And on 5 April, the government had taken the historic decision of allowing independent private radio and television channels to become operational. The military government has done something that a civilian government did not want to do, he added. The Chief Executive s adviser told the gathering, We have an open civil society. We have rotary clubs, bar associations, other organisations. There are no restrictions on criticism.
Critical comment is reported widely in the press.
So when people say when is democracy being restored to Pakistan, one has to reply that it is already there but will be fully in place with the completion of the democratic process of elections. Munir Akram ,in his statement to the Commission on Human Rights, at the time of the vote on the annual EU sponsored resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in Islamic Republic of Iran, said the OIC was resentful about the number of resolutions tabled against its member countries. Pakistan tried to help the Iranian delegation in bringing an end to this 17 years old targeting of Iran. This year, despite some positive changes in Iran including the holding of the recent parliamentary elections, the Iranian delegation was unable to gain enough support to reverse the EU initiative. In his statement before the vote on the resolution, on behalf of the OIC, Ambassador Munir Akram pointed out that the draft resolution by the EU on the Islamic Republic of Iran was an example of selective targeting of a country.