Sometimes one battles within oneself. With oneself. I did that too. A part of me kept hoping that by the time I got down to writing this column the ban on the TV news channels would have been lifted, and the situation back to "normal".
Now this has not happened, as of Thursday afternoon when these lines are being written. I am tuned to Pakistan TV which is trying its best in its live news and current affairs shows to convince the viewers that everything is normal since the state of emergency was imposed in the country on the evening of 3rd November 2007.
I was in Saddar when the word of the emergency was spreading rapidly, and a phone call from a colleague confirmed it. The point he emphasised was that the TV channels had been closed down, and that only PTV was available as an option. I thought of credibility, right away.
I think of credibility even as I write this. For all that the PTV has been saying since the emergency the point is what is the extent of the credibility that it has. While talks are on to bring back the TV channels, and enable the people to get the complete picture, rather than what is regarded as "partial truth" it is imperative to mention here that on 3rd November two ordinances were promulgated relating to print and electronic media, prohibiting them to publish or broadcast statements that abet terrorist activities or terrorism.
The ordinances to amend the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance 2002 and the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002 have come into immediate effect.
This news paper reported on Sunday morning that "President General Pervez Musharraf has imposed emergency in the country, held in abeyance the 1973 Constitution, sacked most of the superior judges and suspended some basic fundamental rights including freedom of expression." The President's address on the PTV was telecast late on Saturday night, and repeat telecast on Sunday morning.
While press reports said that the President's declaration of emergency was "denounced worldwide", the police took it out on the Aaj TV channel, and raided its offices in Islamabad in the early hours of Sunday morning and attempted to confiscate broadcasting equipment. The channel's Director News, Syed Talat Hussein, told AFP that "police have entered our office and a judicial officer is trying to confiscate our equipment, they have no paperwork...." Reports have indicated other pressure tactics that were used by the officialdom to bully this channel.
Indeed there is much that needs to be said about the ban on the news channels which entered the fifth day as this colum was written (on 8th November). This afternoon's Daily News carried a lengthy story on "threats to bomb media offices and kill owners slated" The News report said that there had been threats issued to the Chief Executive of the Jang group Mir Shakilur Rehman.
It was further stated that the All Pakistan News Paper Society, the Council of Newspaper Editors, the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), South Asia Free Media Association (Safma) and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists have assailed the measures aimed at "gagging the media".
The demand for news in all sections of society across the country has been high, and understandably the PTV is no alternative to what the people want. Throughout the country the demand for the dish antenna emerged once again, but there were reports that the local; administration and the police were taking steps to forcibly stop the sales of these dish antennas.
I remembered the days in the sixties, seventies and eighties when the print media was gagged and people turned to BBC Radio or to smaller newspapers which were able to function for as long as they could. Governments in the past also have invariably tried to curb media freedom, and now that TV is such a powerful means of news dissemination, it is obvious that cable operators have been targeted.
Of course the TV channels will return. But when and at what cost? And what is the cost of this closure of news channels? It cannot be small. I should have written about the late chief cameraman of the Aryone World who died in the bomb blast that took place on 18th October 2007 (or rather 19th October just after midnight) in the procession taken out for the former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
As I am writing this now a thought that does cross the mind is how would he have utilised his time given the ban that there is on the private news channels in the country. Events are taking place with such rapidity that it seems that the 18th October tragedy on Sharea Faisal took place a long time ago. It is not even a month at this point in time that Arif died with about 150 others. The loss of this talented young man, is the loss of the television channel concerned and not only of his family.
It also mirrors the risks for media professionals in Pakistan, as the nature of politics and electioneering undergoes a radical change. No more for Pakistan the kind of environment for politics and electioneering that we have experienced in the past, for instance in the sixties or the seventies. There is so much more of grim violence and bloodshed now. A lot more complicated the politics, and a lot more challenging the media coverage, and the media's role. Media has a lot more power now, evidently.
The tragic death of Arif Khan has been deeply mourned by media people in the country, and condolence meetings have been held - and Aryone World also telecast special programmes in his memory. He was regarded not just as a good professional, but also a very decent good-natured human being, and from his family comes information of how caring he was for wife and children.
Indeed he must have left lasting impressions on those whose lives he touched. I do remember here, with a sadness, the numerous occasions I saw him at work, and how pleasantly and smoothly he dealt with people, despite the hectic pace and tension of his assignments in the field. May his soul rest in eternal peace. A very soulful, touching tribute was paid to him by Aryone World some days after his death and it was Javed Saba's voice and script that made the difference.
The script had a dual purpose: it was addressed to Arif Khan and in doing so recalled the bomb blasts and suicide bombings that had taken place in the country in recent years. It was a bird's eye view of what we have undergone in the country, and brought alive many questions also.
One also needs to mention the tribute that was paid to Arif Khan by anchor person Faiza Dawood (Focus with Faiza Dawood is the current affairs programme that she does). In this there were brief statements from colleagues including S.M Shakil, Kashif Hussein which enhanced the richness of the tribute to a former colleague.
With the ban on private TV news channels since 3rd November 2007, when the state of emergency was imposed in the country and the 1973 Constitution was declared to be held in abeyance, TV viewers, in many cases found themselves watching some other channels, playing with the remote, hoping that just at that precise moment they would find that the news channels had been restored by the government.
When that did not happen, some viewers switched off the TV sets, or switched onto PTV news and current affairs which gave only the government point of view, and nothing else, or there were others who switched onto the various entertainment channels, Indian and Pakistani options. State controlled and managed PTV's young anchor man, Kamran Shahid, I saw once making an effort to be professional but was restrained by his policy considerations. It was obvious.
Interesting context: while Pakistani TV viewers were denied Pakistani news channels and also news sources like CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Sky News and so on, on their cable TV, they were able to watch Indian entertainment channels. Here there was an wide variety available - the Star TV package of channels, Sony TV, B4U, Sahara One Sony Max, Cinema City, AXN.
It is a long list. I must not overlook the cartoon channels, and the popular Discovery World, Animal Planet, the History Channel, and the National Geographic. Also the sports channels, and cricket and soccer being forever sought after sports. Which reminds me that the Pakistan-India cricket series (one day and test cricket) is being played in India and for people in the sub-continent this is undoubtedly a high point of enthusiasm (read passion) always. It was a full house at the first ODI that was played, which India won.
With this ban, perhaps homes with one TV option must have been provided with a welcome scenario for house-wives and children, as the pressure on the TV sets to be tuned to news and current affairs was absent. I presume that house-wives and children watched more TV with this ban!!
I must mention what I was able to watch one evening -around 5pm on one of the Indian channels. This was the all time great Urdu Indian film Andaz-which had Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Raj Kapoor in the triangular romantic drama. I didn't see the entire film - but let me confess that it wasn't easy to give up watching it and carry on with the evening's routine.
It is relevant to mention here that I have been able to watch a lot more of the Peace TV and QTV since the imposition of the emergency. And some of those I have heard include Dr Zakir Naek, Professor Dr Tahirul Qadri, Dr Israr Ahmed and have watched the Khawateen Time (QTV) that is compered by Uzma Zaidi every Sunday at 9 pm. I must mention the particular emphasis that she attached to the Dupattas that she wears so elegantly, gracefully. It goes so well with the programme that she does. That she handles the varied Islamic themes very knowledgeably is obvious. I have said this before, and here it is again: it is a programme that both men and women, and children need to see.
Criminals Most Wanted (Aryone World) focused on the subject of cell phone snatching that takes place in Karachi on a scale that is baffling and mysterious and it seems that criminals in this field operate with defiance and unrestrained success. This episode was also scripted by Ali Raza who also hosted and directed it.
The police station that was the stage to the episode was the North Nazimabad police station and there was plenty of real life to make it credible. It is imperative that TV channels expose the reality that exists in the world of crime, and police stations in this society.
Tackling a theme like cell phone snatching is also informative and educative, and enables the public to understand the ways and places in which these young men operate quickly, and ruthlessly. Their cruelty is also growing, it seems. One of them, said the obvious: 'it was unemployment that was compelling him to lead this way of life - snatching cell phones, and killing when he met with resistance by the owner of that phone.'
On CNN (before the ban on cable operators) was being shown a very strong, researched report called God's Warriors. It was a very eloquent illustration of how there is a Christian assault on the American lifestyle in that society - of how there is a impassioned outspoken movement against the "hostile secular world" that the USA symbolises to the large groups crusading for change.
It was on a Sunday morning that I was able to see this report - but as is often the case, only during channel surfing that I was doing. The investigator and interviewer was the well-known journalist Christiana Amanpour - whose forthright style of questioning is always very engaging, impressive.
The message that was coming through the interviews and the varied film reports was that there are growing numbers of people in the United Stateds vehemently and religiously opposed to the values, the norms, and the ideals of the United States. One participant in one of the meetings was trying to motivate the crowd by saying that "whoever speaks out gets to shape culture".
And the culture that was being criticised and rejected was that of the existing pop culture - the pervasive pornography, and violence - rape and homosexuality, drugs and uninhibited sex, and the sheer intolerance that has come to characterise the US standards and society. This was the repeated emphasis in God's Warriors - and what were being advocated were concepts and values like discipline, purity, and dignity.
Christiana Amanpour towards the end, after a detailed report on the groups in San Francisco and the leaders it has, strongly suggested that these voices and groups should not be ignored, and underlined that she had tried to explain their point of view to society, as it were.
There is no denying that programmes like these drive home the point that the world - including the Christian world - is tired, and disillusioned so say the least-with the materialism and the hedonism of today's world. That today's man is seeking not just an improvement in his quality of life, but his inner being is also seeking inner peace. Contentment and spiritual upliftment One wonders whether these God's Warriors can be called Jihadis, or freedom fighters, in any sense.
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