Off The Net: Pakistan’s Media Damaging Pakistan
Posted on 22. Jan, 2011 by Raja Mujtaba in Opinion
By Raja G Mujtaba
Today Hamid Rajput sent me a strange mail that he received from some friend of his. I read it and reread it, it was sending strange 
messages. Having read it a few times, I came to the conclusion that when our own media is so openly colluding with Indian media houses to harm and bring maximum damage to Pakistan then why should we be talking about enemies from across the border or from some other quarter.
This leading media house of Pakistan that’s taking lead in propagating ‘Aman Ki Asha,’ i.e. quest for peace is in open collusion with our enemies who want us weak and then annihilated into a culture and civilisation that is not ours but being forced down our throats. Why they forget that the roots of the Muslims in Pakistan and for that matter in India too lie in central Asia, Iran, Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula. Why do the Bukharis, Lodhis, Tirmzis, Mughals, Abbasis and so many others forget this?
Then what is the charm in India, the glamour of the silver screen? Have people forgotten the slums and ghettos very clearly depicted in their Oscar winner movie, Slumdog Millionaire? Have people forgotten millions sleeping on the footpaths with no place to go? Is the carnages against the Muslims and other minorities in India not killed thousands and thousands of innocent people?
What Hamid Rajput sent me is reproduced below. I thought I would take out some portions to quote but then the flow would have been broken. To keep the readers interest intact, I am reproducing it as it is.
“Aman ki Whatever
The advertisement starts with an old man’s fingers raised in air; a subtitle explains that it is set up at India-Pakistan border. A poor Pakistani, cheered on by a group of people sitting outside tents, is making some weird gestures to a group of well-dressed Indians observing him through binoculars. Indians finally understand that the old man is trying to play dumb charades and they decipher his gestures for a request for an Indian song. They run back to their houses, use a phone to call All India radio which plays the requested song – leading to jubilation in Pakistani tents where everyone starts dancing around a radio set from 1950s. A YouTube description from publisher explains that this ad and other initiatives around it are being done by Pakistan’s largest media outlet and a major newspaper from India. We are told these initiatives will bring Pakistan and Indian nations closer together.[i]
Except that, factually speaking, this ad is more inaccurate on per second basis than anything else you have seen in your life:
· Let’s start with the poor Pakistani part. It turns out that you are twice as likely to meet a poor Indian then a poor Pakistani. India has 42% of its population living under poverty line of US$ 1.2/ day, while only 22% Pakistanis suffer this hardship [ii].
· About Pakistanis living in tents vs. Indians living in houses? 17% of Indian population is homeless while in Pakistan the number is a rounding error [iii]. When it comes to slums, while there are no numbers available, a trip to any Indian city will remove your doubts on which country suffers more. (The ad is being aired since before floods, so there is absolutely no excuse of showing tents on border).
· About Pakistanis relying on Indians grace for listening to a song? Pakistan has universal radio coverage since middle of last century, and FM channels which are allowed to broadcast Indian content have been there since 2001. Only in 2007, did India move to issue FM licenses beyond strongly controlled 21 limited channels.
· That radio set from 50s? More than 80% of Pakistanis have access to TV, only 60% Indians have this luxury.[iv]
· And my most favorite one of course, Indians using a phone while Pakistanis have to dance around to convey their message – Indian telecom penetration is a paltry 50% while for Pakistan its 65%.[v]
We could have dismissed this ad as a one-off poetic license, a literary excess to invoke emotions between two countries – but it’s not. It’s a part of a running strand of events focusing on showing Pakistan as Ethiopia and India as Scandinavia by the same group of people for couple of years now. Each news report on Geo TV will basically start by showing people crying and dying because of load-shedding in Pakistan but will end with Bollywood stars rocking it in a Bombay that looks more like Paris. And oh, by the way – Indians get twice the amount of load shedding than what Pakistanis face [vi]! And they have been facing it since 2002[vii]. Did you even know that?
I wish someone can count the hours Geo spent on 2 guys killed in Sialkot and compare them with the length of coverage of dozens killed in Kashmir by India?
I am not trying to say that we have made it in Pakistan economically or infrastructure wise– all I am saying is we are far better than India in almost every aspect. While Indians are drumming up “Shinning India” in a country with no toilets, some amongst us are just persistently draining out all hope and positive energy from the nation.
This is not just a rant, it is not a simple irritation to watch this pack of lies shoved down our throat, it has very real business and economic implications. Take, for example, global competitive index 2009-2010, a bible for those who want to decide to invest in Pakistan or a competing country like India. It ranks Pakistan at 101st and India at 49th. You probably already know that, Geo must have told you this. Well, I took the pain of going to their website and digging out on how did they reach this number. It turns out they evaluate countries on some 150 variables and then rank them on each one of those. Some of those variables come from hard data (marked by an asterisk on site), and others come from an executive survey of perceptions of people. You probably have already guessed what I found there. In most of the variables where hard data was available, Pakistan was beating up India flatly, and absolutely everywhere in perception of Pakistanis about their country, India was beating them.
Number of procedures required to start a business – Pakistan wins (rank 99 vs. India rank 111), time required to start a business – Pakistan wins (rank 67 vs. rank 82), tax incidence on business – Pakistan wins (rank 22 vs. rank 118). But in the subjective question of “business impact of country rules on foreign direct investment” – Pakistan loses!!
Excuse me! So you can start business easily in Pakistan, pay less taxes, repatriate money easily but Indians think their rules are better for foreign direct investment!
Same pattern repeats again and again all through the report and paints a painful picture of a Pakistan which is far ahead in infrastructure and competitive environment but is being dragged back by a resigned overly self-critical population, and a picture of a really staggering India being pushed forward by a rally of misplaced optimism around them. Unfortunately the report relies much more on perceptions rather than factual data.
These perceptions might end up being self-fulfilling faster than we can imagine. Collin Powel once said “perpetual optimism is a force multiplier”. Pakistan will soon be an example of what perpetual pessimism becomes and media will have to take blame for it.
Look at companies which have directly invested in both countries in last 10 years. I know about Telecoms. Orascom invested in Pakistan and is running a flourishing business. They invested in India and were glad to pull out in a year. Telenor invested in Pakistan and is loving it financially, and they have recently been asked by their investors to think of getting out of India only after two years of operation.
Take another favorite index of Pakistani media “transparency international”. Both Pakistani and Indian media took a lot of joy in reporting that Pakistan has slipped 5 slots in becoming the most corrupt nation in the world and is now 28th. This statement is incorrect of course. Transparency international does not measure how corrupt a country is, it measures how corrupt are you “perceived” to be by your own people. They don’t call themselves a corruption index, it’s a corruption perception index – measured again by interviews in each country. Imagine a transparency guy walking up to a Pakistani who is being subjected to Kamran Khan show every day and asking, “Do you think your country is corrupt?” I am surprised there are countries below us in that perception.
I have personally experienced business in a lot of countries and let me tell you clearly and squarely – many more countries in the world are much more corrupt places than Pakistan and still rank far better in that list.
Again, I am not saying we are as honest as Swedish, all I am saying is that a lot of investment is going in countries more corrupt than us because they are saved from a media which has decided to attack its own country because of some misdirected but too obvious venom.
Transparency International does not and cannot measure corruption, it only measures how badly our media has screwed up.
I am typing this while Geo is telling me more about Aman ki Asha, which is supposed to bring two countries closer. Really? We tried doing that earlier remember? Musharaf thought that if we dance together and play cricket and call Indians over for Basant we will become friends. Well, all we got out of that was a headline in Indian magazine which declared Lahore to be a “bitch in heat”. That coming from someone based in Mumbai (which has 100,000 sex workers [viii] at last count) is unfair to say the least.
Problem between Pakistan and India is Kashmir, it is water, and above all it’s the insistence of Indians that we are same people. We are not. Our aspirations for future are different, our interpretation of history is different, our friends in the world are different, our culture is very different (despite some Pakistanis guiltily liking Bollywood movies – which reflects nothing more and nothing less than a failed Lollywood), our values and manners are very different. Our reason of existence as a nation is different, or more accurately Pakistanis do have a reason of existence as a nation– which makes us different.
I feel much more at home in UAE, Turkey, Iran, Egypt or other middle-eastern countries then I do in India or in rest of SAARC. Frankly I would like us to invest much more in our friends in west then in India. Why couldn’t we have a similar program with Turkey? Why India? For heaven’s sake have you ever read Times of India? Have they ever had a single day without an extremely ugly anti-Pakistan news on front page? How can you start to think that working with them will get you peace?
Which brings us to the final difficult question: Why would a business house like Jang group which is so sensitive to commercial benefits waste so much money and airtime on a dead-on-arrival concept like aman ki asha? They are bound to lose credibility in Pakistan with this, some serious airtime is being wasted on this and I am sure they are not idiots to not realize what this is doing to their country. This is their longest running campaign with no end in sight despite hue and cry from all over the country. I don’t have an answer, as I keep my standards of allegations very high (I guess I still have to learn from Kamran Khan on how to believe and repeat unsubstantiated rumors so easily).
So I called this new telephone number Geo is advertising these days. You are supposed to call there and condemn the allegation of PPP's minister that Geo is an Indian agent. I said in that call that while I can’t agree with the minister because I don’t have a solid proof, I now find it more and more difficult to just brush this allegation off as ridiculous also!
They never played my message on TV like they play others. Must be because of my bad accent.”
Most strange part is that why our government has let media have uncontrolled liberty where they have become a threat to our ideology, our existence and our identity. The government also needs to share this blame when they dumped the founding fathers and visionaries who were behind the creation of Pakistan. Now PPP in particular is all out to promote Bhuttos at any price that’s not their concern.
The politicians must remember we owe Pakistan to Allama Iqbal, M. A. Jinnah, Nawab Salim Ullah of Dhaka and their colleagues who fought and struggled for Pakistan. Eighty percent of Pakistan take Bhutto to be a breaker and not a maker of Pakistan and so is Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan; who never wanted Pakistan but today he is being projected as an important pillar of the country. What a tragedy and irony, a person who willed his burial in Jalalabad to show that he never was for Pakistan is being given a prominent place in the history of Pakistan.
Someone in the corridors of power and moral conscience must take a note of what’s going on in the name of art, culture and friendship that a nation is being destroyed.
Why are they playing holy with the blood of the Kashmiri Muslims and others in Ahmedabad etc.?
Raja Mujtaba has over 25 years of writings behind him. His focus is on the Muslim World in particular and all other areas where
humanity is subjected to injustice, suppression and killings. He sees the world as a global living but not part of the New World Order that is a Zionist Agenda. His conviction is that there can be no peace without justice thus the root cause to every problem must be identified and addressed. Justice leads to peace that develops love.
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Off The Net: Pakistan's Media Damaging Pakistan | Opinion Maker | World Media Information
22. Jan, 2011
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22. Jan, 2011
[...] here: Off The Net: Pakistan's Media Damaging Pakistan | Opinion Maker This entry was posted in Media and tagged corridors, media, moral-conscience, must-take, [...]
Azhar
22. Jan, 2011
Bravo! they say US media is in Jews hand, I ask, our media is in who's hand? This is sensitive subject but needs to be addressed.
babur
23. Jan, 2011
Right of expression is the foundation of freedom and democracy. Media is necessary fo keep society level headed as it exposed the corrupt and hipocrates in society who befooling people and perpetuate their power at the expence of the public – pakistan style. Faiz warned about such unscrupulas elements in Pakistan who play Kuffar ; see their roots in iran and arabia not from the country they immigrated for the lure of coins they receive from their masters and including america and taliban, Bahisht be bestowed on those who eliminate these writes for Rasul.
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23. Jan, 2011
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23. Jan, 2011
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23. Jan, 2011
[...] Off The Net: Pakistan's Media Damaging Pakistan | Opinion Maker Written on October 30th, 2010 & filed under Comentário, Media, TV Tags: explains, [...]
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23. Jan, 2011
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UK True Religion
06. Apr, 2012
Howdy, pleasant site with pleasant information and facts. I truly enjoy coming back below often. There exists only one subject that riles me and that is the misfunctioning of comment publishing. I usually get to 500 error message, and have to form the entry double.
Jack Harris
23. Jan, 2011
Its time someone actually compared Dajjal to the Camera. The camera is the one eyed Dajjal. Who watches more TV men or women, answer is women. Who will Dajjal appeal to more men or women, answer is women. It was the liberal Media that brought down the morals of Western Society now the very same media has found another culture to feed upon.
The West is waking up to the corruption that the media has caused. Pakistan and any other Muslim country should already be awake to it because the media is Dajjal.
babur
23. Jan, 2011
Camera is Haraam and so is the taking pictures in Islam. We all take pictures. Don't we?
Burn school the fountains of immorality, mutilate women genitals the abode of Satan, Ban Muslims from western universities the machanism of kuffar and keep your morals with mullahs rape kids in mosques, stone women after you rape them. Why pakistanis sell shirts from their backs to come to immoral societies stay there.
We eat amarican Zakaat and steal and hide it to moral pakistanis arawning in floods and burning in drone fires. Why don't 55 muslim countries give succour to pakistan under attack.
What pakistani morals are scared of camera and media western societies give away to them free of course.
Pakistan in particular and Islam in general will be better of with scientists as youself. Relax!!!!!
Jack Harris
24. Jan, 2011
Well the camera isn't actually Haram. After all it was invented by a Muslim. In fact, the word "Camera" comes from the Arabic word "Kamra" which means "Dark room".
The Camera was invented by a Muslim Astronomer/Physicist/Mathematician Alhazen. Europeans have taken a lot of inventions by Muslim scientists and called them their own. The camera is one of many.
What has happened in the Islamic World is exactly what did happen in the Christian World the Dark Ages, where reading/education for the masses became virtually illegal. Pakistan has been swept up by the Dark Ages because they see it as a gift of the Colonialists, the feel superior in the Dark Ages. Pakistani Politicians will glady address their Citizens by speaking English on TV.
Go to a Mosque and you will see Pakistani jump to their feet the minute a White Convert to Islam comes in, greeting him or her with a grinn and the Acknowledging Bobbing Head Syndrome. A Black or Indian convert to Islam and the very same Pakistanis will turn their face hoping he or she does not sit next to them.
Why does this Phenomina occur you may be wondering. Its really very simple, the White Colonial Master has accepted the Pakistani's religion therefore the Religion must be true, they think.
Try not to speak English to your children, you'll only ruin their understanding of the language.
Jonathan Azaziah
23. Jan, 2011
Excellent piece brother. The statistics are very vital too. The Bhuttos have been traitors to the Pakistani people for as long as they've been in politics; I read an article not too long about the Bhutto family's bloody crackdown on the Hur Sufi community in Sindh. Not only are the Bhuttos corrupt, they're monsters. May ALLAH (SWT) appropriate the proper punishment for all of them.
babur
24. Jan, 2011
Why Rasul's (pbuh) pregnant daughter was stripped naked dragged and murdered by muslims the way Banazir Bhutto is murdered today? Banazir was the reincnation of Fatima (pbuh) and will reincanate again and again to take revenge on muslims who murdered her. Bhutto family will be an intrument to that.
Pakistan’s Media Damaging Pakistan | Pakalert Press
23. Jan, 2011
[...] Pakistan’s Media Damaging Pakistan Posted on Pakalert on January 23, 2011 // Leave Your Comment [Translate] By Raja G Mujtaba [...]
World Spinner
23. Jan, 2011
Off The Net: Pakistan's Media Damaging Pakistan | Opinion Maker…
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
Khurrum Yousafzai
23. Jan, 2011
Combating theocracy: Bangladesh Supreme Court verdict
HUZAIMA BUKHARI AND DR IKRAMUL HAQ
We lost our East Wing (Mushraqi Pakistan) in 1971 due to the sheer short-sightedness and highhandedness of the ruling military junta and its political cronies. Tragically, no one was punished. On the contrary, the populist political party of the day decorated the key persons behind this dismemberment, awarded them state lands and even gave them high political posts in the Pakistan People's Party.
In the wake of the humiliating defeat, no war tribunal was constituted and the military complex was allowed to flourish with even greater zeal. The powerful military soon joined hands with the mullahs and forced Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to push Pakistan towards a theocratic State – his announcements after meeting the head of Jamaat-i-Islami at Zaildar Park, Ichhra, Lahore, were grave political mistakes.
On 5 July 1977, yet another dark day in our history, Ziaul Haq, having the strong support of the religious parties, overthrew the elected government and eliminated Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with the help of the judiciary. Zia's 11-year-rule brought "Islamic McCarthyism" to Pakistan, instigating witch-hunts and eliminating political opponents on the allegation of being ladeen (infidels).
Both Pakistan and Bangladesh since 1971 have been facing problems in establishing democratic institutions. Bangladesh witnessed many military coups and countercoups, but luckily in politics, the junta kept a distance from the mullah. In Pakistan, the military-mullah onslaughts, using religion as a tool for Jihad in Afghanistan, Kashmir, etc have torn apart the very fabric of this society.
Facing perpetual crises of all sorts — the worst amongst them being bigotry and the increasing role of clergy in politics — Pakistan is now fighting a battle for survival. Economically in deep trouble and politically shaken, Pakistani leadership — both civil and military — should immediately sit together and look into the recent developments in Bangladesh. They specifically need to study the judgement of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, rejecting the use of religion by the political parties.
Our leadership has acted irresponsibly throughout history, culminating in what is today a country driven by hate. The wages of bigotry are now showing their ugliest results, where zealots are taking the lives of fellow citizens in the name of religion. After 63 years of nationhood, there is mayhem, chaos, anarchy and total collapse.
The fitna (mischief) and fisad-fil-ardh (disorder in the land), created by military-mullah alliance, has laid the grounds for sectarian and communal warfare all around. Pakistan. The 1980s and the 1990s witnessed sectarian violence that spilled over the borders of religious belief into those that separate political ideologies, as well as ethnic, racial, linguistic and tribal identities. It undermined an assiduously nurtured, barely credible, Pakistani nationalism and breathed fresh life into separatist movements. The situation is persisting and going from bad to worse every day. Those at the helm of affairs will have to take remedial measures without wasting any time, if we have to halt further disaster.
According to many rightist thinkers, the two-nation theory, based on the foundation of religious divide of Hindus and Muslims, was the real motive behind the partition of sub-continent. The radical camp argues that economic interests of Muslim feudal class paved the way for establishment of Pakistan. While this debate will continue, the fact remains that proponents of two-nation theory received an irrecoverable setback when the Bengalis, maltreated by the ruling elite of West Pakistan, decided to part ways.
The division of Pakistan — in fact, the further subdivision of the Sub-continent -= proved that economic interests have always played a decisive role in politics. Religion has been just one of the ploys used by vested interests to achieve political and economic gains. Abuse of religion by military dictators, vested interests and their cronies in the wake of the partition of the Subcontinent played havoc in both the eastern and western wings of Pakistan.
Dr Ajeet Jawed in Secular and Nationalist Jinnah has presented incontrovertible documents that Quaid-i-Azam never wanted to make Pakistan a theocratic state. Throughout his political career, Muhammad Ali Jinnah struggled against both Hindu and Muslim extremists.
After independence, the feudal class with the help of its cronies – bureaucrats, clergymen and men in khaki – managed to hijack the new state and for their vested interest, converted it into the so-called Islamic Republic – a mere nomenclature whereas all the systems remain un-Islamic. Islam does not permit feudalism, economic exploitation, theocracy and authoritarianism. The main stress of Islam is on the empowerment of the have-nots and creation of an egalitarian welfare state.
From the very beginning, the vested interests in Pakistan tampered with the famous speech of the Quaid, but failed to do so as Dr Ajeet revealed in his book: "it was allowed to be published in full only after Dawn's editor, Altaf Husain, threatened those who were trying to tamper with it to go to Jinnah himself if the press advice was not withdrawn". For building a democratic Pakistan, Dr Ajeet writes, Quaid sought the help of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, because, as he said in his letter to Badshah Khan, he was "surrounded by thieves and scoundrels" through whom he could do nothing. With a mass of evidence, Dr Ajeet has established that the Quaid remained an anti-theocracy and constitutionalist democrat up to the last moment of his life.
The ideas of the Quaid echoed in the decision of the Bangladesh Supreme Court last year. It barred the use of religion in politics and reaffirmed the ideology of the founder fathers. It has restored the original constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. In the wake of this verdict, the Election Commission of Bangladesh on January 26, 2010 asked the three Islamic parties – Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan and Tarikat Federation – to amend their charters being in conflict with the supreme law of the country.
Just as the Quaid was betrayed by the feudal class in his party, the founding father of Bangladesh met the same fate. Sheikh Mujib's Awami League gave the nation its first constitution within one year of independence, based on four cardinal principles – secularism, nationalism, socialism and democracy. Bangladesh became the third major Muslim country to officially embrace secularism after Turkey and Tunis. On August 15, 1975, Sheikh Mujib was assassinated along with his family. Luckily, Rehana and Hasina, his two daughters, residing outside Bangladesh, survived. In the wake of Sheikh Mujib's assassination, the country unfortunately witnessed coups and countercoups within a very short span of time – from August 15 to November 7, 1975.
The successor of Sheikh Mujib, Moshtaque Khondkar, selected Chief Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem as President. Deriving power through martial law proclamations, he abolished secularism from the constitution by amending Article 38. The lifting of the ban on religion-based politics paved the way for theocratic parties to campaign in the name of religion. Abu Sadat transferred powers to Ziaur Rehman on November 26, 1976 after a deal that he would indemnify his illegal take-over, all actions taken between August 15, 1975 and April 9, 1979, passing of the Fifth Amendment that ratified martial law proclamations including the desecularisation of the constitution. Ziaur Rehman was assassinated at the hands of junior army officers and General Ershad took over the control declaring martial law on March 24, 1982.
General Ershad, like the Pakistani General Ziaul Haq used religion for the perpetuation of his unlawful rule – Islam was made the state religion. In the wake of popular democratic movement, the military rule came to an end and democracy was restored in 1991. In 1996, the Awami League once again won elections and abrogated all the unconstitutional amendments to sanction the trial of the assassins of the founding father. In 2005, the Fifth Amendment was struck down by the High Court. The Court emphasised secularism as the guiding state policy. The Court held that religious non-discrimination, protection for all faiths, even for non-believers, should be the main responsibility of the State. It explained that secularism means ensuring religious tolerance and freedom of faith without any favour or discrimination. The Court, in unequivocal terms, condemned the actions of the military junta to convert secular Bangladesh into a theocratic state.
The Court's ruling was contested by Bangladesh National Party (BNP), led by the widow of Ziaur Rehman, Khalida Zia. The Court granted a stay order that was ultimately vacated on January 3, 2010. Resultantly, original Article 38 of the Constitution became operative barring the use of religion or communal connotations in politics. This has been termed as a major development not only in Bangladesh but in the entire Muslim world. Secularism requires that at the State level there should be no propagation of religion – it should be the personal matter of citizens. The clergy in Pakistan and elsewhere and many rightist thinkers not knowing the real import and historical evolution of word "secularism" dub it as kufar or ladeeniat.
In Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world, religion has become a tool in the hands of the vested-interest. The mushroom growth of so-called Islamic political parties is a cause for concern for all. These parties, backed by forces of obscurantism, exploit the masses in the name of Islam. Militants are their front men, terrorism is their weapon and they themselves are the pawns of neo-imperialism. Late Neo-colonialists want to keep the Muslims in dark ages and use the forces of obscurantism effectively for this cause. In the face of these realities, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh took a bold stand and upheld High Court's ruling delivered in 2005 declaring the Fifth Amendment in the constitution unlawful that allowed religion-based politics, not envisaged by the framers of the original document.
Article 41 of the Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees freedom of religion. It says:
(1) Subject to law, public order and morality-
a. every citizen has the right to profess, practice or propagate any religion;
b. every religious community or denomination has the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions.
(2) No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction, or to take part in or to attend any religious ceremony or worship, if that instruction, ceremony or worship relates to a religion other than his own.
The same position prevails under Articles 20, 21 and 22 of 1973 Constitution of Pakistan that guarantees religious freedom for all, no taxation of a person for the propagation or maintenance of any religion other than his own and safeguards as to educational institutions in respect of religion. In the presence of these Constitutionals provisions, there should be no room for religious-based politics and parties in Pakistan as the case in Bangladesh since January 2010. The concept of the theocratic state is alien to Islam. The use of religion in politics only creates divisions, rather than achieving unity, which is the central message of the holy Quran.
The verdict of Bangladesh Supreme Court restoring the true character of the country's Constitution holds a promise of progress and democratisation of the society and sets a good example for other Muslim states, especially today's Pakistan. It is high time that legislators should restore the original Constitution of Pakistan and remove the patchwork made by military dictators to hoodwink the people and perpetuate their undemocratic rule. Islamic democracy is on a much higher pedestal compared to western democracy as it gives no immunity to the head of State. In Islam, decisions are to be taken by consultation and not imposition as propagated by the clergy. Islamic democracy is essentially an anti thesis of theocracy. An overwhelming Muslim State, Bangladesh, has proved it and other Muslim countries should follow in their footsteps if they want to get rid of bigotry.
(The writers, legal historians, are Adjunct Professors at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
Type your comment here…
Saeed Khan
23. Jan, 2011
Thanks a lot for a great article. You spoke for me too.
Pakistan is in the hands of minority that ill represent us.
We need to educate our masses so that they can be empowered and properly represented.
Pakistan: Phoenix Will Rise - Soon | Opinion Maker
23. Jan, 2011
[...] Taseer, every issue in Pakistan has some conspiracy theory in the background. As said by Raja G Mujtaba, the media needs to be checked and controlled to play a positive role and not acting against [...]
Nael
23. Jan, 2011
Outstanding article. Aman ki Asha!!! what is the Jang group up to. To start with how about Aman ki Khwahish——Jang group needs to know that Peace is good but weakness is provocative. Peace—– yes sure but on equal grounds. You cannot talk peace and continue to malign Pakistan. There is no stature no class in Pakistani media, barring few, mediocrity is prevalent. Breaking news and sensationalism to get the rating up or sell a few extra papers. This is the price of the high and mighty holier than thou media of Pakistan. I see a lot of Indians blogging and spewing venom on Pakistani websites but try posting a single comment against India on any of their websites and you will know the reality. While some main stream Pakistani media is tripping over itself to glorify India and portraying Pakistan disdainfully, Indian media is fixated with concocting and highlighting evils in Pakistan on daily basis.
I 100% endorse the view that we are not the same people, we do not have same values, our friends are different, our reason for existence is different, our outlook to life is different and what we stand and don’t stand for is different. We have been stabbed in the back far too many times. Bhaghal mein churi, moh mein ram ram.
babur
23. Jan, 2011
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
Pakistanis are becoming wiser. Don't they?
Jinnah on his death bed admitted 'Creating Pakistan was his biggest blunder'(Freedom at midnight-by Collins abd lappiere)
Mayor Hazel in an election meeting reminded me of Jinnah's version "never saw so many leaders in one room before' full of pakistanees-born thieves and scaundrels' as Quaid said
Enough is enough, the case rest..
India Lover
24. Jan, 2011
>you are twice likely to meet a poor Indian than a poor >pakistani….?
The uthor quotes figures as 42% (42 Crors) of Indians are below poverty line and only 22% of pakis(4 Crors). Which means you are 10 times likely to meat a poor Indian than a poor paki!
Bad maths combined with exaggerated claims! Totally laughable!! Carry on Mr Raja Mujtaba, we need some clowns to cheer up our mundane lives.
Mehvish Kamal
27. Jan, 2011
Type yo
By and large the role of Pakistani media regarding democracy is not encouraging. In democratic era the target of media is only political characters. But in martial laws either the media forgets speaking or its sympathies are with the undemocratic and nonpolitical figures. In spite of everything one must look at the strengths and weakness of Pakistani media to get a clear glimpse of it. Few factions of media have to review their role. Sensation in the breaking news has remained key factor amongst news channels, and the sole aim was to take lead in breaking news. There should be a proper mechanism to check out authenticity of news before it goes on air.
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