Channel 1 closure protested

8 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

The journalists and employees of the Channel 1 staged a token sit-in protesting the closure of the private television station. The government on April 27 stopped transmission of the channel on charge of using rented broadcasting equipment in violation of the law, which its authority denied. The protestors said the action threw around 450 journalists, officials and employees into insecurity as they have lost their jobs due to the closure. Eminent citizens expressed solidarity with the journalists and the employees at the protest programme at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city yesterday morning. Eminent lawyer Barrister Rafique-Ul Haq said the problems of the Channel 1 should have been solved through legal process. “Making these 450 people jobless was not fair,” he said while addressing the sit-in programme. Columnist Syed Abul Maksud said the closure of the channel is a blow to the country and its democracy. Any democratic government cannot do such a thing and the channel was shut down in an autocratic way.