Zardari's aides force Sherry Rehman to resign

Islamabad, Mar 14: Pakistan's Information Minister Sherry Rehman resigned following differences over government's handling of the electronic media and insistence by President Asif Zardari and his close aides to impose further restrictions on private news channels.

Rehman was against the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)'s blocking of a private TV channel without taking her into confidence. Highly placed sources said that Rehman had a series of heated arguments with senior members of the government when some television channels were 'penalised' for airing what were perceived as anti-government views during the lawyers' Long March.

They said that when Rehman failed to persuade Zardari and other members of his team and was cornered by some members who even blamed for her failure to 'control' the media, she decided to quit the coveted post of Information Minister.

Rehman was regarded as one of the most prominent members of the federal cabinet and she had, for the past one year, single-handedly tackled the print and electronic media, sometimes in a very hostile environment.

But some members of the government had been constantly opposing her and had campaigned to dislodge her, the Dawn reported.

The former journalist kept on ignoring the moves, but then Sherry Rehman finally decided to quit when her request to go soft on the media failed.

ANI