Pakistan media must be free to air opinions.

Once again, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's government falls all over itself for no reason really. This time it's got into the news, ironically, because it tried a rather novel way of staying out of it. People are still trying to understand just why Pemra (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) demanded the other day, through an official, binding notice, that television anchors not offer their personal views or appear as experts in their own or other shows or channels. How did they think it would sit with journalists, social activists and, quite frankly, society at large? Sure enough, there was an uproar, not the least from popular media itself.

And even if the government's able ministers had factored that much in, surely they were taken aback by some of the severe criticism that came from some of the most senior members of PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf). Asad Omar, Imran's blue-eyed boy till he was chucked out of the finance ministry rather unceremoniously, tweeted, "Pemra should be doing a better job taking action against completely fake news and not suppressing the right of individuals, including anchors, to express their opinion." Shireen Mazari, minister for human rights who's usually found fiercely defending some of the government's more questionable gambits, was forced to ask, "Who is an 'expert'? An interesting [and] unintended debate has been generated - so purely at an academic, non-political level: Do I need a degree in politics to be an expert on politics? I have no degree in 'human rights' so should I go on TV to discuss 'human rights' issues?" And Fawad Chaudhry, controversial former information minister who was also relieved of his duties, then given the science and technology portfolio, felt Pemra's directive was simply "illogical, unnecessary and uncalled for."

That, as usual, got the information ministry to try and backtrack as quickly as possible, falling back on its favourite defence that Pemra had just been 'misinterpreted'. So, when the Authority said anchors should not express their personal views, and people thought it meant anchors should not express their personal views, they were just misinterpreting the...