Emergency: Blogs Keep Pakistanis Informed

With private television news channels blocked in Pakistan, Internet users in the country are relying on websites and blogs that have gone "live" to update their readers continuously on the evolving situation.

It was at 5.12 Pakistan time Saturday (12:12 GMT) that Metroblogging Lahore broke the news that a local cable operator World Call had pulled the plug on television channels. A user comment on that post from Karachi said that his television screen had also gone blank at precisely 5.12 p.m.

Its sister blog Metroblogging Islamabad reported at 6.20 p.m. that a "code of conduct" was being prepared for the print media and that the Supreme Court Bar Council head Aitzaz Ashsan would be arrested.

While Pakistanis could not watch their channels, their relatives outside the country kept themselves informed about live television reports, which they posted on the blogs.

At 6.35 p.m., 'SK' reported that his parents watching the private AAJ television channel in the Gulf had confirmed the imposition of emergency. "Pemra (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) has crossed the frequencies in order to completely block the transmissions," he informed readers.

Meanwhile, commentators on various Pakistani blogs were telling readers about sites that were streaming broadcasts of private news channels online. For example, www.pakistanvision.com was broadcasting Geo News live.

Many blog visitors suspected that perhaps after television channels, the Internet would be the next target, as the connectivity and page loading had slowed down. But others felt that the slow speed was due to the unusually heavy load of users.

Forums like www.pakistaniat.com had most of the readers lambasting the imposition of emergency, but there were still some who said President General Pervez Musharraf had no choice in the face of spreading extremism.

For those unable to access live video streams, small clips of news telecast which were captured by those outside the country were uploaded on sites like www.pkpolitics.com.

This website was trying to rally Pakistanis not just inside the country but also outside to organize protests against the imposition of emergency.

On Sunday too, blogs continued to be the only source of information for Pakistanis with access to the Internet, as television channels were still off air.