Maryam Nawaz's Speech 'Muted' By News Channels: Imran Khan Govt Gagging Media, Says Pak Journalist

In her address, which was held on Jail Road, she claimed that Sharif "will be released, and will become prime minister once more - but this time more powerful than ever before".

FILE PIC: AFP

Islamabad: Renowned Pakistan journalist Hamid Mir has alleged that Maryam Nawaz’s voice was muted by news channels while broadcasting her speech at a rally in Mandi Bahauddin on Sunday. Mir took to Twitter and expressed his displeasure. “Muting her audio during a live telecast is a naked form of censorship. This censored Pakistan can be called a Naya Pakistan for some people but it’s not Quaid e Azam Muhammd Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan.” This follows after Geo News was abruptly stopped from airing an interview of jailed former president Asif Ali Zardari last week.  The interview which was taken by Mir was abruptly pulled off air within five minutes and the channel started showing other news. It triggered widespread condemnation by journalists who accused the Imran Khan government of suppressing the press freedom. Mir expressed anguish and outrage on Twitter where the opinion was divided on the issue.

One can disagree with @MaryamNSharif and I disagreed with her many times but muting her audio during a live telecast is a naked form of censorship this “ censored Pakistan” can be called a Naya Pakistan for some people but it’s not Quaid e Azam Muhammd Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan https://t.co/6wndkkrjon

— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) July 8, 2019

"I can only say sorry to my viewers that an interview was started and stopped on Geo New[s] I will share the details soon but it's easy to understand who stopped it? We are not living in a free country," he wrote. "I am getting calls from all over the world people asking what happened? State of Pakistan giving bad name to this country we don't need enemies," Mir said in another tweet. Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, severely criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan and demanded his resignation, during the rally.  In a post-midnight rally on Sunday in Mandi Bahauddin, the 45-year-old opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President, raised slogans against Khan and said that the 66-year-old cricketer-turned-politician does not have any legitimate right to rule Pakistan. Addressing Khan in her speech, she said: "Give your resignation! Go home!" and urged the crowds to chant along with her, Dawn news reported. Maryam also said that keeping her 69-year-old ailing father Sharif in jail will be a crime now, following Saturday's "evidence" alleging that his sentencing had been given under "immense pressure from hidden hands", a claim rejected on Sunday by the presiding judge, Arshad Malik.

PEMRA issues notices to TV channels for unedited live telecast of Maryam Nawaz's press conference. pic.twitter.com/uNZ7UnQGNT

— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) July 6, 2019

In her address, which was held on Jail Road, she claimed that Sharif "will be released, and will become prime minister once more - but this time more powerful than ever before". At a press conference in Lahore on Saturday, Maryam said that the entire judicial process regarding the trial that led to her father being convicted and sentenced to prison was severely compromised. She also played a secretly recorded video that she claimed featured a conversation between Nasir Butt, a man she described as a loyal fan of Sharif, and Malik, who had in December last year sentenced Sharif to seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference and acquitted him in the Flagship Investment case. But on Sunday, Malik rejected Maryam's allegations, saying that Sharif was convicted on the basis of evidence. (With additional information from PTI)