As President Pervez Musharraf continues his “emergency rule” in Pakistan, activity in the black market has increased.  With television stations being blacked out and news organization censored, the ability of the black market to evade government control has show its usefulness.

From the AFP:

“News is a contraband item in Pakistan now and it is being sold on the black market,” Imran Aslam, the president of Geo Television, the country’s most widely watched cable news channel, told AFP.

In addition to Internet sites, Pakistani citizens have begun to purchase satellites in order to receive independent news.

That black market consists mainly of Internet sites, but satellite broadcasts are growing as a source of independent news as well. “Sales of satellite dishes have jumped since the weekend,” Agence France-Presse reported, citing several shopkeepers who were interviewed. One dealer said that while he usually gets one or two new orders a week, this week he already had 30.

Signs of a brisk satellite-dish market in Pakistan were also evident on a local blog in Karachi, which reported a $65 jump in price in the past few days. Below the post, a commenter claimed that the price of installation had suddenly increased as well.

[The Lede]