Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA: media urged to play role in peace-building, development

Speakers at media training workshop urged the media to highlight basic issues of people, being faced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and to play effective role in peace building and development in this region. The three-day training workshop was organized by South Asia Partnership of Pakistan (SAP-P), in which media persons from print and electronic media from Provincially Administered Tribal Area (PATA) and various tribal agencies participated.
Ali Imran Bangash, was the chief-trainer at the workshop, while Regional Programme Manager of the SAP-P Sikander Zaman and Regional Co-ordinators Allah Noor Afridi and Naeem Khattak were also key speakers. The participants were introduced to peace and development journalism and highlight issues being faced by the masses in the workshop, which were sensitised about the growing trend of development journalism in developing world and underscored its need in FATA and PATA areas.
Ali Imran told that such trainings are pivotal as people are fed-up of political and sensational issues. "People want development and would like to have their say in their community affairs", he told and added that media owners and editors would need to give space to such issues to promote welfare and economic sustainability. Sikandar Zaman called upon the participants to fully utilise the training in their journalistic duties as a benefactor on regional development and community empowerment. He stressed that civil societies and donor agencies could greatly assist such journalism in aid of community development. He said that transparency and good governance would be ensured through involvement of development and peace journalism.