Veteran journalist Azaz Syed has revealed why Geo News and Dawn News were shut down in 2018, a tale full of revelations about what happened at the time.
Speaking on Absar Alam’s talk show, Mere Sawal, Syed said that he, along with other journalists, was briefed on the situation regarding the Geo News shutdown.
He said, “Former spymaster Faiz Hameed and former Director General Inter Service Public Relation DG (ISPR) Asif Ghafoor made four demands from the Geo News administration, one of which was to call former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif a thief.”
“The second demand was to highlight founder Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan’s campaign, and the third demand was not to criticise any remarks made by the judiciary,” he added.
Syed stated, “The fourth demand was to either expel some journalists from Geo News or bar them from saying anything critical.”
Former Chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Absar Alam said Geo News and Dawn News were shut down to “capture the policy.”
Responding to halt the distribution of The News and Jang Newspaper, Alam claimed, “These newspaper distributions were barred in the Cantonment and Defence Housing Society (DHA).”
