KARACHI, April 25: A Hong Kong-based rights group on Wednesday expressed concern over the curbs being imposed on media by the government of Pakistan and said the attack on the independence of the judiciary was now extended to the freedom of expression.

“In the midst of the judicial crisis the government has opened yet another front in the hopes of exercising damage control in an attack on a television station that has been airing open discussions on the latest developments with regard to the political situation and also the judicial crisis,” said the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in a statement emailed to Dawn.

It said a private TV channel had been airing discussion programmes and talk shows on various issues, including the ongoing judicial crisis, for the past several weeks.

The channel had now been issued with a show cause notice by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, it said.Of the four charges framed by the Pemra, only one pertained to the technical aspect of the broadcast and the remaining three were political in nature, the AHRC said describing it a direct interference in the freedom of expression.

“Discussing the independence of the judiciary is a matter on which society has a paramount concern and an attack on the chief justice is of such gravity that society cannot expect to be able to safeguard its basic rights without getting involved in his defense,” it said.

Expressing concern over this action by the General Musharraf regime through Pemra, the human rights commission said it was a ploy to avoid their responsibility in the crisis that they had created by making the chief justice non-functional.

“The government appears to have lost all rationale in dealing with the crisis and must get back on track by taking the first step of reinstalling the chief justice. Secondly they must retract their show cause notice served on the private TV channel,” it demanded.