ISLAMABAD, 10 June 2007 — Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf yesterday reversed a much-criticized decision to place curbs on television networks after they agreed to draft a code of conduct to ensure respect for the army and judiciary.
Unhappy with media coverage of his decision in March to suspend Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Musharraf issued a decree on Monday giving the state broadcasting authority more powers to shut down television stations.
Three days later he suspended the order after scathing criticism in Pakistan and abroad, and yesterday he withdrew it altogether.
Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said Musharraf agreed to rescind the decree after meeting a delegation of broadcasters.
“Pakistan Broadcasters Association will prepare a code of conduct in the next three days that will ensure decency in coverage and respect for national institutions like the armed forces and judiciary,” Durrani told Reuters.
“In return, the president instructed that the government will withdraw the ordinance.”
Chaudhry’s suspension on March 9 touched off protests from lawyers and the opposition, which have snowballed into the most serious challenge to the authority of Musharraf since he seized power in 1999.
The media decree had empowered the state-run Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to revoke a broadcaster’s license without referring its case to a complaints council, and to confiscate transmission equipment and seal its offices.
Musharraf has projected himself as a champion of the media, as the number of independent broadcasters has multiplied since he came to power in a military coup.
But he says some television news channels’ reporting of the judicial crisis has been unbalanced.
The government has also objected to coverage of opposition rallies in which Chaudhry’s supporters criticized the army, and last week effectively banned live broadcasts.
Musharraf said he will overcome the political unrest prompted by his sacking of the chief justice, media reported yesterday.
The turmoil, the biggest challenge to Musharraf’s authority since he took over in a military coup eight years ago, would die down soon, he said.
“The ongoing drama will end itself very soon and there is nothing to worry about it,” the military ruler was quoted as saying by the newspaper Daily Times in talks with a group of parliamentarians from the country’s ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) late Friday.
“All the ruling parliamentarians should defend my policies and agenda during electioneering in their respective constituencies,” he told the party members who have so far distanced themselves from the crisis.
Earlier this week Musharraf accused the ruling coalition of leaving him in the lurch: “I bluntly say that you always leave me alone in times of trial and tribulation,” he told the members of PML-Q on Thursday.
Isolated at home, Musharraf is also faced guarded criticism from foreign governments, including the US State Department and the European Union, mainly for his efforts to restrict media from coverage of the crisis.
