The recent ban on news and current affairs related talk shows in Pakistan has generated creative responses. The latest being that the hosts of these various talk shows have now in the face of the ban simply taken the show out of the studios on to the road. Talat Hussain from AAJ TV and Hamid Mir from Geo amongst others are running their shows from street corners and pavements. An excerpt from a news story:

One of Pakistan’s most popular political TV chat shows, Capital Talk, had an impressive collection of panelists for yesterday’s show, including a retired general and a senator.

Hamid Mir, a leading Pakistani journalist and the program’s host, orchestrated a lively debate, engaging the audience with his usual skill. The familiar theme music introduced and ended the program, which focused on the most popular topic in the country: the emergency measures and the January election.

But the program was not filmed yesterday as usual in the studios of the popular Geo television channel. There was no point. Geo has been pulled off the air. Instead, the show was set up on the pavement outside the studio building. Instead of playing to millions of viewers, Capital Talk was seen by only the few dozen who gathered on the street to watch and a small number tuning in via the Internet.

“We want to tell [General Pervez] Musharraf that he has failed to silence our voice,” said Mr. Mir, who does not dare to sleep in his own bed at night for fear that police will arrest him.

…

AAJ, another news channel, has been allowed back on the air but without its best-known face, Talat Hussain. Today, Mr. Hussain will act as host of his show again, on a different stretch of pavement in Islamabad. In front of the Islamabad Press Club he will assemble guests and go through the program as usual - minus the television audience.

Read the rest here . While the lawyers and journalists refuse to give up there are speculations now that with the return of Nawaz Sharif tomorrow, both the PPP and the Muslim League (N)- the two major political parties in Pakistan- may agree to contest elections. If that were to happen it would be a big letdown for the entire movement. Imran Khan (PTI) however has come out clearly on this and made a plea to the other parties to boycott the elections. You can read the news story here.