(Islamabad, Pakistan and Arcata, California) The political crisis in Pakistan, precipitated by President Pervez Musharraf’s suspension of the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, has reached a crescendo. After Chaudhry’s dramatic 25 hour march to Lahore, Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended proceedings against him by a five judge panel known as the Supreme Judicial Council and accepted his plea for an open trial before the full court. But the Court also issued an unprecedented edict to ban the media from debating the issues, threatening contempt charges against any who did. The political standoff has now become a battle between the newly independent electronic media and the government.

In the “You Tube” world we live in, where political events unfold in real time, a single video clip can swing an election or provoke a revolution. In the US, it unseated Senator George Allen, giving Democrats a one-vote majority in the Senate. In Tbilisi, Georgia, television coverage of the government’s attempt to shut down a popular TV station brought tens of thousands of people into the streets, playing a major role in the “Rose Revolution.” Pakistan is the latest country to teeter on the edge of a television revolution.

The political crisis unfolding in Pakistan, battleground in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban and the one Muslim state with nuclear weapons, is the most critical since the military coup of 1999 that swept President Musharraf to power. Unlike the 1999 coup and the military takeovers that preceded it in 1958 and 1977, the current unrest is playing out on live television, with independent satellite and cable television stations covering and broadcasting political unrest in the face of a virulent government campaign of intimidation and police violence.

Musharraf sacked the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Chaudhry, after the justice censored the government for allegedly abducting hundreds of Pakistanis without charge as part of its campaign against Islamic militants. The "missing persons" scandal touched a raw nerve in Pakistan, but the relentless TV coverage of the riots and the police repression has escalated the crisis well beyond its original scope.

It started with videos that recorded parts of General Musharraf’s humiliating five-hour dressing down of the Chief Justice and rough public manhandling by the police and intelligence officials. When independent TV stations broadcast the videos over and over again, thousands of lawyers joined in a spontaneous and unprecedented protest. The most dramatic incident came when police tried to close down Geo TV, an upstart satellite television channel that has become the most popular news source in the country. A posse of police ransacked the Geo TV offices in Islamabad, located just a few dozen yards from where most of the news media were encamped at the Supreme Court. Police lobbed tear gas into the building in an attempt to force everyone to leave, but outraged television journalists turned their cameras on the police and broadcast the melee live for tens of millions of people to watch. This was the first time in Pakistan’s history that its citizens were able to witness political protest unfold in real time in their own languages.

The unprovoked government attack on Geo TV escalated the protests against the firing of Chief Justice Chaudhry, and detonated a debate over freedom of expression and association, and broader civil rights. General Musharraf apologized on national television for the attack on Geo—a first in his eight-year rule—in an attempt to quell unrest. This too was replayed endlessly, dramatically acknowledging the emergence of independent media as a new and powerful force in Pakistan’s political life. With the political parties largely emasculated by forced exiles and intimidation of their political leaders, Pakistan’s young television broadcasters have taken over their role in mobilizing the masses. For days, a riveted audience watched as 15 independent current events TV channels endlessly played footage of the Geo debacle and the Supreme Court riots.

Ironically, it was President Musharraf who allowed the reforms that opened up the airwaves for private ownership, back in 2002. A civil society and media movement had been fighting for media reform for years, part of Pakistan’s enduring political movements that support democratic rule. The liberalization of the media, however, only came after the government realized that millions of Pakistanis were watching Indian television by satellite instead of the martial programming on state television. Musharraf's 1999 Kargil fiasco—mounting a military conflict in Indian-administered Kashmir—was a turning point. With state-owned TV and radio telling them virtually nothing of Pakistan's Kargil setbacks, Pakistanis instead got their news on satellite dishes from Indian TV channels, which beamed the military conflict live—in a language (Hindi) that many Pakistanis understand.

Presently over 60 FM radio stations and around 50 satellite and cable TV channels broadcast in Pakistan, creating an information space that provides 160 million Pakistanis with the first reliable alternative sources of news about issues affecting their lives in real time. This matters a great deal to a population where only 35% are functionally literate.

As the international community balances its need for political stability in this strategically important country with its desire for Pakistan to democratize, policymakers must remain highly attuned to the media events unfolding in Pakistan and support the nascent independent media sector. Western foreign policy too often emphasizes elections over other civil society institutions, especially open media, which are crucial to building stable democracies.

The emergence of independent media marks a turning point in the political evolution of Pakistan. Western news media have focused extensively on the question of whether Musharraf’s undoing would result in Islamic fundamentalists seizing control of the state and its nuclear arsenal. The current political crisis demonstrates something far more important than the fate of a single individual. The assertiveness of Pakistan’s newly independent media signals the return of a popular movement for democratic rights. Citizens are demanding respect for the rule of law, access to information and freedom of expression. The news from Pakistan is loud and clear: the media have emerged as the voice of the people.

David Hoffman is President of Internews Network and Adnan Rehmat is Internews' Country Director in Pakistan. Internews is a non-profit organization that supports independent media and access to information worldwide.