Asia Times: Silenced Sharif critic vows to fight on



	June 23, 1999	atimes.com

Media/Technology

Silenced Sharif critic vows to fight on

By Muddassir Rizvi

ISLAMABAD - Banned from writing under her name inthe newspaper she edits, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi is determined to stayon and fight the ''authoritarian rule'' of Pakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif.

''I'm not going to quit. I'll stay and fight,'' says the editor of The News, a leading English-languagenewspaper owned by Pakistan's largest media group, the Jang Group of Publications.''Why should I leave? Isn't that what they really want?'' she asks.

Although the order that she should refrain from writing forthe ''moment'' came from the management, she believes that it isthe result of immense government pressure on the Jang Group tofall in line or face the consequences.

''After systematically weakening all power centers which couldcheck his powers, Nawaz Sharif is now out to bring other sourcesof dissent to heel - press and NGOs,'' says Lodhi, who wasPakistan's ambassador to the United States from 1994 to 1997.

The feisty editor has never been in the good books of theSharifs (the prime minister's brother Shahbaz is chief ministerof Punjab province). During the prime minister's first tenure,she was charged with sedition, but thegovernment had to withdraw all the charges against her.

''They [the Sharifs] have a very personalized view of people.Since he [Nawaz] wants to rule unfettered, anybody whodoes not side with him is his enemy,'' she says.

Lodhi is not the only journalist who has got into trouble forher anti-government views. Najam Sethi, editor of the prominentLahore-based weekly The Friday Times was abducted and kept incustody for 25 days before he was released on June 3. Although the government was forced to withdraw the treasoncharges against Sethi, he is now fighting cases of tax evasion.

But Rahmat Shah Afridi, editor of the Peshawar-based FrontierPost newspaper remains in prison. He is charged with drugtrafficking, while Hussain Haqqani, a successful columnist and anopposition party spokesperson, is detained on corruption charges.

Sharif's critics say his government is intolerant ofcriticism. The crackdown on non-governmental organizations(NGOs), including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, andattacks on the independent press follow a pattern.

''This is the worst case of trampling ofrights of freedom of expression. It's not only Dr. Lodhi. Theycoax or force everyone to fall in line,'' asserts Mazhar Arif, ajournalist who was media adviser to ex-president Farooq Leghari.

In early June, newspapers reported that the government haddecided to set up a special ''media cell'' to probe 45 journalistsviewed as anti-government or having written about the allegedcorruption of the Sharif family. Lodhi was on top of the list.

The government's chief accountability whip, Senator SaifurRehman, was quick to deny the report, and termed it the handiworkof the ''agents of political destability."

Lodhi however, complains of constant harassment by governmentagencies. ''I am chased, my phones are bugged and you find whitecars parked outside your house for surveillance. It'sa sort of psychological warfare,'' she says.

In February this year, the government had asked the Jang Groupto sack Lodhi and some of her other outspoken colleagues. Whenthey refused to comply, income tax fraud cases were slapped onthe group, and newsprint supplies blocked.

But the resultant public outcry forced Islamabad to back down. ''The government's public head-on [collision] with thegroup was so costly that they had to change tactics. Now they goafter individuals like Sethi, harass them to makethem fall in line,'' says Lodhi.

Under fire also are independent NGOs, particularly those whooppose the government's Shariat Bill, which seeks to Islamizethe legal system and give the prime minister immense powers, the NGOssay.

In May, some 2,000 groups in Punjab province and more than 200in southern Sindh province were banned by the federal andprovincial governments (Sindh is ruled directly by Islamabad),and the government announced it would enact a law for NGOs. NGOs are being accused of a ''Western agenda'' and of misusingfunds.

Among those targetted are Pakistan's well known Human RightsCommission, Shirkat Gah, the Aurat Foundation, and AppliedSocio-Economic Research, whose names have been cropping up as''enemies of the nation'' in pro-government forums.

''Civil society is in a make or break situation,'' Lodhibelieves. ''This is a fight against rulers who represent thePakistani version of the Taleban. They have a flawed view ofcivil society and are socially conservative about women."

Though journalists' unions have not come out to protest hersilencing, M. Ziauddin, resident editor of Dawn, wrote in supportrecently: ''Hats off to Maleeha for putting up a silent butcourageous fight.

''Those who blame her for not protesting more strongly perhapsdo not know that it would have suited the government just fine ifshe had left the paper in protest. That is exactly what thegovernment has been trying to achieve all along."

(Inter Press Service)