KARACHI - Transmission of several news channels mysteriously went off air in Karachi, Hyderabad and other parts of the province for at least six hours from 1:00pm to 6:00pm on Saturday after threats were hurled by unidentified men on telephone to cable operators.
Talking to media, Cable Operators Association president Khalid Arain said they were threatened by a political party to shut transmission of these channels and they had no other option but to suspend their transmission. Although, Arain did not tell which political party was involved but he said they wanted to shut the channels’ transmissions for not giving coverage to their event. “They threatened of setting our systems on fire,” he said.
He said they had been experiencing these situations in the past also and no security is being provided to them despite such incidents. “Government needs to provide security to cable operators. We have talked to higher authorities and we hope that measures will be taken to avoid such incidents in future,” he said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a cable operator in Karachi said they had been facing this problem since late Friday night after receiving threats over the phone to shut down certain news channels or face dire consequences. He said areas in the city that suffered from this situation included Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Delhi Colony, Federal B Area, Clifton, North Nazimabad, Korangi, Saddar, Malir, PECHS and Defence.
Meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon strongly condemned the forced closure of news channels in Karachi, Hyderabad and other districts of the province. He said the government would not allow anyone to make media hostage through verbal threats or by weapons.
Giving directions to cable operators to resume transmission of the channels, he said cable operators should not get afraid of anyone. “We will not tolerate closure of channels through threats. PPP believes in freedom of media. Despite their media trial, during their last government tenure, they did not even shut a single channel. He said media was the fourth important pillar of the state and PPP would not tolerate such undemocratic conspiracies in the democratic tenure. He said the government would provide security to the cable operators.