NEW YORK - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent watchdog, has called on Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to ensure that its members refrain from abuse of journalists who have voiced strong objections to obstruction of broadcasts by two major television channels since early August 8. The New York-based organisation noted that journalists in Karachi and elsewhere had staged rallies on to protest blocks on Geo and ARY channels following the channels reporting of a shoe-throwing protest against President Asif Ali Zardari in Britain on August 7. This is Pakistani politics at its worst. While the country faces a national calamity and the outside world scrambles to offer its assistance, the Pakistan Peoples Party can find nothing better to do than to try to close down media and stifle criticism of President Zardari, Bob Dietz, CPJs Asia programme coordinator, said in a statement. We call on the Government to take control of this deteriorating situation and ensure the broadcasters return to the air immediately.