Top Pakistani News Channel Geo TV forced to go off-air for criticising Army

Pakistan's largest television network Geo News says it has been forced off the air by cable operators in most parts of the country.

The network's channel assignment on the cable distribution network has also been lowered.

According to The New York Times, Mir Ibrahim Rahman, the chief executive of the network, Geo, said in an interview that they are off the air in 80 percent of the country, in a move widely seen as being forced by the military as it flexes its authority over civilian institutions. 

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority has insisted that it was not behind the move and put out a notice for cable operators not to disrupt Geo's transmissions.

In the first week of March, Geo News was shut down in cantonment areas across the country and residential neighborhoods that are administered by the military.

Then, this month, all Geo channels including news, entertainment, and sports channels started being blocked across the country by cable operators.