The overall national scenario is possibly becoming bleaker with time. Grim, controversial themes, are challenging the system, and whether it will be able to stand up to the tests of time, remains to be seen. The holy month of Ramazan has just begun. What kind of a Ramazan will it be this time? Were one to go by the first few days of the holy month, there is little comfort or consolation that is going to come the citizen's way.
While TV news and current affairs programmes are focused with the larger and smaller socio-economic and political issues that Pakistan is confronted with, both at home and abroad, there is an obvious, substantial and traditional focus on the Ramazan theme,-- which is not only very desirable but also welcome.
Come this month and it is time for viewers, to turn their attention, and their inner selves to the blessings that Allah Almighty gives to faithfuls. I remember the month of Ramazan in this society, in Karachi to be precise, when there was no Television. Not even Pakistan TV.
Those were the days of Radio Pakistan playing a decisive role in the month, with special Islamic programmes, no commercials to distract the listener. The Sehri and Iftar timings were linked to the sirens that were broadcast, and for fasting families the radio set was a pivot. And there were no power failures. Therefore the reliability of the radio being operational, was assured.
Then when the PTV came for years it was the only channel, and Ramazan was a major theme on it. Sehri and Iftar timings and special Ramazan programmes were eagerly awaited. And they contributed tremendously to the creation of a Ramazan mood. Political and other socio-economic factors were not as tormenting and turbulent.
With so many private TV channels in the country today Ramazan is vastly different, diversified in content and attitude. There are channels like the QTV and Haq TV to mention a few, where the Ramazan programmes outnumber the rest of the channels. But national or regional it seems all Pakistani channels, take meaningful notice, according to their policies and mission statements, of this month.
And what the viewer eventually receives is a variety of programmes to opt for. The programmes are possibly designed to meet the varied requirements and religious perceptions of the diverse nature of society in the country.
It was significant to see a news report on ARY News on Wednesday morning in which the news presenter was co-ordinating reports from across the country on what kind of security measures had been taken in the major cities of Pakistan, in view of Ramazan. Security measures in bazaars, and mosques and Imambargahs, as well generally in the urban centres. Indeed security is a major problem in the country, and in Ramazan and on Eid the threats become larger still.
This time the security dimension has yet another side to it in view of the continuing shortage of sugar, atta and other such food items. Before Ramazan and even after it has begun, TV channels have been showing live and recorded images of how ordinary people seeking sugar, atta and other food stuffs are being pushed around, and humiliated eventually. I do not want to get into details of these disturbing images.
But it does reflect the impatience and anger of the people, and whether or not lawlessness can result from such situation in this month only time will tell. Whether it is the Federal Government through its platforms like the Utility Stores, or provincial governments that seek to provide basic Ramazan items at reduced prices, or the local governments that seek to employ their powers to curb profiteering and hoarding, the results have so been unsuccessful.
Those who have been skeptical of the measures taken or announced by the bureaucrats and the politicians have been rewarded. And they are still cynical of what lies ahead. It remains to seen whether what ever the federal and provincial governments have promised is doable-- which is what is being mentioned so often in political contexts these days.
There was a time when Ramazan was not so centred around prices and malpractices as it is now. And there was a time when there were not so many private news and current affairs channels that reported on what actually was happening or not happening on the subject of food prices, and shortages.
Ramazan programmes have also brought plenty of TV commercials that reflect the mood of the month -- and those that concern themselves with food products that relate to consumption at Iftari and Sehri are the most conspicuous. Of course there are those cooking programmes that focus on how to make the Iftari and Sehri menus healthy, hygienic and exciting.
Then once again there are religious programmes with scholars and others that highlight the fundamentals of Ramazan in the wider and enduring context of the message of the Holy Quran, which was revealed in this holy month. Many of these programmes are informative and inspirational and have very strong motivational value as well. I would like to mention the popularity of the programmes that Dr Aamer Liaquat Hussain has been doing for years now, and the special programes that he has come up with this time.
On Wednesday evening for instance it was very absorbing to see him at Iftar time and his guest was the popular Naat khwan Owais Ahmed Qadri. Constant phone calls from viewers brought out the attraction that such programmes have for viewers. Indeed one will focus in the weeks ahead on the special programmes that TV channels have planned for this holy month, and without which Ramazan would be so incomplete.
THE DOABLE THEME: In a way, perhaps, the theme of what is doable could well symbolise the state of mind that prevails in the collective subconscious of this society, and which does find expression in diversified ways. It is, an adherence to the status quo, or the vested interests that this society seeks to hold onto. So when the Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani said in the National Assembly last week that "let's do the doable" he indirectly reflected the mentionable and unmentionable factors that determine the working of the wheels of this society.
The Prime Minister's statement was directed at the Pakistan Muslim League- N on the subject of the possible trial of former President Pervez Musharraf -who remains a high profile theme in the media, and on the electronic channels. On Tuesday night the sedate anchor Nadeem Malik had the Musharraf trial theme up for discussion when many other channels like ARY News, News One, among others were discussing the Tuesday press conference of MQM party chief Altaf Hussain in which he called for an inquiry into the "Jinnahpur charges against the MQM".
Altaf Hussain's press conference was telecast live from London that evening as he went its some of the details of the army operation that had been launched in 1992 against the MQM, in the days of Prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry to probe into the military operation of 1992 against the MQM in which more than 15000 party workers had died.
The MQM chief said that a former corps commander Lieutenant General Naseer Akhtar and former chief of the Intelligence Bureau Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmed had "vindicated the MQM through interviews broadcast on a private TV channel on Sunday". He very strongly criticised former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for not having stopped the military operation. He said to the former Prime Minister "Please come forward and tell the nation why you didn't play your due role to stop the operation. You were Prime Minister at that time"
Altaf Hussain thanked the two former army officials for clearing the MQM of the Jinnahpur separatist charges now, but asked them why they had remained silent for such a long time. He further said he could not forgive the murderers of the MQM workers and it would be their heirs and families who would decide what to do about those killings. He added that "I pardon the murderers of my brother and nephew". The emotion in his voice was so visible. The press conference was telecast live by all the channels just before Iftar time. TV viewers of today who must have been very young at that time, must surely wonder about the kind of history the country has. There is so much that has been kept away from the people, and how much of that sharing of history is actually doable is a question that does cross the mind.
One needs to mention here what the Punjab Governor Salman Taseer said over Business Plus on Monday night that politicians should try Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq before turning to Pervez Musharraf. For "crimes against the nation". Indeed each major issue seems and understandably linked to something else and it does make citizens wonder where should the process of transparent accountability start. And what is really doable. That is becoming a million dollar question. What about the loss of East Pakistan? This is a theme that the young of today and tomorrow will never know.
Soon after Altaf Hussain's press conference there was Ahsan Iqbal, the information secretary of the PML-N was interviewed on phone by the Geo News for his response to what Altaf Husain had said. While denying any role that the then Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif had in the 1992 military operation, he went onto say that the operation had been undertaken without taking the government into confidence. Ahsan Iqbal argued that the "MQM is creating all this hue and cry to avoid investigations into the May 12, 2007 incidents in Karachi".
The PML-N spokesman said that the former Army Chief General Asif Nawaz who gave the go ahead to the army operation against the MQM had made no political consultation with the Nawaz government. MQM should ask Naseerullah Babar of the PPP who was the interior minister at that time, and now an ally of the MQM," said Iqbal.
Of course viewers contemplated once again the ways of the government and which are surfacing today. Does this augur well for the future? Will this nation be able to learn from its mistakes Once again, it is media that is telling the story. Private independent media. Official TV remains official.
This is an ongoing, unfolding critical theme, that of the 1992 army operation, and how much of the Pakistan's past will be reopened and for what real purpose are some of the many difficult questions that the media is raising and to what avail. Apparently our past is here to haunt us. The past is asking questions.
AKBAR BUGTI'S MURDER On the one hand there is the continuing high profile focus on the need to try the former president Pervez Musharraf for treason, on the other is the application seeking a registration (of a First Information Report -FIR) of a case against the former military dictator for the murder of the veteran Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
This news was a major story on the TV channels on Tuesday and Wednesday also, in which a petition has been filed by Jamil Akbar Bugti, a son of Akbar Bugti, in a sessions court in Sibi, in which he has asked the judge to direct the police to register a case against Pervez Musharraf, former premier Shaukat Aziz, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao, former Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani. And several; other senior officials.
The sessions judge issued notices to the Balochistan police chief, the Dera Bugti SHO, and the other police officials concerned for September 2 (next week) as it is the next date of hearing.
The case was filed a day ahead of the third death anniversary of the Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. The Baloch republican Party, the two factions of the Jamhoori Watan Party and other Baloch nationalist parties announced a black day for 26th August and had called for a complete strike in the province to observe the death anniversary TV channels showed detailed reports of the strike being observed in the province and certain parts of Sindh also.
This case adds to the media focus there is on the former President who is reportedly planning to return to Pakistan, and enter politics, as well as face the courts as required. On Wednesday night there were reports that he had indicated such intentions at a dinner hosted in his honour by one of the lawyers, who also defends him very zealously on TV channels in this country.
Indeed the former President remains in the news in this country. He is reported to have met Humayun Akhtar, said to be the adhoc secretary general of the newly formed Chattha Faction of the PML-Q. News of splits in the Muslim League are a constant in the many variables that Pakistan's politics offers at any given point in time.
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