The protests ignited by General Pervez Musharraf’s 9 March 2007 sacking of Chief Justice Chaudhry provided a testament to the newfound importance of Pakistan’s media. Coverage of the lawyers’ movement protests and the government’s crude attempts to suppress it were brought to millions via satellite television and FM radio. The media’s role in the events that lead up to Musharraf’s resignation on 18 August 2008 is a study in unintended consequences; the dictator’s earlier
About the Authors
Zafarullah Khan
Zafarullah Khan is a former journalist and currently serves as executive director of the Centre for Civic Education, a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic-education and media-monitoring organization in Islamabad.
With its recent electoral turnover of power, Pakistan seemingly passed a milestone of democratic consolidation. But beneath the surface, power remains where it long has been—with the military.
Elections set the stage for the General’s exit after nearly a decade in power, yet Pakistan still faces deep-seated structural problems that cannot be remedied merely by a return to…
Read the full essay here. Political Islam is often cited as the key challenge to democratization in Muslim nations, but deep currents of authoritarianism may prove more of an obstacle.…
