Geo News, Pakistan’s most popular TV news channel, had apparently agreed to drop shows by two top anchors critical of President Pervez Musharraf before being allowed to return to cable networks after a nearly three-month ban.

Caretaker Information Minister Nisar Memon has said that Geo News was allowed to return to cable after it signed a government-mandated code of conduct, but the channel reportedly agreed to keep two political talk shows hosted by Shahid Masood and Hamid Mir off the air. Both Masood and Mir had been very critical of Musharraf on their weekly talk shows.

In a statement, the Geo group said “many issues have been resolved between (the network and the government), but some are still left and it is hoped that they would be taken up very soon”. Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog, hailed the lifting of the government ban on cable distribution of Geo News but deplored “the fact that President Pervez Musharraf made it conditional on the suppression of some of its programmes”.

“It is regrettable that the government insisted on the withdrawal of certain programmes. This constitutes yet further evidence that censorship is unfortunately still the rule just a few weeks before the parliamentary polls scheduled for February 18,” it said in a statement.