Press censorship in Pakistan is usually subtle but it can be blatant too. If needed, Pakistan’s not-so-invisible government can shamelessly go to any extent to impose press censorship. On December 21, 2021, Hum TV administration received a phone call from a military officer to immediately stop TV anchor Mohammad Malick’s one-hour long TV show -- Breaking Point with Mohammad Malick -- only a few minutes after it had started. The TV administration did not have the option of saying ‘No’ and the program went off-air immediately without even the knowledge of the anchor. The reason was the presence of Hamid Mir – a celebrated dissident journalist – on the panel of the guests.
AV Staff Writer
Press censorship in Pakistan is usually subtle but it can be blatant too. If needed, Pakistan’s not-so-invisible government can shamelessly go to any extent to impose press censorship. On December 21, 2021, Hum TV administration received a phone call from a military officer to immediately stop TV anchor Mohammad Malick’s one-hour long TV show — Breaking Point with Mohammad Malick — only a few minutes after it had started. The TV administration did not have the option of saying ‘No’ and the program went off-air immediately without even the knowledge of the anchor. The reason was the presence of Hamid Mir – a celebrated dissident journalist – on the panel of the guests. Mir had been laid off by Geo TV and Jang group under the pressure from Pakistan’s powerful military after he spoke to a journalists’ protest rally on May 8, 2021. The rally had been brought out to protest the forced abduction of journalist Asad Ali Toor by ‘namaloom afraad – a euphemism for Pakistani military’s secret agencies. In a bold Vlog, Toor tells us about a meeting at the ISI headquarters in Islamabad — chaired by COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa – where Major General Ejaz Awan (Retd.) had told the Pakistani media executives that he had intervened to stop four [Pakistan Army’s SSG] commandoes from killing Mir who has already survived two murder attempts in the past and lives with a bullet stuck in his body that cannot be taken out without posing a real threat to his life. It is widely believed that the Pakistani military was behind this attempt on his life. Maj Gen Awan (Retd.)’s confession only confirms that common belief. Maj-Gen Awan (Retd.) broke the law by not reporting it the police and the potential killers remain at large.
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