ALI SUKHANVER

The whole nation and almost all media houses and media persons are condemning a recent report on so-called ‘widening differences between Pakistan’s Military and Pakistan’s political government’ published in a Pakistani newspaper and then republished again and again in different international papers particularly in Indian papers. The author titled it as ‘Exclusive Report.’  The report blamed that the security forces of Pakistan are working against the will of the political government and are not serious in crushing the menace of terrorism. The report said that this attitude of the security forces is pushing Pakistan to the brink of international isolation and the political government of Pakistan has allegedly serious reservations with reference to this attitude of the security forces. In short the report tried to prove that in the name of Zarb-e-Azb, a lot of time and resources are being wasted and the political government is not happy over this wastage. In response to this so-called ‘exclusive report’, the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the spokesman of the Chief Minister of Punjab, the representative of the Ministry of Information and the military authorities expressed their severe reaction by terming the information provided as factually incorrect and misguiding.

Unfortunately in Pakistan, in the name of ‘liberty of expression’ some media houses and some media-men are simply trying all their best to demoralize rather discourage the security forces by creating an air of confusion and distrust between the political government and the Armed forces of Pakistan. These media houses and media-men are misusing the liberty of expression by spreading disinformation among the masses. Most of the times, they try to give their audience a concept altogether contrary to the national policy. Keeping in view, India’s recent brutal hostility against Pakistan and insulting behaviour of the Hindu extremists with Pakistani actors working in India, the government of Pakistan decided to put a ban on the Indian channels in Pakistan. The whole nation welcomed this decision warmly but instead of appreciating this decision, one of the Pakistani channels started a very organized movement against this decision by promoting the idea that ‘Art knows no Boundaries’. India and Pakistan must not drag their artists in their war; the channel advocated. The matter of the fact is that the said channel has its own economic benefits and financial interests in promoting the idea ‘Art knows no Boundaries.’ Allegedly this channel has invested a lot of money in import of Indian tele-dramas to Pakistan and in case the decision of ban on Indian ‘stuff’ is implemented, this channel will have to face unbearable losses.

While discussing the liberty of expression, another point also needs to be discussed; what is the logic behind considering the government and the security agencies as two opponent forces hostile to each other? Everywhere in the world the system of any state runs with the mutual cooperation of the government and the security agencies particularly the army and the intelligence agencies. It must also be kept in mind that the security forces are everywhere a part of the government machinery and they work under the guidance and command of the government. However in case of Martial-Law the situation becomes different. Be it the USA, the UK, Japan, China or India, the political government and the army help each other in running the state business. How is it possible for the army to go against the will of the political government? Just look back to the Uri episode; though now it has come to the lime light that the Uri episode was simply a planned ‘starter’ for the so-called ‘surgical strikes’ against Pakistan and to create an artificial and baseless atmosphere of conflict and confrontation between the two neighbouring countries for political gains of BJP but we cannot say that Mr. Modi did it all alone. Without full support of the Indian army, Modi government could never have dared to act upon this plan. In every democratic country, army is always at the beck and call of the political government. Our friends in media must be very much conscious and careful while reporting upon issues of national importance particularly the matters relevant to the national security. Moreover in Pakistan, we seriously need a very strict type of official policy to keep an eye on media liberty. No media-house must be allowed to damage the national interests in any way. Keeping in view the sublime traditions of honesty in journalism, it is being expected that soon the said newspaper would apologize for the unintentional misunderstanding created by that ‘Exclusive Report’ because the mentioned newspaper has a very deep-rooted credibility and hard-earned reputation.