Yup - poor Geo News could not find one person to confirm that Emergency was being imposed, so they had to rely on clueless opposition leaders, ex-judges, and their own limited intellect journalists. Once they had got tired of repeating the same rumours for a few hours without any solid confirmation from the govt side, they gave up and realised that it was their own hot air and speculation, so they dropped it as their main headline by midnight. Geo really dug their own pit this time, somewhat like Geralado of Fox News some years ago.
the drama over the emergency reminds me of the tamasha over “killer sms virus”.
if musharraf seriously wanted to impose the emergency, he would have just gone ahead and done it rather than telegraphing his actions two days in advance. moreover, pml’s women’s wing would be the last group of people to learn of governments intention in advance. instead the whole emergency threat was a big drama staged to meet some sort of strategic objective. what that objective was, i cant identify at this point. its possible that government wanted to send some message to the americans. timing of the emergency announcement around the jirga and musharraf pulling out of the jirga at very short notice leads me to believe that govt and bush administration were not seeing eye-to-eye on some important matter. its possible that musharraf was signalling his future course of action should americans act against musharraf’s wishes.
its also possible although highly unlikely in my view that drama was staged for domestic audience. certainly emergency had nothing to to with c.t.b.t court case. govt can always come up with new charges and lock c.t.b.t in jail if the brothers were to land in pak without govt permission. also the timing of emergency would be inappropriate because there is a long time to go before any of the important court cases come before the s.c. in the interim, govt can strike a deal with opposition which would be a much more secure way for musharraf to extend his rule than rather than an emergency. this is not to rule the possibility of emergency but that will be the last resort. also dont forget that shaukat aziz had announced while the cj was on trail that govt was looking into the possibility that emergency might be imposed.
word also on the role of the media which in pakistan specialises in turning man does not bite dog into a story. both the government as well as its opponents manipulate the media which is simply incapable of reporting anything beyond he said she said types of stories. government certainly is very good at this game. government’s manipulation becomes evident every time tariq azeem says one thing while durrani says something else. while all governments are manipulative, its the media’s job to cut through the spin and hold the government to account. dont think thats going to happen anytime soon though given the stupidity of people in our media and the chalaak nature of people in our government.
Tariq Azeem was actively confirming it on GEO that the imposition of emergency is a very real possibility and that the govt has been discussing it during the day. Obviously this was before the 2am dressing down his boss received from his boss.
**the drama over the emergency reminds me of the tamasha over “killer sms virus”.
if musharraf seriously wanted to impose the emergency, he would have just gone ahead and done it rather than telegraphing his actions two days in advance. moreover, pml’s women’s wing would be the last group of people to learn of governments intention in advance**
Exactly. The whole flimsy Geo "case" was built around this PML women's meeting, and they never provided any witnesses, photographs or to prove their claims, just their own interpretations. There was a late night discussion between PML Sec General Mushahid Hussain and Javed Hashmi on Capital Talk, where Mushahid dismissed talk of Emergency. As did Babar Khan Ghauri, a federal minister they got hold of who also denied the possibility. Despite these denials and non-confirmations from others, they tried vainly to build up their case, but it quickly fell apart. I was not surprised then that just after midnight they just gave up, and dropped it as their main headline - just a few hrs after running it as some major "BREAKING NEWS" that only they had got wind of first.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said that there is no truth in reports of imposition of emergency in the country. He said these are rumors spread by those elements who had advised for filing the reference against chief justice.
and
Yesterday, in an informal meeting with women parliamentarian of Muslim League (Q), Chaudhry Shujaat had said that different options including imposition of emergency being considered.
=
Ch shujaat is the element who had advised for filing the reference againt Chief Justice.
PS; dont y'all worry, yer fav champion of democracy would make deal with the president to get in power one way or the other ;)
Hats off to GEO for alerting the nation and the world to the evil designs of the dictator and saving us from another calamity on the eve of our 60th independence day.
NEW YORK: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Thursday she was very relieved that rumors a state of emergency would be declared in Pakistan proved untrue. “I was a very worried person,” Bhutto told Reuters Television in New York. “I thought the imposition of emergency would be a very retrograde step and take us further away from the goal of the democratization of Pakistan. “I thought it would also lead to internal instability because the political parties and the legal community were bound to protest the imposition of emergency.” “I’m very relieved to find today that those reports were speculative, untrue and that emergency is not being imposed,” she said. reuters
Condoleezza Rice discussed with General Pervez mainly two issues; his plan to impose emergency in the country on various grounds, and his non-participation in the Afghan Jirga, being held in Afghanistan.
said the sources
According to sources
did some people not name their kids so they are only referred by their roles?
^ come on man, unnamed sources especially in govt quarters go hand in hand with journalism. if getting names was so easy the courts wouldnt have gone to such lengths to hunt down scooter libby et al. it is actually part of a journalist's ethos not to screw his source completely.
using nation is a source of news on govt is like using fox news as source of news on middle east or times of india as source of news on pak. also if americans care so much about democracy in muslim lands, how come they are such strong supporters of mubarak who throws his opponents in jail. how about american support for abu mazen in palestine and opposition to hizbullah in lebanon?
Ansar Abbasi is one of Geo News’ “top” reporters, and they were calling upon his views of the Emergency yesterday as well. Here is some previous musings of this guy.
CJ opens his heart to angels
It makes for some real entertaining reading. :rotfl:
The bottom line is that the great General got his ass whipped by a woman at 2 am at night and all that thanks to GEO.
Poor guy must have had to tear up his orders he had signed proclaiming emergency just minutes before. He is becoming like that other clown Zia during whose rule the title CMLA became known as (Cancel My Last Order).
^ come on man, unnamed sources especially in govt quarters go hand in hand with journalism. if getting names was so easy the courts wouldnt have gone to such lengths to hunt down scooter libby et al. it is actually part of a journalist's ethos not to screw his source completely.
yeah but in our journalist circles, conspiracy theories are attributed to unnamed sources habitually.
hey man in a nation where one of the 'top journalists' claimed that a hurricane was a govt conspiracy to divert attention from thios and that, u have to be a little skeptical.
yeah but in our journalist circles, conspiracy theories are attributed to unnamed sources habitually.
hey man in a nation where one of the 'top journalists' claimed that a hurricane was a govt conspiracy to divert attention from thios and that, u have to be a little skeptical.
Oh yes, "Dr" Shahid Masood of none other than Geo News.
With Ansar Abbasi, Shahid Masood and Osama's personal reporter Hamid Mir, Geo News is headed by the three stooges, who are making that station the laughing stock of Pakistan.
lal masjid jehadis using 12 wwii rifles held up pak army commandos for over a day. its only natural therefore that the leader of those commandos would bend over for secretary of state of most powerful country in the world.
waisay why is it that most opponents of musharraf are such cartoons?
Yup - poor Geo News could not find one person to confirm that Emergency was being imposed, so they had to rely on clueless opposition leaders, ex-judges, and their own limited intellect journalists. Once they had got tired of repeating the same rumours for a few hours without any solid confirmation from the govt side, they gave up and realised that it was their own hot air and speculation, so they dropped it as their main headline by midnight. Geo really dug their own pit this time, somewhat like Geralado of Fox News some years ago. 
