The unexpected escalation of the tiff that began a few weeks ago between the government and the Jang group of publications has now come to cast a dark shadow on press government relations which have ever so often followed an unsteady and unpredictable course in this country. The press had been enjoying a good deal of freedom in the recent past, so much so that those with an optimistic bent of mind had come to regard this freedom as a permanent condition. The new turn of event may, however, create the nagging doubt that wheat was supposed to have been a permanent state was in fact an interlude. Nothing will make us happier than to find that we were wrong and that in fact freedom is not under attack.

Nobody would be so naive as to be taken in by the government's claim that it was merely asking the Jang group to pay up the money it owed to the state in the form of unpaid taxes; or that it was proceeding against the newspaper for its alleged violation of rules governing the import and use of newsprint. Clearly, if the news paper had evaded taxes, as alleged by the government , then this obviously was a case for the income tax department to proceed with under its well defined rules and procedures. In fact, a charge sheet here could as well be served on those who run Pakistan's ponderous and corrupt income tax machinery: why did it fail to detect the alleged evasion of income tax for such a long period and where a figure as high as over two billion rupees was involved? The same goes for the Jang group's alleged violation of the newsprint rules. In fact, if the relevant law and rules were being bent or ignored for the newspaper's benefit, could this have been possible without the government of the day having looked the other way or even ordered the reprieve in its own narrow self interest. In any case, what prevents the government from getting the relevant authorities to carry out their normal lawful functions now that the alleged irregularities or illegalities have been discovered? It so happens that instead of taking recourse to the known remedies available to it, the government has proceeded to endanger the existence of the Jang group by withholding official advertising, sealing the groups's bank accounts and denying it access to the news print available in the group's godowns. The disclosures made by Mir ShakilurRehman do not reveal the government's conduct in a favourable light. Judging by the evidence so far available _ and it is up to the government to disprove it _ the rulers have insisted on conformity as the price of the group's survival. And this conformity to be ensured the government insists that the newspaper group get rid of a whole set of senior journalists.

If the democratic system is to continue and gain strength, the government must show a genuine willingness to co-exist with a free and responsible press. Of course, organs of public opinion must, like every body else, the rulers not excepted, respect the law and pay their taxes. But any alleged infraction of laws or rules gives the government no licence to snuff out a newspaper. The latest conflict, though seemingly limited in nature, assumes the dimension of a crisis in the relations between the government and the press in the present context of the increasing fragility of our democracy. There is a broad measure of agreement on the fact that institutions like the legislatures, the judiciary and the presidency which are so crucial for underwriting the viability of a democratic order have lately lost a great deal of their vitality and capacity for assertion. As it is, the executive government seems to have arrogated to itself untrammelled power to over rule the other organs of the state. Furthermore, the political opposition in the country, which has a vital role to play in keeping the government on course, is badly fragmented and in disarray. It is a dangerous situation in a democracy when the executive recognises no limits to its authority.

The government's track record in upholding democratic norms and values is abysmally poor the attack on the Supreme Court by the workers of the ruling party being just one sordid example. What precisely the ruling party has in store for the fourth estate one does not know. If the press goes under, our nascent democracy will be gravely imperilled. Whatever its imperfections, the press in this country has played its role as a watch dog of public interest and a critic of government policies of in a commendable way. In fact, it goes to the credit of the press that, despite the repression it suffered under dictatorship for so long , the press during the last ten or so years has again found its voice and exposed the follies and wrongs committed by those in power, irrespective of their party affiliations. Should this last remaining democratic institution suffer an eclipse, the way will be paved for unadulterated autocracy in Pakistan and another long night of fascist darkness may envelop the country. This is a situation that must attract the concern and responsibility of the chief executive. We earnestly appeal to the prime minister to take matters into his own hands, given the issues at stake, and save the government's equation with the press from being irreversibly disturbed. In the meanwhile, the other party to the dispute will be well advised to act with restraint so that the prime minister is allowed enough time to take a suitable initiative for resolving the dispute.

(31-1-1999)

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