TV THOUGHTS: Viewing TV on Eid is tough and tedious: earthquake brings more disturbing themes

TV viewing on Eid is a tough, time -consuming option, given the growing number of TV channels. And with the competition between them, viewers have what one would like to describe as an uphill task. Of course there are similarities, and there are differences in their Eid programming.
But Eid-ul-Fitr, November 2005, had one major theme running through the private and the state owned and managed TV channels. In fact that was a theme that characterised the festival itself, with that sad, subdued mood born of that traumatising devastating earthquake that came on the 8th of last month.
Which meant that alongwith with oft repeated appeals and reminders that Eid should be celebrated with simplicity, the news channels brought to the TV screens, disturbing, sorrowful images of the havoc and horror that people in Azad Kashmir, and NWFP had been exposed to, and the consequences that have arisen.
Images that not only remind one of the task that the next decade will bring, but also the resolve, the effort, and the grim, grey mood that prevails in those areas. TV channels tried to bring in the hope and cheer factor, to reflect the endeavour of society to rise to the challenge.
But there were harsh reminders of the frustrations and futility that is inherent in the situation. Not just an inadequacy of resources, but also an absence of infrastructure to meet such disasters, along with the weather moving from autumn to winter, being some considerations that reflect the colossal task ahead.

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I did my usual channel surfing on the Eid holidays. On day one, after the Eid prayers I found myself watching live coverage from the earthquake affected areas in Muzaffarabad, showing people, (particularly children) in tents. It was a mix of sorrow and sunshine, of tears and smiles, of the loveliness of innocent children against a backdrop of a tragedy that may haunt them for generations. One was left imagining the plight and the pathos of a people, most of whom appear to be common people.
The TV images that technology brought into our living rooms and TV lounges on Eid symbolised the vulnerability our own lives in today's world. The 8th October earthquake has overnight and dramatically impacted Pakistani society for the foreseeable future, and brought into focus and priority a range of themes and options, not just demanding more resources, but perhaps more psychological, emotional, strength too.
Also a political commitment that will test the mettle of the country's political parties, and the mass media. And there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that TV channels will play a leading role. That is, to say, TV channels that are free, and fair, and on a sustained basis. It is indeed a welcome sign to see live telecasts growing as a concept.
Live telecasts from tents in quake affected areas were effective, and certainly reflect the strides that Pakistani media has taken. It was absorbing to see and follow for a while the way in which Abdur Rauf and Asma Shirazi were reporting live on Geo from one of the camps. Here there were also show biz people like film star Nadeem TV artistes Shakeel, and Behroze Subzwari, reflecting the larger point that show biz people, like sports men have been used to project and communicate assorted earthquake related messages.
PTV has been employing Sania Saeed, among others, for its Life Line telecasts. Aaj TV had artistes like Samina Ahmed and Sajid Hassan on Eid morning, while I think there was the sedate Tauqeer Mohajir on Indus TV talking to the Director General Public Relations Major General Shaukat Sultan who was updating viewers on the relief and rescue work that the Pakistan army had done since the earthquake on 8th October. This, however, was a recording done earlier. I also saw Syed Shoaib Ahmed Bokhari conversing with Tauqeer Mohajir on the earthquake theme.
I switched channels and saw ARYone showing a live report from its correspondent (Nasrullah Malik??) who was covering the Eid mood in Balakot. The focus included a child who had lost 22 members of the family. Such agonising details of families having been destroyed altogether, or reported missing, or those thousands injured are points that the channels have been emphasising in varying degrees of concern.
We saw Geo on President Pervez Musharraf and Mrs Sehba Musharraf at one of the relief camps on Eid morning, and journalist Iftikhar Ahmed gave a running commentary of all that he saw. When the President and Mrs Sehba Musharraf visited the newly wed couple - the first amongst the quake affected people, after 8th October.
The newsman was there. Needless to say that this marriage got a lot of mileage a few days before Eid. Viewers were then also shown the brief ceremony inside the tent, where the newly weds were sitting, and where the bride and the groom were presented with wedding gifts. The President emphasised that he had come not to share the happiness of Eid but to share the sorrows of Eid this year, in view of the tragedies of the earthquake this year.
The Prime Minister Shukat Aziz was also shown at a relief camp (in tents) which he visited with his wife. He also went to one of the relief camp set up by the MQM. He assured at all these places that both the people and the government would extent to them all the help that was possible and also reassured that there would be shelter for everyone before winter sets in, this year.
PTV gave far more details of visits such as those of the Prime Minister. Other political leaders shown on private channels (especially ARYOne) were Imran Khan and Qazi Hussain Ahmed. The former was, in one of his talks with the media very critical of the way in which relief work was being carried out, and said that there was need for a great deal of improvement in the quality of the effort that was being made.
He even suggested that there was need to have an All Parties Conference with a cross parliamentary committee being formed. And Qazi Hussain said that he would have felt very uncomfortable had he not visited the tent camps and shared his Eid with the affected families. In another ARYOne news report during the Eid days there was shown a person complaining of the attitude of the authorities. He had spent eight days in Azad Kashmir, and had not received any official help. He had moved to Islamabad and said that he and his family were unwilling to live in tents.
He said that there was enough accommodation in Islamabad which should be made available to the displaced people. However, and all in all, despite the fact that the earthquake was the principal them for the Eid TV programmes, and current affairs shows, there were traces of a change in mood. A change that seemed to indicate that other themes were making their way into the mainstream of TV channels. As if to say that life goes on.... And onwards with life.
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It has been a month since the earthquake came. And throughout this period I have watched television channels and have noticed that there are so many other Pakistani themes that have surfaced, which have been discussed with varying degrees of either concern or interest. Themes which reflect the vision and reality of Pakistan as it is placed today. Let us try and briefly list some of them here.
There is the fact of how the Pakistani society responded to the earthquake disaster, both as a people, and as a government. Then within this there is the response of the political parties, the Armed forces, the private and public sectors, the students and the youth in general, the national and the international NGOs. There has emerged the very vehemently discussed theme of the role of the mass media in such a crisis that has come from the earthquake.
There has been a lot of appreciation of the role that the private channels have played, and how they have been disseminating information and opinion, and freely and fairly. In fact one has noticed that several politicians, bureaucrats, intellectuals, and others who have appeared in these panel discussions and talk shows have suggested that the media should be playing an even more central role to the extent that it should be guiding force in these confusing times.
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Finally as one is on the earthquake theme, and thoughts centre very obviously around us there are some more stories that I would like to list which reflect what is happening on this disturbing front while Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that he would convene a meeting of parliamentary leaders next week to share with them earthquake data, and plans for rehabilitation and reconstruction, President Bush has set up a fund to help the survivors.
Then a report says that the international donor community wants transparency in the utilisation of earthquake related assistance, a sizeable cut in current expenditure and assessment whether the quake has left any adverse impact on the federal budget. The donors are reported to have asked the government to reprioritise its budgetary allocations for the next five years by realistically looking at the defence budget, money injections into Wapda or other loss making ventures, and some austerity measures.
Then there is another thought provoking theme being discussed which says that the Government and the donors have differed on the earthquake damage and the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations Development programme have jointly finalised their damage assessment report which puts the funding requirement at $2.78 billion for the reconstruction of NWFP and Azad Kashmir.
The Government says that the damage is three times greater. The three donors agencies mentioned above disagree and while the channels reported on Tuesday and Wednesday that the MQM had suspended relief work in the quake affected areas, following alleged attacks and firing incidents, for which MQM held the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba responsible, there came news on the channels on Wednesday night that about a resumption in the relief work.
The Prime Minister held out assurances to the MQM that it would be provided protection. A very significant impact and outcome of the earthquake has been the opening of crossing points by India and Pakistan on the Line of Control. This is good news for Kashmiris. And TV channels have discussed this theme too.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2005