Pakistani riot police storm TV channel's office

[brooklynite]

ISLAMABAD, March 16 (Reuters) - Pakistani riot police stormed a private television channel's offices and tear-gassed employees after its editors refused to stop broadcasting pictures of protests in Islamabad over moves to sack the country's top judge.

Geo News Bureau Chief Hamid Mir said on television that police broke windows, scuffled with staff and released teargas in the office, as the hearing against Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary resumed in the nearby Supreme Court.

"They tried to drag me out," Mir said. "They're demanding a camera installed on the roof should be removed."

The channel was able to broadcast live pictures of the helmeted police carrying shields and batons bursting into the channel's building, and Geo vehicles parked outside were damaged.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP50923.htm

Our democratic friends in the War on Terror...

[Ian David]

1. Ah, our great allies in the War on Terra. n/t

[Ghost Dog]

2. Very important story. Will Musharraf fall?

...

A storm of protest followed the suspension of Chaudhary last Friday, after vague allegations of "misconduct and misuse of authority".

The government's behaviour has fuelled speculation that the independent-minded judge was being sacked because he might oppose any move by President Pervez Musharraf to retain his role as army chief, which under the constitution he should relinquish this year.

A panel of Pakistani judges hearing the case against Chaudhary later ruled on Friday that all restrictions on him should be removed, the judge's lawyers said.

The extraordinary scenes will severely damage any notions the media operates freely in Pakistan, even though the media industry has flourished since Musharraf came to power after a military coup in 1999.

/... (above link).

[youngdem]

3. Oh boy. If Mushy falls, we are gonna have another big problem on our hands

Namely, Bin Laden's proxies with nukes.

:scared:

[JCMach1]

4. You are assuming CIA isn't behind this... Bhutto and Sharif will be back

if Musharaf doesn't do a heavy clampdown.

[EFerrari]

5. We already have a problem on our hands. The ISI sent money

to finance 9/11 hijackers. I'm much more concerned about them than whathisname bin Laden.

[maddezmom]

6. Pakistan suspends 14 police for raid on TV station 11 minutes ago

Pakistan suspends 14 police for raid on TV station 11 minutes ago



ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan has suspended 14 police for ransacking a private television station office during opposition protests over the sacking of the country's top judge, officials said Saturday.

"The government has suspended 14 police officers for the incident at the Geo office and has also ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident," Islamabad police chief Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry told AFP.

The action came after President Pervez Musharraf publicly apologised for the raid on the Geo Television office in Islamabad Friday by police.

The government also ordered a judicial inquiry into the assault widely condemned at home and abroad.

Clashes between police and protestors erupted Friday as chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry appeared before a judicial inquiry into charges of misconduct brought against him by the military ruler.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070317/wl_afp/pakistanjusticeprotest_070317075556

[Eugene]

7. Reuters: Pakistan's Musharraf says plotters behind TV raid

Pakistan's Musharraf says plotters behind TV raid
17 Mar 2007 11:52:20 GMT
Source: Reuters

ISLAMABAD, March 17 (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf said on Saturday a police raid on a television station
during protests against his government's suspension of the
country's top judge was a conspiracy against him.

Police ransacked the office of the private Geo television station
in Islamabad on Friday during protests by lawyers and opposition
supporters against the government's March 9 suspension of Chief
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary.

"There is a conspiracy going on and it has to be traced. Who is
hatching this conspiracy so everything is put on me?" Musharraf
said in a speech in the town of Pakpattan, referring to the raid
on Geo's office.

Musharraf, who is expected to seek election to another term in
office late this year, telephoned Geo to condemn the raid and
apologise. He said the culprits had to be caught.

He did not elaborate.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL16358.htm