PAKISTAN: Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrives in Karachi to continue her political struggle to unite opposition parties

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrives in Karachi to continue her political struggle to unite opposition parties as journalists protest after Pakistan's two biggest private television news channels have been shut down. Pakistan freed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrived in Karachi on Saturday (November 17) and vowed to continue her political struggle to unite the opposition parties. Bhutto was released from detention as jail officials left the residence in the eastern city of Lahore where on Tuesday she had been put under house arrest for a week to stop her leading a rally against the emergency rule imposed by military ruler President Pervez Musharraf on Nov. 3. Before leaving Lahore Bhutto said she wanted to restore democracy in Pakistan. Musharraf earlier swore in a caretaker prime minister who will be responsible for overseeing parliamentary elections due by Jan. 9 that the opposition say cannot be free and fair. Earlier on Saturday (November 17), hundreds of journalists protested against the government's media curbs in Pakistan, a day after the country's two biggest television news channels were shut down. Geo TV, Pakistan's biggest television network, and ARY One World, ordered off air during emergency rule, said on Saturday they had been forced to close down altogether after being ordered to halt transmissions via the United Arab Emirates. Both have offices and studios in Dubai Media City, from where they broadcast news. Imran Aslam, president of Geo News, told Reuters they had been told by the (Dubai) Media City that their transmission will be shut down. "Our demand is very plain and simple. We want total and complete freedom. We do not want to work under any code of conducts, under any ordinances," said Kashif Mehmood, host of a talk show on ARY One World, as he joined the protests in Islamabad. In Karachi, protesters marched through the streets near near Karachi Press Club, holding banners and placards. Contingents of riot police looked on. They held placards reading: "Stop Channels' Murder" and "Live and Let others Live". "Long live Free Press" and "We will Snatch freedom", the protesters chanted. "The way the transmission of Geo TV and ARY TV were stopped last night, it has exposed the ugly face, under cover of which the government wants to snatch people's freedom. We understand that it is not only a measure against freedom of press but equivalent to economic murder of certain people," said Shamim-ur-Rehman, a senior journalist. Local and international television channels disappeared from cable television in Pakistan amid media curbs imposed by military ruler Musharraf on November 3, which ban reporting which humiliates the presidency, military or government. The media have flourished since Musharraf seized power in a bloodless 1999 coup, but the feisty private media that grew up during his rule have been highly critical of him since he tried to sack the country's chief justice in March. Musharraf has accused some television channels of adding to the uncertainty that led him to impose emergency rule -- which critics say was solely aimed at trying to hold on to power.

ITN Source | November 18, 2007

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