President Musharraf made a personal apology to an independent television station yesterday after police stormed into its newsroom, fired teargas and ordered journalists to stop work.

The Pakistani President called the raid on Geo TV “deplorable” in a live telephone interview with Hamid Mir, its chief correspondent, and said he would ensure that the police commanders were brought to justice.

Only two hours earlier Mr Mir had been reporting on clashes between police and demonstrators protesting at the sacking of Pakistan’s top judge — a move that has led to demonstrations by lawyers and one that poses a threat to the stability of General Musharraf’s regime. During his report officers in riot gear burst into the Islamabad studio and demanded that he ceased filming.

“I asked them to leave, but they wouldn’t,” Mr Mir told The Times in his ransacked newsroom, visibly dazed only minutes after the raid. “They started breaking the windows and then they fired teargas into my office.” The police, who had been scuffling with protesters for several hours in a road outside the TV station, apparently objected to the live broadcasts from cameras on the roof.

“The police entered the newsroom and told us to get out,” said Rashida Shoaib, a Geo reporter. “They were demanding that we stop the live coverage and they baton-charged us,” she added, as she joined colleagues in an impromptu demonstration outside the offices .

The journalists — who hours before had been reporting on lawyers chanting for an independent judiciary after the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikar Mohammad Chaudry — ended up filming each other shouting slogans for a free press.

The smell of teargas still hung in the air, rocks littered the floor and glass crunched underfoot as Ali Durrani, the Information Minister, toured the newsroom minutes after the raid, expressing his outrage.

The President called during the evening news programme to say: “I condemn the police attack on Geo News. I apologise to the staff of Geo.”

General Musharraf denied that the raid was sanctioned by the Government.

However, Geo employees said that they believed the orders must have come from “higher up than the police”. They added that government interference in their reporting included banning a news discussion programme the night before.

The President promised that the Goverment would foot the bill for repairs to the channel’s offices, but was also concerned with the damage to Pakistan’s image.

He reminded viewers that more than a hundred new independent television channels, including Geo, had been started during his presidency.

“We believe in the freedom of the press; we believe in free speech,” General Musharraf insisted.

The troubled judge

March 9 President Musharraf dismisses Chief Justice Iftikar Mohammad Chaudry for “misuse of authority”
March 10 Lawyers boycott courts and take to streets in protest, claiming President had attacked independence of the judiciary. Chaudry refuses to step down
March 12 Lawyers clash with riot police and 20 are injured
March 13 Chaudry appears before a Supreme Judicial Council in camera
March 15 US expresses concern as it emerges that Chaudry has allegedly been assaulted
March 16 Second Supreme Court appearance for Chaudry; nature of charges remains secret

Source: Agencies

Times Recommends

• Thousands of Tamils dying in 'welfare camp'
• Jackson 'rebuilt his nose before he died'
• Renewed Iran protests crushed by militia