The matter has become more serious to not single out only channels of GTN but make it compulsory for all television networks and their channels to make sure that no producer, host, anchor, actor, actress or participant in any program intentionally or unintentionally ridicules the constitution of the country and violates the PEMRA’s Code of Conduct in any way. For that to happen it is proposed to convene a conference of media owners and PEMRA officials to resolve the disputes, settle the issues and make a pledge not to air contempt for religion and religious groups and show disrespect for Islam, country’s armed forces and sensitive institutions.

1. Where did Geo, Media, PEMRA and the Government
Go Wrong?
Refer to Constitution and PEMRA’s Code of Conduct?
The matter has become more serious to not single out only channels of GTN but make it
compulsory for all television networks and their channels to make sure that no producer,
host, anchor, actor, actress or participant in any program intentionally or unintentionally
ridicules the constitution of the country and violates the PEMRA’s Code of Conduct in any
way. For that to happen it is proposed to convene a conference of media owners and
PEMRA officials to resolve the disputes, settle the issues and make a pledge not to air
contempt for religion, religious groups and show disrespect for Islamic teachings and
country’s armed forces and sensitive institutions.
2014
Zahid Hussain Khalid
Written for his blogs on Slideshare, WordPress, Facebook and LinkedIn
5/23/2014

2. 1
Where did Geo, Media, PEMRA and the Government
Go Wrong?
Geo News has become an unfortunate casualty of the untimely and ill-advised on-screen reaction to highly
condemnable inhuman attack on Hamid Mir followed by a serious pre-content preparation judgment error of Geo
Entertainment’s Morning Show’s team compounded by two immediate fall-outs:
1. The failure of Geo’s management to initiate
prompt damage control initiative by
acknowledging the blunder of pointing finger
at ISI chief; and
2. Either the negligence or the arrogance of those
at helm of the affairs to foresee the possible
opening of a number of war-fronts against Geo
Television Network (GTN).
The troop-formation against GTN and the supporters of
GTN is now very clear. This troop-formation is a very
distressing reflection of the dis-configured system of
corporate and political governance in Pakistan. It also

3. 2
indicates that the institutions are partially leaderless and “disrespect for the process of law” is order of the day. It
will be, therefore, appropriate to see what happened? What was the immediate reaction? What was expected?
What is happening now? And, what needs to be done?
Attack on GTN’s anchor person:
What happened?
On 19
th
April a senior anchor person of GTN was
fired at, wounded and hospitalized. The brother of
the wounded anchor person, referring to his
brother’s apprehensions, alleged that ISI and its
Chief were responsible for the attack on the anchor
person. This was the breaking news! GTN flashed the
allegation and not only that, the resignation of the
Chief of ISI was also demanded by an investigative
journalist of the group!
The on-screen reporting to the extent of allegation against ISI was not the violation of PEMRA rules. The
premature incrimination and demand of the resignation of ISI chief was!
Resignation from any individual holding a public office is demanded only when the allegation against him is
convincingly proved through a laid down process of inquiry or court’s proceedings. It was expected that GTN could
justifiably seek benefit of professional error of judgment. Did GTN acknowledge that error of judgment? GTN did
not do that and still it is, may be for legal implications, reluctant to do that. The aggrieved party, that is, the Chief
of ISI has the right to simply ignore the allegation and forget about it in his personal capacity. But does he have the
right to forgive it as the Chief of ISI in his official capacity? This is where the reputation and image of the Pakistan’s
armed forces demands a serious consideration, analysis of and also an appropriate action on the matter.
It is alleged on media every now and then that the
country’s intelligence agencies are involved in the
disappearance of the people from different parts of
the country. It is also reported that senior reporters,
journalists and even owner of a group of newspapers
and network of TV channels were allegedly picked
up and tortured by the staff of ISI.

4. 3
National and international media have insisted without any evidence that some of the journalists have been even
murdered by the staff of the ISI. If all the allegations and reports are correct then what are the answers to
following questions:
Do the staff members of ISI who pick up the
journalists and manhandle as well as torture them
disclose their identity and names to the surviving
journalists? Obviously, they don’t do that.
Do the journalists often interact with the staff
members of the ISI who according to them are
involved in kidnapping and torturing of the
journalists?
Are the claims of a group of people who kidnap journalists, beat them up and torture them that they belong to ISI
ever thoroughly probed and investigated by journalists? Did it occur to any one of the aggrieved journalists that
the perpetrators of the crime may belong to any one or more than one of the more than half a dozen intelligence
agencies working in and around Pakistan? What about Raymond Davis who killed two Pakistanis and got away with
the murder?
Can the journalists identify the persons who kidnap them, humiliate them and torture them?
If the answers to above questions are in affirmative then why any of the journalists has not registered any
complaint with either the office of the Chief of Army Staff, police or taken the matter to court nominating the
accused? Even if they did that: what is the outcome and who is responsible for the delay in proper investigation or
dispensation of justice?
Why the world famous journalists and anchors have failed to identify and name the culprits behind their kidnaping
and humiliation? True professionalism is reflected in the proceedings and outcome of the inquiry on the murder of
Daniel Pearl. If the culprits of Daniel Pearl can be brought to justice why can’t the culprits involved in atrocities
against and murder of Pakistani journalists?
The answer is professional incompetence of both
journalists as well as law enforcement agencies!
How can they identify and name the culprits when
they have, with all their resources, expertise,
contacts and sources so far failed to credibly report,
beyond mere allegations, who are the target killers

5. 4
in Karachi, who are the extortionists and who are the leaders of the crime mafias across the country?
The bottom-line is: Allegation cannot be treated as
conviction. GTN’s employees alleged that attack on
its anchor person was by the staffers of ISI and held
the Chief of ISI not only responsible for that attack
but demanded his resignation too! Was it journalism
or in Carl Bernstein’s words “Gutter Journalism” in
“Idiot Culture!”
The senior management of GTN failed to understand
the seriousness of the trouble they had invited.
What was the immediate reaction?
The aggrieved party, that is, the Chief of ISI had the right to simply ignore the allegation and forget about it in his
personal capacity. But did he have the right to forget and forgive it as the Chief of ISI in his official capacity? This is
where the reputation and image of the Pakistan’s armed forces demanded a serious consideration, analysis of and
also an appropriate action on the matter.
The seriousness of the allegation of the involvement of
ISI and it’s chief in the attack on a journalist-cum-anchor
was so embarrassing for the ISI Chief and the army
commanders that not only the Army Chief had to
personally go to the office of the head of one of the most
sensitive wings of the armed forces to practically display
his solidarity with him, an emergency meeting of the
senior army commanders was also convened at GHQ to
formally convey the displeasure to the office of the Prime
Minister of Pakistan and demand appropriate remedial
action. The ministry of defense wrote a letter to PEMRA
for action against GTN. That was a civilized response
from a country’s responsible institution.

6. 5
Country-wide displeasure on the chunk of GE’s Morning Show:
What happened?
In GE’s morning show on wedding ceremony of
controversial actress Veena Malik a religious
Manqabat was inappropriately used as a usual
“wedding song.” This was apparently an error of
editorial judgment for which the management of GE
repeatedly apologized. Unfortunately the story did
not end there.
Was merely an apology sufficient?
What was immediate reaction?
It is very uncomforting to point out that some
morning shows in Pakistan have become a window
for the display of such ceremonies which were never
part of Muslim culture. How these shows ridicule the
Islamic principles of social equality can be noticed
from the formats; set designs; sponsored dresses of
the anchors, brides and grooms; most of the time
meaningless contents; mostly non-serious
participants; and flashy props which are used to
glamourize over-consumerism and contextual
packaging of non-seriousness in an economically
polarized and over-segmented society. Marriage
ceremonies have become the most salient regular
feature of morning shows. These shows promote
high-value mehndi, wedding and valima dresses,
expensive make up kits, glittering jewelry and other
items of use by brides and grooms, mostly use Indian
songs, dances and Hindu traditions, and invite film
and TV actors and actresses as guests and even bride
and grooms like Veena Malik and her husband.
In reaction to GE’s objectionable chunk of morning show a competitor unethically and repeatedly flashed the part
of program as blasphemic and telecast a series of interviews with Ullemas and officials of the Pakistan Cable

7. 6
Operators Association on the subject resulting in not
only appeals for boycott of GTN’s channels, the
cancellation of its licenses and submission of more
than three dozen appeals for registration of cases
against the owner, anchor and production team of
the programme. Thousands of complaints were
addressed to PEMRA for the cancellation of the
licenses of GTN channels.
GTN unfortunately has an alleged history of disrespect for Islamic teachings and way of life contrary to Mir Shakil-
ur-Rehman’s personal unquestionable faith in God and his deep-hearted respect for Islam. I am personally witness
to that because when I met with him for the first time in November 1978 he had given me a book on Islam and
Science to read which he had found very interesting and also referred to many paragraphs of the book during the
conversation. On another occasion, knowing that I had invited wrath of enemies due to my anti-corruption drive in
Jang and successfully knocking its competitors out for good, he asked me to always keep Prayer Beads or Tasbeeh
with me. Having said that, I have no reservations on categorically stating that majority of GTN’s employees at
responsible positions are either totally unfamiliar with the basic teachings of Islam, they scornfully show their
disgust for anything religious and that is strongly reflected in GTN’s programs and campaign on education reforms
also.
What surprises me the most is the fact that Aamir
Liaquat Ali, being the vice president of GTN, hosted
two disgustingly cheap programs contextually
unworthy of his portrayed status like Ramzan
Transmission and Ina’am Ghar, a shameless copy of
Neelam Ghar, both of which were totally in conflict
with Islam’s basic principles of austerity, simplicity
and in line with unjustifiable over-promotion of
Western consumerism which is seen with contempt
even in the West now. It is unbelievable to think that
such a person, holding a responsible position in an
institution of the stature of GTN, does not have even the minimum requisite ability to understand how the
contents of a television program negatively or positively influence the sentiments and behavior of viewers not only
in Pakistan, any Muslim country but across the globe.
Unfortunately story did not end there.

8. 7
What was expected?
Two institutions of the country “were” expected to
quickly look into the matter, listen to or go through
the complaints of the aggrieved, discuss the
behavior of the senior management of GTN and
come up with a solution or the verdict and those two
institutions “were”: PEMRA and the Judiciary.
PEMRA has been clearly split into two groups: one
for and the other against any action against channels
of GTN.
There are two other options: The withdrawal of the complaint by the ministry of defense and reconciliation
between media groups at war with each other. The offices which were supposed to make that happen were the
office of the minister of information who holds the
office of the minister of law also and Pakistan
Broadcasting Association (PBA). The minister of
information and law has unceremoniously lost his
neutral status to do that by first going to UAE - with
a columnist of Jang Group who is now advisor to
Prime Minister with status of a federal minister - for
meeting with MSR and then issuing a statement
against the cable operators without taking the
sensitivities of the issue into consideration. PBA is
nothing but silent spectator.
Proceedings in Judiciary will, in any way, commence only after PEMRA decision either in favor of or against GTN.
The only office left to intervene now is that of Prime Minister and he finds himself in a very odd position! He can
neither annoy the Chief of Army Staff, ISI Chief, army commanders nor afford the animosity of the staff of GTN and
Jang Group by either showing leniency to GTN or recommending action against the Geo News and GE respectively.
What is happening?
The people are watching an on-screen media war between leading television networks. The sympathies of PML-N
are with GTN and allegations and counter allegations are exchanged between Geo and Imran Khan also.
There is another segment of analysts, commentators, columnists and journalists who are blaming the religious
groups for adding fuel to the fire.

9. 8
In my excerpts from a research paper, “The Last Word,” I had discussed five casualties and 8 outcomes of war
against terror. The first casualty to me was and still is, “… our respect for Islam. It is noticed in almost all English
daily newspapers and certain TV channels that the editors, columnists, contributors, reporters, commentators and
anchors due to their visible lack of Islamic knowledge often unintentionally and mostly intentionally use remarks
which hurt the feelings of the Muslims who know the teachings of Islam as clearly as they know themselves.”
It is very strange that whenever someone indulges in an act prohibited in Islam, a particular group of journalists,
analysts, anchors, commentators and columnists starts accusing the religious groups for reacting to it, coming out
in the streets for protest, fanning religious sentiments and preparing ground for agitation. Is it justified?
What needs to be done?
It will be appropriate to draw the attention of the representatives and spoke persons of less than 0.10 percent so-
called enlightened, moderate and secular population of the country in media - a majority of of whom was
previously proud communists and is now temporarily converted to capitalist Americanism - to the following few
lines from the preamble of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:
“Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe
belongs to Almighty Allah alone and authority to be
exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits
prescribed by Him is a sacred trust”;
“And whereas it is the will of the people of Pakistan
to establish an order”;
“Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom
equality, tolerance and social justice as enumerated
by Islam shall be fully observed”;
“Wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order
their lives in the individual and collective spheres in
accordance with the teachings and requirements of
Islam as set out in Holy Quran and Sunnah.”
What the GTN’s production team presenting on
screen was in line with what the preamble of the
constitution of the country emphasizes?
What does the PEMRA’s Code of Conduct for Media Broadcasters or Cable TV Operators say on this matter?

10. 9
Programmes: - (1) No programme shall be aired which;
(a) passes derogatory remarks about any
religion or sect or community or uses
visuals or words contemptuous of religious
sects and ethnic groups or which promotes
communal and sectarian attitudes or
disharmony;
(i) is against basic cultural values, morality and
good manners;
(p) contains material which is against ideology
of Pakistan or Islamic values.
Was producer of the program and the executive producer aware of the above three PEMRA rules?
In an article on my blog, “Malala Mishap and Global Media Scenario in Retrospect - Taliban and Pakistan,” it was
stressed that “Religious scholars rightly state that there is no compulsion in DEEN according to the teachings of
Islam. They, however, fail to point out that this statement is applicable to non-Muslims only. The non-Muslims
cannot be forced to embrace Islam. But the Muslims are ‘essentially required to form groups of people who watch
and guide the Muslims to strictly adhere to the teachings of Islam and refrain from their deliberate violation’.”
So all those channels who encourage participants of their programs to vomit venom against religious groups on
their channels not only ridicule the very founding principles of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
they knowingly and intentionally violate PEMRA’s Code of Conduct also.
In a situation like this the matter has become more
serious to not single out only channels of GTN but
make it compulsory for all television networks and
their channels to make sure that no producer, host,
anchor, actor, actress or participant in any program
intentionally or unintentionally ridicules the
constitution of the country and violates the PEMRA’s
Code of Conduct in any way.
For that to happen it is proposed to convene a conference of media owners and PEMRA officials to resolve the
disputes, settle the issues and make a pledge not to air contempt for religion and religious groups and show
disrespect for Islam, country’s armed forces and sensitive institutions.
It is also necessary as pointed out in an earlier article to thoroughly, confidentially and critically review the career
profiles and on the job as well as on and off-screen performance of the senior management officials of all

11. 10
newspaper groups and channels of television networks to identify the officials and anchors who frequently ridicule
the preamble of the constitution of the country with reference to religious groups and disqualify them for working,
writing for any newspaper and appearing in any television program permanently.
PEMRA and the government both have to put their foot down and make that happen on war footing!
More Articles and presentations on the subject here: http://www.slideshare.net/19540201
The State of Electronic Media in Pakistan Malala Mishap and Global Media Scenario Electronic Media’s Performance in A Country in Search of a Way Out of the Mess
In Retrospect Pakistan
The Future of Entertainment & Media in a Hyper-Connected World Re-Inventing Print Media: Country Model – Pakistan Re-Fixing the Fixed Point Charts of TV Channels
Zahid Hussain Khalid has worked for national and international media
groups not as a journalist but a marketing practitioner, researcher and
analyst. He successfully initiated and completed the assigned managerial
and country tasks for such publications as Arab News, Financial Times, Jang
Group, Euromoney magazine, Petroleum Economist, South China Morning
Post, Asiamoney magazine, Innovation Management and Hong Kong
Standard and Forbes Inc, Forbes Global, Forbes Europe, Forbes Asia. He will
always remain thankful to Mr. William Adamapolous and Mr. Steve Forbes
of Forbes Inc and Mr. Tony Shale CEO, Euromoney Institutional Investor
Group (Jersey) Limited for their personal encouragement and support in
initiating and marketing Pakistan-specific innovative integrated media
packages for investment promotion. He also worked as Associate Producer,
Current Affairs, Pakistan Television Corp.
His articles have appeared in the Weekly Akhbar-e-Jehan, Daily Jang, Daily Mashriq, the Nawa-e-Waqt and daily The Muslim on social, economic, political,
diplomatic and military subjects which are available here http://zahidhkhalid.wordpress.com/ and here http://www.slideshare.net/19540201
He had co-produced more than hundred episodes of the most popular weekly program “Hafta-e-Rafta” and was nominated for Best Producer’s award for
documentaries on Afghan Refugees and Year of the Aged.
His work reflects a visible difference because he strongly believes in innovative approach in everything that he does. He was co-owner of International Media Sales
from 1991 to 2012 and is owner of SUN&FZ Associates since 1994.