Enter the gag masters

Democrat8217; Pervez Musharraf has revealed himself every inch a military man. The one institution that had provided him with the fig-leaf of democratic benevolence 8212; a relatively free media 8212; is now to be brought to heel. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority PEMRA, was given additional powers through an ordinance passed on Monday just a couple of days before Pakistan8217;s National Assembly was to reconvene. These are designed to extinguish every spark of the independence that the country8217;s electronic media had demonstrated. Now private television channels, if found to violate the arbitrary rules outlined in this ordinance, could find their equipment confiscated and their premises sealed.

The electronic media has become a thorn in the general8217;s side precisely because it has faithfully mirrored the cascading unrest on the streets of Pakistan, following the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, which now threatens to unseat Pervez Musharraf himself. In time-honoured fashion, the messenger is now in the line of the general8217;s fire. How this will play out is difficult to predict, given the general8217;s well-honed skills in political survival, but by this one move he has only ensured that the streets of protest will get more crowded in the days ahead.

But any complacency that we may harbour about the freedom of the media on this side of the border must be tempered by the realisation that this country has had, and continues to have, its share of gag masters. In fact, even as you read this, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi is putting the finishing touches to the New Broadcasting Regulation Bill, which the UPA government hopes to introduce in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament. There is in the velvet glove of the proposed bill what looks suspiciously like an iron fist. While self-regulation is the supposed objective, there are provisions in the Bill that allow the government to come down hard on perceived offenders. The bill outlaws 8220;violation of privacy8221; 8212; a dangerously broad formulation. Or take the classifications of what is and isn8217;t suitable for viewing at particular hours. Is on-screen sex more 8216;immoral8217; than on-screen smoking? The I038;B ministry has thought hard about this. True, all this may appear positively mild in the face of Musharraf8217;s new PEMRA, but don8217;t forget we, unlike Pakistan, are a functioning democracy.