ISLAMABAD, March 13: In a late-night dramatic development, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman resigned following differences over government’s handling of the electronic media and insistence by President Asif Zardari and his close aides to impose further restrictions on private news channels.

Highly-placed sources told Dawn that Ms Rehman had a series of heated arguments with senior members of the government when some television channels were ‘penalised’ for airing what were perceived as anti-government views during the lawyers’ long march.

The sources said that when Ms Rehman failed to persuade President Zardari and other members of his team and when she was cornered by some members and even blamed for her failure to ‘control’ the media, she decided to quit the coveted post of information minister.

Despite repeated attempts Dawn could not get in touch with Sherry Rehman.

Ms Rehman was regarded as one of the most prominent members of the federal cabinet and she had, for the past one year, single-handedly tackled the print and electronic media, sometimes in a very hostile environment.

But some members of the government had been constantly opposing her and had campaigned to dislodge her.

The former journalist kept on ignoring the moves, but then finalSherry Rehman

ly decided to quit when her request to go soft on the media failed.
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