Pak media feel heat as Musharraf digs in
The increasing vulnerability of military ruler President Pervez Musharraf has been matched by a sudden rise in pressure put on the media in Pakistan, television and press organisations say.
TV stations and newspaper offices have been attacked and journalists assaulted since Musharraf's suspension of Chief Justice Iftihar Muhammad Chaudhry in March sparked a political crisis marked by violent protests.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. In the latest incident, a news agency editor was severely beaten on Friday evening, reportedly for criticising General Musharraf's action against Chaudhry, Pakistan's top judge.
Chaudhry has become the focal point of anti-Musharraf feeling in Pakistan, presenting the president with the most serious threat to his rule since he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Shakil Turabi, editor of the South Asian News Agency, said he was driving home when a gang forced him from his car, physically attacked him and abused him over the agency's coverage of the Chaudhry crisis.
Turabi was reported to have accused the Pakistani intelligence services of the attack.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the assault, saying that "Pakistani media organizations and individual journalists have come under legal and economic pressure as well outright assault" in recent weeks.
The premises of private TV station Aaj and the Business Recorder newspaper were attacked during the May 12 riots in Karachi that left 40 dead.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders blamed the assault on activists from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a political party that supports Musharraf.
One of Aaj's young news presenters broke down as she saw footage of her own car being torched in the violence. Nadia Mirza exclaimed "I can't do it, I can't do it" during the live broadcast, said Talat Hussain, head of Aaj TV news.
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