This is ‘not that dawn’

Last week, one heard about the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) decision to impose a partial ban on The Baloch Hal, the first and only online newspaper that tells the story of Balochistan to the rest of Pakistan and the world-at-large. The reason for the ban, according to the PTA, was that The Baloch Hal published ‘anti-Pakistan material’. As expected, this vague claim remains unsubstantiated.

News of the ban was then confirmed by Dawn News, which reported that the PTA had issued its orders ‘on the advice of intelligence agencies’. One wonders who the PTA wallahs think they work for, and if they have forgotten that money to run the organisation and pay its staff’s salaries comes from taxes paid by ‘bloody civilians’ and not the boys from Spookesville. One also wonders when the powers-that-be will realise that the ambiguous ‘national security’ paradigm has lost its lustre, and works only on the most gullible, urban middleclass portion of the population – but then, perhaps that is the audience that the geniuses in Spookesville are hoping to address.

Ironically, while those who toe the Establishment’s line are allowed to go ahead with all sorts of racist and misogynist outpourings; lies and half-truths on Balochistan; and even foment cross-border hatred; the voice of the beleaguered Baloch people is apparently so abhorrent to the powers-that-be, that they deemed it fit to issue orders to eradicate it from cyberspace, lest the good people of Pakistan be led astray by some RAW/CIA/Mossad/yo momma propaganda.

Since its inception, The Baloch Hal, run by Malik Siraj Akbar, a young but experienced journalist based in Quetta, has strived to provide what is referred to in journalist parlance as ‘all sides of the picture’. The Baloch Hal has carried statements from the Balochistan chief minister and state agencies as frequently as it has carried statements from and about the activities of political groups and actors in the province. ‘The Baloch Hal has always strictly adhered to media codes and ensured balanced coverage to the government and the opposition. The ban has come two weeks before the first launching anniversary of a the most widely quoted newspaper of Balochistan. We reiterate, however, that that under our editorial policy, we will continue to give equal coverage to all stakeholders and refuse to succumb to any kind of influence which leads to compromise on our editorial policy,’ Akbar said.

The government of Pakistan needs to remember that freedom of expression and association is a basic right guaranteed under the Constitution of 1973 – a constitution that, as a democratic set-up, as opposed to a military dictatorship, it has pledged to uphold. (Courtesy: Himal South Asian, Nepal)

http://www.thebalochhal.com/2010/11/this-is-%e2%80%98not-that-dawn%e2%80%99/