Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Interference Forces BBC to Stop Airing Show on Pakistani TV

Ayesha Tanzeem

   ISLAMABAD - Britain's BBC's Urdu Service Friday ended its contract for
   its half-hour, five-day-a-week television news show on Pakistan's AAJ
   News channel, due to what the BBC said was continued interference in
   its programs.

   "We have experienced interference in our News bulletins since October
   2020 and gave AAJ TV ample time to return the program to air," said a
   statement from the director of World Service Group, Jamie Angus.

   'Since this interference continued, despite efforts in good faith on
   both sides, the BBC had no alternative but to end the partnership with
   immediate effect," the statement said.

   Shahab Zuberi, the channel's CEO, refused to comment when contacted by
   VOA.

   The BBC had been running its half-hour news show on AAJ TV since 2015.
   Over the years, the show was taken off air several times but for a few
   days only. This time, the show was taken off air in October and has not
   returned.

   VOA's Urdu language service has a similar half-hour, five-day-a-week
   news show on AAJ TV. VOA has also experienced occasional disruptions
   with its show's airing, as well as occasional censorship of content
   within a show without prior warning.

   Insiders from across the Pakistani media landscape say the pressure to
   censor content comes from multiple fronts, including government
   officials or institutions filing cases against journalists to
   intimidate them, Islamist extremists who threaten violence, and the
   judiciary that threatens contempt-of-court notices.

   However, the most intense pressure comes from Pakistan's powerful
   military that has either directly or indirectly ruled the country for
   most of its 70-year existence and continues to wield immense control.

   VOA's Urdu and Pashto language websites in Pakistan were blocked in
   2018 over coverage of an ethnic rights movement called the Pashtun
   Tahaffuz Movement. The movement had an antagonistic relationship with
   the military, which it accused of human rights violations in Pakistan's
   tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

   The military, on the other hand, accused the movement of receiving
   funding from the intelligence agencies of Afghanistan and India to
   malign Pakistan and undermine the advances it made in clearing up the
   tribal areas of militant groups.

   Pakistan's then-information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, claimed the sites
   were blocked for "false and prejudiced reporting."

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