Pakistan's Media War

By Jawad Raza Khan

In this world, where selfish realm has most of the time subjugated selfless ethics, nurturing a nation, that to (an ideological one) is in fact a complicated affair. This does not mean at all, that signifying the dogma of an ideological nation can be converted into its

weakness, but indeed in-signification of the same through own wrongful deeds without understanding the importance of its presence in the roots can prove extremely fatal. On the other hand carrying the flag of ideology with light hands and without conviction can also make a nation falter. Just to elaborate, a famous commoner quote that Pakistan cannot be erased from this globe as it came in existence on 27^th Day of the Holy Month of Ramadan, may sound logical to us as good faithful of Islam but then, where our test as an individual and as a nation lies?

I think this concept of a guaranteed prosperity, which definitely prevailed in the most part of our history, has worsened the capacity of character building of Pakistanis.

At this point in time Pakistan is fighting wars of different attributes and intensities and if we peep through the corridors of history this is nothing exceptional to Pakistan, it holds good for every nation existing on this planet.

To fight these low intensity conflicts or high intensity wars on all fronts we should ask ourselves following:

• Why we are fighting?

• What we are fighting?

• And most importantly how we are fighting?

The answer of “Why” lies in the basic complexion of human Psychology which always look towards attainment of authority with mere absence of any harnessing power. Individuals combines into a society and societies constitute nations, so the question comes into mind then “why as nation we except morality and justice for us from others”? People of Pakistan must realize it now-It is the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.

The answer of “What” is even simpler we are fighting the need and greed to be fittest, possessed by other nations. It is indeed as simple as it is said “For greed, even all nature is too little……………….”

Certainly “how” need deliberate analysis of weapon systems available to us to fight and win.

It is said and proved, number of times that wars are not won only through Armies or the military muscle alone-after witnessing the geniuses of power of media- flexing media muscle with precision for own interest is certainly a more workable and an economical option. One of the immediate deductions after this can be-“The road for Pakistan with free media should be unambiguous and less bumpy from now on…………….”

I feel very proud when our belligerent media rightly points out the evil deeds of devils roaming in our society polluting every walk of life. It is even more heartening to see exposed corrupt policemen, politicians, criminals and even sometimes highly respected independent judiciary and Army.

Media, which is now considered as one of the strongest element in the power corridors of Pakistan, must remember that making crowd a nation is a continuous and ongoing process. Responsibility to drive an average nation to supremacy requires a concentrated effort of state and media managers so that every individual should act like an institution in itself whish can catalyze this process of becoming nation and improving on and on.

When I was in my childhood, our silver screen and mini screen icons use to say a peculiar sentence “Pakistan’s Armed Forces are the guardians of geographical boundaries of our country and we are on guard for its ideological frontiers”. At that point in time, I use to laugh it out that how can one be compared with a soldier, who is always ready to lay his life for the country but after understanding the importance of strategic communication and its techniques, I had to alter my opinion especially when I heard this from somebody like Donald Rumsfeld (The Perception Management Factory of United States).

“In this environment, the old adage that ‘A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth has its boots on’ becomes doubly true with today’s technologies…the longer it takes to put a strategic communication framework into place, the more we can be certain that the vacuum will be filled by the enemy”- Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, Remarks delivered at Harold Pratt House, New York, N.Y., Feb. 17, 2006.

There is yet another classic example for concise application of Strategic Communication technique when Ms Sonia Gandhi talked about the successful cultural invasion of India on Pakistan through her satellite channels.

Our satellite channels are certainly doing a wonderful job to occupy media space, and in some case regaining it through brilliance in the field of Dramas and Teleplays. All credit goes to our entertainment channels like HUM, ARY, TV ONE and many more…………… but for improvement one has to be critical in nature.

It’s time to discuss our “Amman Ki Asha”, what a beautiful concept for solidifying the perpetual cultural onslaught by Indian media, completely in denial to the core ideology of Pakistan. Yes! One should expect this from enemy as said by Rumsfeld, but should we do it to ourselves?

As they say “Nazar main rehthey ho jab tum nazar nahin attey”, Yes indeed! Very logical in the context of terrorist activities conducted by TTP (Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan) and BLA (Baluchistan Liberation Army), the covert face of Indian Intelligence Agencies but tangent to what Mr. Jinnah fought for……….

The most astonishing fact about Amman Ki Asha was recently surfaced, when the slogan “LOVE PAKISTAN” was objected by Indian establishment and the observation was conveyed to Times of India in this regard. This incident has actually exposed the latent objective behind this conspiracy which can let us down yet again (God Forbid).

We should not forget 16^th December 1971, who so ever was responsible for that, will be taken to task-certainly role of Indian Government tops the list-history, has always been able to find the truth and is extremely cruel in this regard, but commercial pollution of media must be stopped before putrefying our roots of ideology.

Failure of this potent weapon system (media), especially, if found parting its way with the enemy (may be unintentionally), for contaminating the ideology of Pakistan will lead to anarchy and chaos both in mind and soul of this nation. The war of survival is likely to suffer-it’s time to weigh between the priorities and opportunities.