers.

It also is becoming more apparent now why Musharraf signed the NRO. I hate to say it as I personally liked Musharraf but he became a pawn in this game to back stab the country. May be he was gullible. I so want to give him benefit of doubt.

Now things have changed in Pakistan. Both Zardari and Sharif through their corruption and lack of governance have exposed themselves. There is a new player in town who is not supported by any foreign power but whose message has resonated with the masses. With a leader unknown to the foreign powers, the uncertainty that comes with it is creating jitters.

No one is curbing press freedom. Freedom is not free for all kind of thing. It comes with responsibility. The powers that want a kind of freedom in Pakistan dont exercise that kind of freedom in their country. Those powers with never say a word against Zionism. Will never question American illegal wars abroad and how American establishment plays cloak and dagger with Al Qaeda terrorists. But they want every kind of question be asked of our armed forces and ISI.