In the following Tweet, Arshad Sharif, a now-deceased Journalist who had an extremely large following posted the following tweet in the fall of 2022. This tweet features a video of protests, orchestrated by Iram Khan, taking place in parts of Islamabad. Khan, the ousted prime minister of Pakistan, gathered a large number of supporters in October in order to challenge the current regime in power. He wanted a snap election to occur, essentially meaning an election that occurs ahead of the anticipated polling dates. Sharif’s tweet brings awareness to a problem we’ve discussed in class: censorship and the media. Sharif’s tweet takes the perspective that the government (“known unknowns”) was censoring the Khan-backed protests in order to minimize the number of individuals taking interest in the dissent. It’s an argument questioning why the government is trying to save face by reducing the footprint of Imran Khan’s protests. Now, if we were to ask why the government/Pakistani TV would censor the protests, it most likely would come down to Imran Khan and his large following. Even though he was ousted by the national assembly, the former Prime Minister still maintains support from across the country. I feel like this demonstrates just how torn apart politics in the region can be.
#Censorship being imposed on #Pakistani TV channels by”known unknowns” with directions not to show protests across #Pakistan by #Pakistanis over disqualification of Fmr Pakistani Prime Minister #ImranKhan by the government.
(Heavy tear gas shelling at Faizabad by police). pic.twitter.com/JdInr5l2f6— Arshad Sharif (@arsched) October 21, 2022
HR: the imbedded tweet from Arshad Sharif, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistans-ex-premier-imran-khan-set-march-islamabad-demand-snap-polls-2022-10-28/ (to gain background on the situation), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60966758 (gain background on situation) – Wesley Barbara