With the judiciary, bureaucracy, opposition and parliament cowed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's growing power Pakistan's lively and assertive press has become the only platform of substantive criticism of government policies.

But even this avenue of expression may soon be blocked. The government is mounting what appears to be a concerted campaign to curb the country's independent press. Traditional means of asserting government pressures _ including income-tax audits, raids by intelligence agencies, restrictions on newsprint supplies and stopping government advertisements _ have all been on the upswing in recent months. Even more ominous is the government's determination to try to force some newspaper owners to dismiss journalists and appoint those more favoured by the regime. 

Spearheading the crackdown is Saif-ur-Rehman, a senator and chairman of the Accountability Commission a government arm that is also investigating corruption allegations against Bhutto and several foreign-funded power projects. In December, the senator told reporters that tax evasion cannot be linked to press freedom. Meanwhile, Mushahid Hussain, the head of the Information Ministry and a former newspaper editor, denies that he has anything to do with the crackdown or that one even exists.

Government pressure began in October with a raid on the offices of Newsline, a respected English-language monthly, that has been prominent in unmasking corruption within the former Bhutto and present Sharif governments. Since the raid, the magazine and many of its staffs have been subjected to arbitrary tax audits, and journalists have received intimidating phone calls.

Since July, the hard-hitting news-weekly Friday Times has also faced tax audits. In November, The Muslim, a national daily based in Islamabad, shut down due to a financial crisis exacerbated by a government decision to pull its ads from the newspaper.
However, the case that's raising the most alarm is an investigation of the Jang Group of Newspapers the country's largest privately owned media group. The group publishes Jang, the country's biggest-selling Urdu-language tabloid daily, and The News, its English daily. Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, the group's publisher and editor-in-chief, says that since August, the government has shut seven of the group's bank accounts, sealed bonded warehouses where it stores newsprint, and given deadlines for the group to pay more than 2 billion rupees ($40 million) in back taxes. The government ceased advertising in the group's newspapers three months ago, and the papers have cut their size because of a shortage of newsprint, which can only be imported under government permits. We are being victimised and punished for our independent policies, says Shakil-ur-Rehman.

The Federal Investigate Agency a civilian intelligence body, raided the group's Islamabad office on December 14 after its papers published reports from London's Sunday observer, describing alleged financial scandals involving the Ittefaq Group, owned by Sharif's family. An official government charge sheet on December 21 said the Jang Group was covering up tax evasion in the name of press freedom. Later, government officials said the group has suppressed sales figures, evaded wealth tax, concealed properties it owns and underestimated the value of its assets.

In December, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to Sharif in protest at his actions. The committee said it had received numerous reports indicating that the government has embarked upon a systematic campaign to harass and intimidate the Jang Group of Newspapers for publishing articles unflattering to the administration.

There has allegedly been even more direct pressure. The CPJ published a list of 15 senior editors and journalists it says the government has asked the Jang Group to dismiss. These include three reputed and nationally known editors Maleeha Lodhi, Irshad Ahmed Haqqani and Kamila Hayat. Publisher Shakil-ur-Rehman says Accountability Commission Chief Saif-ur-Rehman personally asked him to remove them because of their critical articles.

Sharif has a long-standing enmity with the Jang Group. During his first stint as Prime Minister, which began in September 1992, he launched a sedition case against the group that was subsequently dropped. Sharif's wealthy supporters, including some journalists, are now trying to buy several newspapers in a bid to increase government influence in the media.

At every level there is growing intolerance being shown by the government due to its yearning for unshared power and to prescribe what is right and prohibit what is wrong, says Aziz Siddiqui of the Human Rights Commission of

(Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan 14, 1999)

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