Two senior journalists who’ve been critical of the government and the establishment’s interference in the political affairs have resigned in less than 24 hours from their respective channels. Matiullah Jan, who hosted the show ‘Apna Apna Gireban’ on Waqt TV, and Murtaza Solangi, the host of program ‘Awaam’ on Capital TV, left their TV channels.
Although the reasons of the resignations are not yet clear, or at least not public, Matiullah Jan tweeted about ‘marching orders’. He was one of the few prominent journalists whose social media account was accused of spreading ‘negative propaganda’ against state institutions.
On the other hand, Murtaza Solangi came under a verbal attack from Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry who accused the People’s Party government of having appointed ‘a taxi driver from New York’ as the Director General of Radio Pakistan. Solangi defended himself on Twitter and also announced moving court against the minister for slander but, for now, has ended up losing his job at a private TV channel.
The unceremonious removal of two respected journalists from their TV channels is so far the harshest punishment we’ve witnessed under the current government for journalists who wouldn’t toe the line. But this could well be a sign of things to come. Journalists and freedom of speech have become the primary casualty of the current wave of authoritarianism across the globe. While the US president Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed media outlets reporting against his administration, cautioned Facebook and Twitter to ‘be careful’ and blamed Google of prioritizing the news reports unfavorable towards his government, the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last week was something quite shocking, even by Saudi standards.
And in Pakistan we have journalists being pressurised for speaking their minds. While this is not the first time in country’s history that media organizations are under fire, this is most definitely a first since the return of democracy to Pakistan in 2008. The totalitarian style in which this country is being governed right now is something we all thought we had left far behind us.
The incumbent government should remember that curbing media freedoms ultimately will harm democracy and its tenure. It is time that the parliament and political parties took notice of this situation and protect the vital democratic freedoms.
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