One of the recurring themes of the serious and current affairs programmes of our stateowned and private TV channels is the nature and prospect of ties between Pakistan and India. In the historical perspective, of course, but with more, emphasis on what lies ahead. The focus is on what can happen given the fact that a good part of last year there was devoted to a peace process.
Now after the recent fruitless talks on the Baglihar issue, it seems that there is a sort of dampener, as if all that effort has been futile.
One particular current affairs show that examined this Pakistan-India theme in some detail was ARYOne's Views on news and Dr Shahid Masood was talking to an Indian defence expert and a former Pakistani general, and at one time head of the ISI, Hamid Gul.
From the time that I was able to watch this candid exchange of views it seemed that all the effort that both the countries have made has not produced the kind of positive results that were being expected. In fact the Indian defence analyst (I could not get to read the slug that carried his name) was particularly critical of Pakistan's stance on a variety of issues.
He referred to Pakistan's internal issues also and said that these too had a bearing on the future of Pakistan- India ties. He tried to create the impression that while India had done more than Pakistan vis-a-vis the peace process, it was Pakistan that had been throwing up all the hurdles.
I would like to believe that this was one of those recent programmes that would make the average viewer wonder whether all the effort to normalize relations between the two neighbours has been in vain. Indeed, what is it that we have achieved in the last year. when it comes to translating the benefits of all that talking into reality? Has travel between the two neighbours become easier? Have visas become easier to acquire?
I find this very significant that media generally, and television in particular are able to discuss with courage and openness such issues, and let the people in both countries know what is happening.
It is imperative that the media retain the priority given to the Pakistan-India theme. I have said this before and as it is a recurring subject I would like to say it again: what would our lives have been like, and what would South Asia have been like if both these countries were on normal friendly terms? If both countries, the leaders and the people were not distrustful of each other.
A spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign office has said that there is a "trust deficit" between the two countries, which had widened with a failure to resolve the Balighar Dam issue. The matter is now likely to be taken to the World Bank.
For all the confidence building measures that are mentioned repeatedly and tactfully, what has been the result as far as the people go? An exchange of writers, and show biz people, and officials?

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A major current affairs theme this week was the interview that President Pervez Musharraf gave to the Geo channel, in the programme Capital Talk that Hamid Mir does. He spoke on almost all mainstream issues, and responded to questions in his familiar relaxed style.
That was the evening when the Sui Gas field was attacked by "miscreants and anti-people elements" and the Purification Plant was closed down. So in response to a question the President warned subversive elements on the targeting of gas fields.
And there were quick media responses to what the President said, and in one instance Kamran Khan in his current affairs programme 'Kamran Khan key Sath', at 11.30pm. carried a follow-up by talking to the political leader Hasil Bizenjo, whose content and tone, were insinuating that difficult, tough times lie ahead.
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Seeing the Shobha De interview corporate chiefs in the Powertrip on Sunday around noon, one thought that crosses the mind is whether a Pakistani channel could come up with something like this. And if the answer is in the affirmative, then the question is: do we have a Shobha De. Not just her moderation and intelligence, but her looks as well.
And those sarees that she wears. This time when she was interviewing the Chairman of the Leila group, Capt(r) Krishna Iyer, aged 82, she was clad in a sedate white saree, with a "palloo" that had olive green, turquoise blue, purple, and dark pink., with a kind of muted effect individually, but collectively, the impact was lovely.
Business TV as a concept has made its presence felt, and even though not yet, but gradually time will create a need for such interviews as the one that we have seen in Sahara One channel's programme, Powertrip.. How good and professional, and credible will our corporate programmes will be is something that remains to be seen. Perhaps such programmes also have a lot to do with societal values. Whether we can give to industry and corporate culture the respect that is required. Which brings in the other question: whether we do have individuals and business houses comparable to those that exist in India. And the then question: where is our equivalent of Shobha De?
Keeping in mind that one does not know much about individuals like the one interviewed on 9th January, an articulate and buoyant Krishna Iyer, who seemed to be searching for more corporate successes at 82, the fact that it was absorbing all the way is without doubt.
One of the points that Iyer emphasised more than once was that whenever history is rewritten Subhash Chandar Bose will be considered as the "Father of the Nation" of India. Referred to as Netaji by both Shobha De and Iyer they wondered why Bose had not been given the status so far, and it was recalled that once when an Indian award was announced for him, after 40 years of his death, his daughter had refused to accept it. She had said that it was too late.
Iyer recalled the reasons and circumstances why Bose was not accorded the towering recognition that was his due, and referred to the role that Mahatama Gandhi had played in this. It was interesting that the expression "Jai Hind" was also created by Subhash Chandra Bose Iyer regretted in a passionate tone, that so far, in India, there was no memorial that had been created for Bose, and declared that if the Indian government were to consent to a life size statue of the Indian leader to be put up at the Red Fort in Delhi, he would have the best possible sculpture made for this purpose. Iyer also recollected that it was Bose who had given the call towards Delhi, and hence Red Fort would be an ideal choice.
Krishna Iyer, one learnt from that interview, is regarded as the "godfather of the Indian handloom industry" and he recalled details of what he had done for the handloom world in his country. Modernised it, developed it, institutionalised it, and how it had benefited the handloom worker also. He mentioned names like V.P Menon and Lal Bahadur Shashtri, while recalling how he had stressed to the powers of the day, that three million families would survive without government aid were his plans to be accepted.
He explained the successes that he had attained in his career, and said that his wife Leila was his "Think Tank." Shobha De then asked him details of how he had met her. They were both in school at the same time, and it was then that he had wanted to marry her. The marriage has lasted 55 years now. And it was Leila who had persuaded him to give up his army officer's career. She did not want him to do a job where he had to salute other men. She wanted only him to be saluted, he recollected fondly.
He recalled that Leila wanted him to join her father's business and assured him that he would be a success in it. He found her inspiring and went along with her persuasion. He gave up the army for her sake, he added.
Evident from the conversation was the fact that Iyer owns one of the best, if not the best hotels in Bombay today, and pricey as it is, it does well. Here too he recalled the details of how it all happened and his son Vivek who had joined him in the conversation enriched the dialogue at this stage. A unique and significant feature of the hotel is that no camera cell phones are allowed in it, and he explained that he did not want "peeping toms with camera phones" photographing the lovely girls at the hotel's swimming pool.
All in all, an absorbing interview, which I managed to see despite the tsunami stories of fund raising and relief work that were on the major foreign and local channels that day.
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And the Indus news and other Indus channels too are engaging viewers, regularly. One such case was when that investigative, and impressive print media seasoned journalist, now a TV media person, was interviewing, live the chairman of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, Brigadier Tariq Saddozai, one evening.
The KESC is always potential story as far as the energy sector goes, but it is also able to provide a picture of society, a profile of public attitudes in an urban context when it comes to paying user's charges. For one of the points that he revealed was that large sections of Karachi users were not paying their bills at all. The interesting as thing about this was that the KESC claims that it knows just who is not paying the bill. Let me add here that KESC is one of those organisations that are scheduled to for early privatisation.
Mujahid Barelvi, at the end of the interview asked the KESC chief about a possible message. Pay your bills and conserve energy, Saddozai emphasised. Can the media play any role in this? one wonders.
One of the other current affairs programmes that caught my attention related to cricket. Not the way we lost to Australia, and which by the way didn't surprise me. But the way in which the Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Shaharyar Khan was interviewed by journalist Samiul Hasan, who moved from print media to join the PCB as a media manager, and is now into television broadcasting.
I find it rather sad that over the years it seems that the job of the PCB boss has become a lonely one, and no one seems to be supportive of them in the spirit they should. Neither the team, nor the media, nor the public. If the team wins, it is fine, and if it loses, the PCB becomes a target of vicious criticism. That's the way it has become.
Indus News had a current affairs programme called Direct Punjab, and evidently it deals with all the four provinces on a rotational basis. I saw one on Punjab and. its focus was on hospitals that are owned and operated by various trusts. One such hospital that the correspondent visited and spoke to was the Ittefaq Hospital. And the point that the correspondent kept repeating, possibly too often, was why the public was not fully informed about the benefits that are available to the patients, especially the poorer ones. The tone was unduly critical and accusatory, and not much appreciation was shown for the good work that these hospitals surely must be doing.
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For the first time on Monday evening, I saw the Apna TV channel, which appears to be a Punjabi news and current affairs channel. I have not seen any newspaper advertisement with any details about it.
The cable operator chose to include it in its menu where I reside. I saw only its news bulletin and the overall handling and presentation was satisfactory. the news reader obviously spoke in Punjabi, and in one or two instances spoke to different people wherein the questions were in Punjabi, and the answers were in Urdu. In fact that is the way in which the Sindhi channel, KTN, also handles people when they cannot speak in Sindhi. One recent instance was an interview of Mushahid Hussain that went on air during the week.
It needs to be mentioned here that a Pushto language TV channel (AVT) is already on air. One wonders when such channels would be available to most viewers.