Pakistan's elections were supposed to usher in democracy following eight years of military rule, but for Talat Hussain life doesn't look much different. Every time his privately owned television station tries to air shows critical of President Pervez Musharraf, the screen goes black.

"For all the exuberance, the clapping of the heart feeling we had after the electoral result, nothing has really changed in this country, has it?" said Hussain, news director at the television station Aaj.

Voters delivered a crushing blow to Musharraf's ruling party in last week's parliamentary polls, and the parties of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced they would form a coalition government to bring civilian rule to this troubled country.

Two days after the vote, Aaj was knocked off the air the 12th time since Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3

Pakistan has a flourishing media, with hundreds of newspapers and more than 70 television stations thanks largely to reforms imposed by Musharraf after he seized power in a 1999 coup. But with illiteracy rates high, it is broadcasters who have been most closely watched in recent months.

The government imposed a nearly six-week TV blackout at the height of a yearlong political crisis that saw the purging of the judiciary, the rounding up of political opponents, and the death of hundreds in attacks blamed on Islamic militants.

Private television stations were allowed back on the air Dec. 16, but not without restrictions. They are still barred from attacking the president, the judiciary and the armed forces. And six of the country's most popular anchors and television talk show hosts from Aaj, Geo TV and ARY are now banned.

"We keep getting hopeful about life changing in Pakistan," said Hussain, leaning back in his chair in his modest office on the fourth floor of a dilapidated building.

"We keep trying our luck on the basis of that hope, and we keep getting a reality check from Musharraf," he said.

The only television station that is terrestrially based is the state-run Pakistan TV. All others can only be received by satellite or local cable systems, making it easy for the government to crack down whenever it wants to.

"The government has proven it can still manage to muddy up the waters if it wants," said Adnan Rehmat, who heads Internews Pakistan, a Washington-based media watchdog. "It can stop access completely or it can selectively take one channel off the air."

Criticism makes its way onto many stations, mostly through guests appearing on talk shows, and most have managed to stay on the air.

Information Minister Nisar Memon said the three stations targeted were considered threats to the government because they were not only harsh but exceedingly popular.

He promised the remaining restrictions would be lifted "as soon as possible," but did not elaborate.

Others expect the changes to come after the new government is formed probably in mid-March.

The Pakistan People's Party now headed by Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N have both said restoring press freedoms and an independent judiciary would be among the new parliament's first tasks.

For some, that has made Musharraf's current actions all the more confounding.

"It's his reflex," said Rehman. "He doesn't want people talking about him.
But you can't have it both ways. When you are in the government, you are in the public limelight. He just doesn't seem to know what the media's function is."

Another of the banned anchors is Hamid Mir, an executive editor at Geo TV.
He said his company has been meeting with regulators since last week's polls to try to get him back on the air so far without luck.

"They said, 'If you try to put Hamid Mir on, not just Geo will be taken off the air, but we'll also go after (your affiliates) The Daily News and the Jang Group. We'll seal your offices,'" Mir said.

Though his company managed to air even at the height of the crisis, using secret transmission sites to send tapes to the United Arab Emirates, it lost $32US million between Nov. 3 and Jan. 21, Mir said.

"It's a big price for just one anchor," said Mir, who was replaced by an anchor formerly with state television. "We're not in a position to lose any more money."

Aaj which has a staff of around 800, half devoted to current affairs news was founded four years ago.

Unable to compete with big, hard news broadcasters, it quickly found its niche by providing in-depth analyses, with Hussain, one of the founders, at the helm.

Hussain said he will not bow to pressure, telling his owner he had no intention of falling hostage to government policies, which appear to change by the day.

Several times the government indicated it was willing to give Aaj back some of its freedoms, he said, only to come back with a list of new requirements like if the station returns to the air, hosts must carry out interviews with guests not sit beside them and hold a discourse.

"We've struggled because we have a very strong editorial line," said Hussain, whose station has been taken off the air at least four times since last Monday's vote, sometimes for up to 12 hours. "Our investors say, you guys are not even on the air, so why should we bother giving you ads?"

Once, he said, a satellite transmission was jammed during a regular news program analyzing the implications of the opposition's sweeping election win.

The other times Aaj tried to bring on its own two banned anchors, Mushtaq Minhas and Nusrat Javeed, whose show "Hear Pakistan Talk" is one of the station's main revenue earners. Largely tongue and cheek, the two hosts take up different sides on various issues, laying bare contradicting points of view.

"The government says we can talk about Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir ...
but not the internal dynamics and politics of Pakistan. If there's a shortage in wheat or a judicial crisis, we can't just ignore that?" said Minhas, 40, who was initially among those cheering the media reforms ushered in by Musharraf.

"But in the end," he said, "a dictator is a dictator."