The first anniversary of the 8th October 2005 earthquake was a major theme on the Pakistani channels, on Sunday, 8th October 2006,and for TV viewers, it was an occasion to get connected with a theme that has stayed with us for the year.
Apart from recorded programmes there was a lot of live coverage also. It was very useful, and gave us an update on the relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction that has been going on in the affected areas - in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.
A thought that crossed my mind as I watched the various programmes on the TV channels was that the focus on the devastated areas, and the interviews with the people - the men, women and the children - not only showed the cynicism and the disappointment they had, in many cases, but it also enabled urban viewers to get a good effective emotionally strong glimpse into the problems, the poverty and the poignance of the rural, and even backward parts of the country.
Urban TV viewers are often under the impression that such areas as those destroyed by the horrifying earthquake are those that are places for tourism. As if they are places for the recreation and the fun that affluent our countrymen seek. That being the premise, some of the short interviews that I saw on the Aaj TV and the Aryone channels, and other channels too for that matter, touched the heart, only to sadden it, only to weigh it down further with the burden of grief. Sometimes, anger, and helplessness. After all how much relief can be gotten in one year; lets face this reality.
Throughout the telecast on the Earthquake theme there were images that were groom reminders of what had happened when the terrible earthquake came, to undo lives, and turn into rubble and dust homes, houses and hearths - all, literally and comprehensively. Television channels had sent out special teams to cover the anniversary, which gave to the coverage and the communication a sense of urgency, and immediacy that had impact. In that sense the Sunday telecast (8th October 2006) was a sad day - but there was a strong emphasis on hope and the courage to fight that too came across. There was lots of emphasis, in particular on the reconstruction work that had been done by the government, the international donors, and the Pakistani and foreign. There was live coverage of the visits of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to the affected areas. The President also made a speech on the occasion and emphasised the need for peace to ensure development, and went on to talk of the general elections that are scheduled to be held in 2007.
In the Aaj TV coverage of the occasion there was a moving report wherein news woman Batool Fatima focused on a camp, and spoke to the inhabitants whose brief accounts mirrored the grim and grave aspects of life after the earthquake. I was able to see briefly another report in which an ARYONE world correspondent Nasrullah Malik was talking to some political leaders, including the PPP leader Jehangir Badar. The tone in this kind of coverage was very critical of the efforts that had been made by the government and the private sector - including the overseas donors. The leaders contended that not enough had been done, and that in fact the overall direction of the rebuilding was "wrong" - and subject to doubt and questioning.
I also was able to watch briefly Fatima Bhutto, (daughter of the late Murtaza Bhutto) being interviewed on the Aaj TV channel, on the subject of earthquake, on which has written much and well. A collection of her writings on this theme has also been published by the Oxford University Press, recently.
Television coverage on Sunday, vis-a-vis the earthquake's hope and despair syndrome, was welcome. Not enough may have been done, and there may be huge corruption in the relief work, both in the private and public sectors, (as pointed out by the NGO Oxfam_). But the fact that millions of families who have been pained and grieved and lost all, have not been forgotten, is itself a sign of hope, I guess. To rebuild it all over again, may take time no one knows, really. Time, will tell.

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There is much to learn from such stories as this AFP news report date lined New Delhi indicates. It is about a British TV Channel 4 revealing through a documentary that "purported to show how the data of thousands of British customers could be stolen and sold by call centre employees for as little as 15 dollars."
To this came the reaction from the organisation that represents India's booming outsourcing business which "insisted that the country (India) was a safe place to do business following the British news sting that showed alleged call centre fraud".
The President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCON) Kiran Karnik assured that "security is a number one priority". It needs to be mentioned here that the British TV programme showed people "offering to sell credit card numbers, passwords, and other information obtained from Indian call centres". The NASSCON president further said that there had been a recent investigation of all call centres in India by Britain's Banking codes Standards Board which found that customers data in India is subject to the same level of security as in the UK.
These comments from Karnik came after Britain's privacy watchdog announced that it would probe the charges by Channel 4 Dispatches programme that has made headlines in Britain. It said that it was concerned by any breaches of security particularly if they involved confidential banking details. Evidently the Indian group wrote to the British TV channel's programme makers, requesting their immediate co-operation and to provide details of the allegations as that would have enabled prompt action against the alleged criminals." But reports said that the TV channel producers had declined.
It does make one contemplate about the changing nature of crime in this part of the world. One wonders when and whether at all TV will be able to focus more on the crime that is taking place in this society - in the candid and consistent manner in which there is talk of water and power shortages or local bodies or even political issues for that matter.
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I found myself watching on TV ONE a very serious and thought provoking interview - the kind that I have always believed should be available on CDs later on. With so much TV option available it is out of the question that a viewer stays connected to all that he desires to. Or even needs to. This interview was in a programme called "With due Respect", which I possibly saw for the first time. The interviewer was Dr Shahid Iqbal Danish and the outspoken, learned man being interviewed was Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, who has also been Governor of Sindh.
Let me admit that I didn't see it from the start, and I wonder why a repeat telecast time cannot be advertised for those who have missed out on it. It would help TV viewers, generally speaking. But from the moment that I began to watch it in my TV channel surfing, I had to give up the other options on the other channels.
There were a few current affairs discussions that were engrossing, especially on the North Korea nuclear theme - as earlier in the day there was the news that North Korea had carried out a successful nuclear Test, and "stunned the world" But to miss out on the chance to hear Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin Ebrahim was something I would not opt for. If the KESC deprived me of this interview it would have been a monstrous crime!! He spoke on a wide variety of issues, that concern this country at this point in time, and I am unsure whether the picture that emerges was a cheerful one. If anything it brought in worries and anxiety at the way this society is moving.
The questions asked were relevant, and I am sure that TV viewers must have found some relief in that the interviewer was not imposing his own views on the guest, or that he was not conditioning the interviewee. This is what is happening very evidently in some cases - and given the fact that a media war is also on, this is understandable.
It is not easy to pick and choose from what he said, but let me begin with this. He said that the corrupt in this society feel or believe that no one knows about what they are doing. He underlined that the public through its perception always knows who is corrupt.
To another question he emphasised that it must be understood that the answer to Pakistan's problems does not lie in military rule. He said that let there be free and fair elections, and let the people rule in this country. He said that he often encountered, educated people in his society who were always asking questions like "how long will it carry on like this? (in Urdu: "Yeh Gari Kab Tak Aisay Chaley Gi." He said that such citizens were unwilling to do their bit for society and even would not cast their votes in an election and yet they would complain.
He added that why is it that they don't ask such despairing questions in India, and then explained it by saying that this is because they have democracy in their country. He further added on this point that we have lost half of Pakistan because of the absence of democracy that we have suffered from.
There was plenty of focus on the subject of the judiciary and the need for independent judges'. He told that there had been a failure of superior judiciary in this country, and referred to various contexts in which superior judges had been transferred, and influenced during the course of their work. In the conversation there was also a reference to the Supreme Judicial Council and the quality of its functioning right from the time of Pakistan's independence to the year 2006 and Justice Ebrahim said that there were efforts being made to come up with new credible procedures, and that the Pakistan Bar Council has made some proposals in this respect. There was a definite need to have good independent judges he stressed. And recalled that he had once told former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that "you need to have good judges for bad times."
The former Supreme Court Judge attached fundamental importance to the concept of "neeyat" (intention would be a near equivalent) which he said should be the basis and considerations in many instances of evaluation and judgement, and in other context he was not happy with the performance of the Ulema. The problem he said was they were always highlighting the differences amongst the Muslims (sects) rather than underlining the similarities there definitely were? Justice Ebrahim also categorically called for government having "values" as they had the power and the authority(which should always be exercised within a framework of values).
It was very interesting to hear from him that he was very naïve when he came to Pakistan sometime in 1948, for he was under the impression in his younger days that he was coming to the land of pure. He had believed that there would be Islamic values in this society. You had to see his expressions when he was saying this and many other things.
Finally let me end with what he said about more provinces for making Pakistan a governable place. He didn't agree with this, and said that the existing provinces should have more autonomy, and not have Islamabad interfering in local bodies systems.