KARACHI: More than 30 news channels went off the air across Karachi and Hyderabad for more than six hours on Saturday, but surprisingly the disruption did not attract even a word from major stakeholders about the reason and the people behind it.

The Sindh information minister would only hint at a “threat from mafia”.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers were clueless about the reasons behind the suspension of news channels’ transmission in their areas as there was no word from the authorities, broadcasters and operators.

The silence allowed circulation of rumours ranging from ‘political turmoil’ to a ‘bloodless coup in Islamabad’.

Leaders of the Cable Operators Associa­tion of Pakistan and Pakistan Broadcasters Association preferred to stay silent, but one of them confirmed that 32 news channels in Karachi and Hyderabad remained off the air for over six hours.

Only tweets of information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon suggested that suspension of the news channels broadcast in the two cities was due to a ‘threat from mafia’. However, the mafia was not named in the tweet.

“I strongly condemn the brutal action against all news channels in Karachi. Cable operators received threats from mafia to stop news channels,” said Mr Memon, who used his personal account over social media network to convey his thoughts rather than issuing statement or appearing on any news channels, which were on air in other parts of the country.

An hour later he went on to assure all cables operators of security, that too through his tweets, and ‘requested’ them to restore all news channels.

In an evening tweet, he assured his followers about the restoration of the news channels soon. “Channels will be restored soon in Karachi. We gave assurance to the cable operators for their security. Sindh government will provide security to all cable operators. I request cable operators to restore all news channels immediately without fear,” he tweeted.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2014