KARACHI - The newly-appointed Chairman of PTV, Dr Shahid Masood, has adopted anti-PPP approach that has stunned the party leaders, sources told The Nation.
They said Dr Shahid has directed the senior PTV officials, including the directors, anchorpersons and resource persons, in a meeting that he had been appointed with clear mandate therefore not answerable to any high ups in the Information Ministry.
According to sources, the PTV Chairman has told the PTV officials that Benazir Bhutto is now part of the past and she should be treated as such.
Dr Shahid has also said in his first meeting with the PTV officials that the state-run television was not the spokesman of the PPP, said sources, adding the PTV Chairman has also suspended special ‘Taranas’ that were being aired to pay tribute to the Shaheed leader of the party.
Sources further said the chairman has ordered to stop Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s photo exhibition put up for display in Islamabad on her recent birth anniversary.
Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman had directed the PTV to air all the programmes relating to the birth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto till June 30 but Dr Shahid opposed it and said that one-day coverage was sufficient to cover the event and PTV should not waste energy and resources on it.
On the complaint of anchorpersons, he said the live programmes would be the top priority of the PTV and the television should not give live coverage to Governors, Chief Ministers and other ministers that has shocked the PPP leaders and the workers.
Dr Shahid further said that he himself would appoint the new Managing Director because he enjoyed full powers as head of the PTV, sources added.
When Dr Shahid received applications for appointments from Sindh, he plainly said that no Sindhi would be appointed in the PTV, especially from Larkana. He ignored the request to air Aansa Bakhtawar’s footage showing her receiving a prestigious award for Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in France. This footage was repeatedly aired on private TV networks throughout the day but the PTV showed only a brief part of it in its news bulletin.
It is worth mentioning here that Abdullah Kadwani hosted a dinner in the honour Dr Shahid Masood in which President Pervez Musharraf also participated along with the Governor Sindh but the Chief Minister boycotted the dinner when he was informed that President was attending the dinner.