Illustration by Samia Arif
The press has gradually succumbed to the pressures applied by political parties even to the point of surrendering their editorial powers.
In the past, most parties had been 'requesting' more prominent displays for their stories. Since no resistance was offered by the press, especially by the owners, the pressure continued to increase.The 'requests' soon turned into 'demands ' and then into veiled threats. Finally, a time came when even headlines were being 'suggested ' by the parties concerned.
Party press releases began to be accommodated in toto, and even the basic principles of journalism — the avoidance of repetition,reverse pyramid writing (the most important point at the top and less important issues at the bottom of the report) — were disregarded. A situation has now been reached where political events are reported through the press releases of the concerned parties.
Given the attitude of the press barons and their organisations in the past, one could hardly expect a better deal than the one struck in Azizabad on the morning of March 23. The press in Pakistan has always been targeted by hostile political activists. However, most of the earlier events seem to pale in comparison with what happened last month.
Hardly any political party worth its name can claim to have kept its fingers clean in this sordid tale. At one time or another, on one pretext or another, every major party has been responsible for attacking newspaper Pakistan People's Party, the Jaamat-e-lslami, the Jamiatul-Ulema-e-lslam, the Jiye Sindh, the MQM and a host of smaller parties have all used strong-arm tactics to gag the press.
With the gradual emergence of smaller parties, particularly following the emergence of ethnic-based groups in the political field, the situation began to worsen. With the induction of sophisticated weapons, the old practice of attacking and damaging newspaper offices soon turned into organised armed attacks of a far more alarming nature.
Proverbially, it has often been argued that the pen is mightier than the sword. In reality, however, it proved too weak to withstand the barrel of the gun. Soon, it was repeatedly made to buckle and kneel before anyone who could force it do so. Worse, there are many examples in the recent past of press barons capitulating to the forces of intimidation without even attempting to put up a fight.
Armed militants had begun policing the streets in the small hours ofthe morning, and they did not allow the paper to leave the printingpress.
The current phase of forcing an armed 'boycott' of newspapers began with the boycott of daily Jang in 1987. It was announced by the MQM. Initially, a voluntary boycott was called for. But after about a week, it appeared that the boycott had not delivered the desired results.
In the next phase, hawkers were attacked and their motorcycles damaged. Copies of the paper were snatched from hawkers at distribution points all over the city and systematically set on fire. Within ten days, a dialogue was arranged and the boycott ended. Immediately, the attack on hawkers stopped. What transpired at the meeting was never made public.
But that was only the beginning. The same party once again became angry with Jang a couple of years later. This time, it called for a one day boycott of the paper on Friday, March 10, 1989. The boycott was announced to "protest" against the "improper coverage" of Mayor Farooq Sattar's wedding.
The next morning, the paper was not distributed anywhere in the city. Armed militants had begun policing the streets in the small hours of the morning, and they did not allow the paper to leave the printing press. Snatching the bundles from the hands of the staff, they paralysed the paper's entire distribution system. Determined to destroy every single copy, armed persons even searched the vehicles and motorcycles of people returning home late at night.
The vans of newsagents were searched to make sure that they were not carrying copies of the paper. The boycott was obviously 'successful' and was called off the same day. But the message that was meant to be conveyed to the proprietors had been clearly delivered.
"What is disgusting and despicable is not just the compromising attitude of the owners. They are, after all, karobari people. They prefer their business interests over all other considerations," says one senior journalist.
But the behaviour of the owners of certain other papers, in his view, was even more disgusting and worthy of condemnation. "They acted like vultures," he adds. "When Jang was about to 'die' in the desert of terrorism and violence, they started hovering over its 'body', ready to gorge themselves on the rich pickings."