Pervez Musharraf these days must be fantasising about going back to a world without the Internet. Banning newspapers and television certainly ain't what it used to be. Barely had the general clamped down on the media, soon after declaring a state of emergency in early November, before the Internet went suddenly abuzz with the current happenings. After cable operators were prohibited from broadcasting private news channels, not only did several independent channels, such as Geo TV and ARY One, upload audio and video clips for those without access to satellite television, but websites outside of Pakistan also rose to the occasion. For instance, the site pkpolitics.com, which had a modest 6000 hits during its first four months, touched the half-million mark the weekend after Gen Musharraf's self-coup. The site's owner even had to procure extra bandwidth to prevent the site from crashing – an excellent use of bandwidth indeed!
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Journalists in Pakistan, of course, had to worry about various objects crashing onto their heads, what with police officers lathi-chasing journalists and breaking up peaceful rallies with undue force. Perhaps the renaming of the street in Karachi where the Jang Group of Publications is located – it is now called Azadi – was too much for the police to bear. And the sight of bouquets of flowers pouring in, even from overseas, in support of the shut-down Geo TV, may have likewise provoked violent reactions. Geo, of course, has vowed that it will not go "silently into the night", even after pressure was brought to bear on the Dubai government to prevent Geo and ARY One from transmitting from there. Geo, meanwhile, is rumoured to be looking for a new home, and Chhetria Patrakar hopes it gets one soon. If not the news, Pakistanis should at least be allowed to watch cricket!
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That is, those Pakistanis who are not watching Youtube and its fascinating collection of parody. Since there is no point in crying over the state of chaos, those worried about Pakistan might as well laugh a bit in the interim. Soon after the declaration of emergency, CP was perusing Youtube and found a Benazir look-alike lamenting that she had been left in the lurch by her political allies. But she need not have worried: there was a Musharraf double, assuring her that he would stick by her, singing "Main hoon na" and dancing the number from the Shahrukh starrer. (Though CP thinks SRK is the better dancer.)
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Over in Sri Lanka, journalists are accustomed to attacks from every quarter. This time, it was the Leader Publications' printing house that was visited by masked, armed men, in the third week of November. During the printing of the weekly Morning Leader, the gang reportedly forced around 25 employees to hand over their mobile phones and kneel down. They were then blindfolded, after which the invaders doused the printing presses with petrol and threw a homemade bomb at them. The damage from the explosion and resulting fire is estimated at some USD 2 million. This is the second attack in as many years. Will that stop the Leader from being critical of the government? CP somehow doubts it.
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