The protests ignited by General Pervez Musharraf’s 9 March 2007 sacking of Chief Justice Chaudhry provided a testament to the newfound importance of Pakistan’s media. Coverage of the lawyers’ movement protests and the government’s crude attempts to suppress it were brought to millions via satellite television and FM radio. The media’s role in the events that lead up to Musharraf’s resignation on 18 August 2008 is a study in unintended consequences; the dictator’s earlier
About the Authors
Zafarullah Khan
Zafarullah Khan is a former journalist and currently serves as executive director of the Centre for Civic Education, a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic-education and media-monitoring organization in Islamabad.
While the people of South Asia, especially those with higher levels of education and exposure to the media, prefer democracy to authoritarianism, they are willing to relax some of the…
With its recent electoral turnover of power, Pakistan seemingly passed a milestone of democratic consolidation. But beneath the surface, power remains where it long has been—with the military.
