Govt feigns ignorance on TV blackouts, promises probe
By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD, May 8: The government on Tuesday feigned ignorance about who caused the private television blackouts in Karachi and some other towns in Sindh province at the weekend when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry made a tumultuous trip to Lahore, but it promised in the National Assembly to probe the matter and said it would not allow such an incident to occur again.
The government’s position on the issue was given out by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi amid token protest walkouts by the opposition from the house and journalists from the press gallery.
The opposition parties walked out after Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain reserved his ruling on whether to admit or reject several of their adjournment motions seeking a debate on the issue and journalists protested against Mr Niazi’s remarks that put the blame only on possible technical faults for the blockage of three television channels -- Aaj, Geo, and ARYOne World.
The opposition motions, which had been moved on Monday, blamed either the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (Pemra) or the ruling coalition’s main Sindh-based ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), for the incident, both of which denied the allegation.
Mr Niazi, responding to the opposition’s criticism, said it was the channels’ own problems that blocked the transmissions rather than the government, provoking the journalists’ walkout, which ended after the government assured an inquiry into the matter and not to let such a situation arise on May 12 when Justice Chaudhry is due to visit Karachi and President Pervez Musharraf is to address a rally in Islamabad.
“It won’t happen on 12th (May),” the minister said and added that the channels could show whatever they wanted on that day.
But in remarks that could only create new doubts, he said: “If they (the channels) have a fault of their own, there should be no hue and cry here.”
When Ms Sherry Rahman of the PPP, apparently dissatisfied with the government’s statement, urged the chair to take a “serious notice” of the situation, the Speaker dismissed her fears saying: “You probably don’t know what an assurance to the house means. If it is violated, the rules are clear about it.”
PML-N member Pervaiz Malik quoted cable operators in Sindh as saying that the authorities had told them not to show the three channels on their systems.
Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the situation had belied the government’s claims about press freedom.
TORMENT FOR BHANDARA: On what was a private members’ day, the government agreed to introduce the several bills moved by opposition and ruling coalition members but vehemently opposed a bill proposed by the ruling party maverick, M.P. Bhandara, who sought an amendment in the controversial blasphemy law for what he called equality for the country’s minority community in the matter.
Mr Niazi said Mr Bhandara’s move would only hurt the feelings of Muslims and asked the chair not to put such bills on the agenda of the house.
“This is not a secular (state) but the Islamic state of Pakistan,” the minister said and, to cheers from MMA benches, added: “He (Bhandara) must be careful.”
Asked by the chair if he still wanted to press ahead with his bill, Mr Bhandara said: “I press it with all the force at my command.”
The Parsi member said he wanted the same protection for minorities as enjoyed by Muslims that were guaranteed by the constitution and assured by the father of the nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Mr Bhandara’s torment was not over even after his motion for introducing his bill was rejected by the majority of the house.
The Speaker used the member’s brief absence from the house to take up -- and drop from the agenda-- two key motions sought by him for better attendance of members in the house and in standing committees.
One was an amendment proposed in the rules of procedure to provide for, besides other things, forfeiture of pay and allowances of a member absent from the house without leave when the quorum of the house is under count after bells have been rung for five minutes that informs members to come to the chamber.
The other was a motion seeking discharge of 54 members of 15 standing committees of the house for absenting themselves from three or more consecutive sittings of their respective committees without the permission of their chairmen.
Mr Bhandara later returned to the house and tried several times to speak, possibly about his dropped motions, but to no avail.
CONCESSION TO MMA: In an apparent concession to the religious parties, Mr Niazi allowed the introduction of and reference to a standing committee an MMA bill seeking to make a law to make apostasy punishable by death.
But the government’s stance on the issue will be known only when it is taken up by the standing committee, at which the opposition bills are usually rejected.
PHONE TOWER HAZARDS: PPP member Mehreen Anwar Raja, while presiding over the house in the absence of the Speaker, referred to the Standing Committee on Environment a motion by MQM member Haider Abbas Rizvi that warned of serious health hazards from mobile telephone towers installed in populated areas.
The committee was directed to investigate the matter and report to the house after Mr Rizvi painted a grim picture of what he called absence of international safety standards in Pakistan and, apparently using information from websites, gave a long list of diseases that, he said, could be caused from radiation emanating from such towers.
But Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Division Ashiq Firdaus Awan said that although she would not reject Mr Rizvi's concerns, the situation was not so grim and that the mobile phone companies were bound by their licences to follow internationally recommended safety standards.
She offered to arrange a briefing on the issue by experts to all members of the house, before the proceedings were adjourned until 5pm on Wednesday.
