In a meeting with the Minister for Information & Broadcasting Nisar A Memon, the media representatives also suggested that comprehensive proposals from these media bodies would be sent to the ministry by Saturday next so as to move forward on the subjects.

The minister assured the media delegation that the matter regarding FIRs registered by law-enforcement agencies against the working journalists before and after imposition of emergency would be taken up with the authorities concerned for withdrawal. He assured that the government would take all necessary confidence building measures, including bilateral meetings with the publisher/owner of the GEO and Jang/News group.

You look terrible. You need to accessorize," he tells him. The co-anchor pulls out a black armband, the widely recognized symbol of protest across Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule Nov. 3. The audience cheers. Zaka feigns naivete,
quipping, "I'd like to join this fashion movement," and puts the armband on.

These are not easy times to be a journalist in Pakistan, let alone an irreverent political comic. Musharraf's government for several weeks blacked out the country's lively independent news channels and temporarily detained scores of journalists. Zaka's show aired last Wednesday night for the first time since the emergency measures took effect.

Musharraf's government has also sought the help of allies to contain news coverage. On Nov. 17, the United Arab Emirates agreed to shut down two of Pakistan's largest and most popular networks, Geo TV and ARY, which had been broadcasting news of events in Pakistan via satellite from Dubai.

But dissent is difficult to shut out completely, and in Pakistan, comedy is emerging as an important tool of government critics, much as underground satire and thinly veiled jokes were once powerful forces in the Soviet Union.

Ironically, it was Musharraf who first encouraged independent media in Pakistan after he took power in 1999. He saw invigorating the mass media as a way to compete with the plethora of cable stations based in Pakistan's arch rival, India. Musharraf himself seemed a darling of the Western media, even appearing in September 2006 on "The Daily Show," where he sipped jasmine green tea with Jon Stewart and joked about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

Now, Musharraf is requiring TV news stations to sign a code of conduct that subjects journalists to fines and jail time if they ridicule him or other government officials. Certain television personalities were targeted in the recent crackdown, with several talk show hosts being pressured to sign the code of conduct, both by the government and by their own bosses, who are worried about lost profits if they stay off the air.

In a recent interview, Musharraf said it was a sensitive time in Pakistan because of rising extremism. "The media should not agitate," Musharraf said. "It should join us in the war on terror."

But many leading journalists here say a free press is an important tool to question the actions of the state, and sometimes to make fun of it.

"Views being aired and irreverence and laughter are a healthy thing," said Jugnu Mohsin, a longtime Pakistani satirist who writes a monthly humor column called "Mush and Bush" for the Friday Times, a weekly English-language newspaper based in Lahore. "You can't crush the human need to laugh," she said. "It lets off steam."

During times of crisis and political drama, there is plenty of material to use for comedic purposes. In one of Mohsin's recent unsigned columns, Musharraf appears as a wily Bush ally. The two talk about terrorism but end up plotting to get a Burger King and a McDonald's into Afghanistan.

"Mush: I thought you decided to partition Afghanistan.

"Bush: Yeah, then we can call it Halfganistan."

Mohsin also writes a satirical column that has targeted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and what she calls his "dim and authoritarian personality, his intolerance of dissent."

"I thought Musharraf was different," said Mohsin, publisher and managing editor of the Friday Times. "Sadly, he's conforming to the type."

Leaders are not the only targets. Mohsin's sister Moni Mohsin writes a column called "Diary of a Social Butterfly," which lampoons the country's elite.

Jugnu Mohsin has so far remained out of prison, but she and husband Najam Sethi, editor in chief of the Friday Times, have suffered hardships -- threats on their lives, attacks on their homes -- under previous military governments that were less than amused with their sense of humor. Sethi has been jailed three times from the 1970s to the '90s.

While TV shows were largely cut off under Musharraf's crackdown, small newspapers were allowed to continue publishing. They represent a vociferous source of opposition and humor.

In one example, a law professor and a journalist teamed up to write a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which appeared in the News, an English-language newspaper.

Theirs begins: "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a state of emergency; on the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two Taliban and a state of emergency."

It ends: "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me twelve bombers' bombings, eleven laathi charges, ten Swat beheadings, nine majors gloating, eight foreign sanctions, seven lawyers tortured, six house arrests, no BBC, four militants, three rallies, two Taliban and a state of emergency." A laathi charge is a police tactic involving batons.

"We take rich people and powerful people too seriously here," said Ahmad Rafay Alam, a professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences and co-author of the "Twelve Days" parody. "We should be able to talk about everything, and misery requires a good sense of humor."

Modern political satire in Pakistan is rooted in a popular 1980s TV show called "50/50," which managed to use subtle codes to convey humor.

That's the type of comedy now flourishing in Pakistan. "We were told to tone it down. But there's always a subtle way of doing it," said Saad Haroon, a comic with "The Real News," a satirical live TV show. "At first we were really shocked, we didn't know what we were going to do. But then we realized that we can make fun of the fact that we can't make fun of anything."

Zaka is trying the same type of comedy. At the end of last Wednesday's show, his cellphone rings.

"It's an emergency," he yells out. Then the TV blanks to an image of a snowy screen, just as it did after emergency rule was declared.

But the rise of Dubai as a centre of trade, finance and tourism may change all that. Will the Middle East follow, where Dubai leads? In many ways I would certainly hope so. The country is no paragon of democracy and human rights, but it is certainly more responsive to these issues than its neighbours as it is anxious to attract tourists. Even Britons, flocking there in increasing numbers, are impressed.

Dubai is a city within an emirate of the same name, of which there are seven that constitute the United Arab Emirates. A week ago I arrived at the city for a short trip and two thoughts struck me after a while.

First, that Dubai is run by Indians. Around 70-75% of Dubai's population is expatriate, of which most are South Asian and around half from India. From construction workers to doctors, lawyers, businessmen and CEOs of major corporations, Indians are represented in all walks of economic life. This is in sharp contrast to other parts of the Middle East, where South Asian workers are treated despicably.

And, though strike action continues despite being outlawed, it usually pushes the government towards reconciliation rather than confrontation. Indeed, one (Indian) CEO I spoke to said such strikes were "helping the authorities put things in perspective" and laws were "being streamlined with international [labour] laws." To that extent, Dubai shattered my misconception that Arabs treated Asians with little regard.

The second thing I noticed was the smell of money and frenzied opulence that goes with it. Dubai is building its economy at a staggering rate, announcing project after project to make it a leader in, well, pretty much everything. There are mini-cities within Dubai dedicated to sports, media, healthcare, the internet, motors, festivals, exhibitions, flowers, aviation etc. The list is long and growing rapidly.

While there, local developers announced the launch of Dubai Lifestyle City, which is planning to sell around 200 high-end residential properties worth nearly $700m. Such is the frenzied atmosphere around real estate that although construction has just started, around a third of the property has reportedly already been sold. They even flew in Maria Sharapova to attract publicity for the launch. The mind boggles.

A report in the Guardian last year asked whether Dubai could become "the most important place on the planet". This is an interesting question for several reasons.

Economically, the city is miles ahead of its neighbours in the Gulf. The fact that it sucks in money, people, and talent from across the world, and especially from other parts of the Middle East, could mean that this economic and (relative) social freedom could end up being exported to carefully watching Arab states.

While travelling I met Natasha, a former resident of Nottingham who moved there a few years ago to explore opportunities in real estate. She was frequently homesick and loved the vibe of London but said she had no plans to come back soon. I met Rupinder, a British Sikh businesswoman who had moved there with her husband a few years ago and she said she loved it. There weren't any of the Muslim fanatics she found in England, she said, because the ruling sheikh clamped down on them. Dubai's first Gurdwara was opening soon too. I know of other British Asian friends who have also moved there for work and see little need to come back.

There is a limit to the freedom the city offers, of course. When General Pervez Musharraf recently declared martial law in Pakistan and shut down dissenting television channels, the popular station Geo TV started broadcasting over the internet from Dubai. A request from Musharraf soon forced it to shut down again. The political system still resembles more a monarchy than a democracy and political dissent is not easily tolerated.

But Dubai's enthusiastic embrace of capitalism, which some find disconcerting, is exactly what the city and the Middle East needs as a whole. Developing a prominent and wealthy middle class is the surest path to greater transparency, secularisation of politics and intellectual development. The more Middle Eastern countries depend on tourism for income, as Dubai increasingly plans to, the more incentive they have to prevent religious fanaticism developing. It is investing huge amounts of money in education, technology and learning - all guaranteed to ensure a more politically aware population in the future.

In a few years, Dubai will offer exactly what other consumers in the Middle East will want - a brand of capitalism infused with Arab sensibilities and culture. Hopefully they will then follow suit. In the meantime, the gold rush is continuing apace.