March, 16 2005	Wednesday	5 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 15: Speakers at an international seminar here on Tuesday called upon the Pakistani and Indian media to switch over to objectivity, do away with embedded journalism and dissemination of nationalist dogma while reporting developments on Kashmir issue to ensure the much-desired lasting bilateral peace.

The two-day seminar on “The Kashmir Imbroglio: Looking Towards the Future” has been organized by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with Hanns Seidel Foundation to provide an opportunity to the scholars from across the world to speak more openly on Kashmir issue and highlight the importance of peace in the region.

Speaking on Kashmir and the role of media, MNA Sherry Rehman said though global media coverage of conflict and war had changed substantially over the years, South Asia was still experimenting with its own landscape of media standards and ethics, fleshing out the high-stake dynamics between the two poles of objective and embedded journalism.

She said there was a slow but perceptible shift in South Asian media practitioners, who used sophisticated standards while reporting domestic news, but by and large applied different rules when foreign policy or Kashmir issue was discussed. In fact, she said, among majority of newspapers and broadcast media, prejudice still clouded substantial swathes of discourse on Kashmir.

She also criticised the vernacular press on both sides for its pro-state stance and the close proximity between the state agencies and the news agencies in both the countries, which promoted and safeguarded embedded journalism.

She also attributed a good part of the state-guided reporting to the complete blackout of information in the conflict zone of Kashmir compelling journalists to rely heavily on second hand accounts from the state agencies.

“The 20th century has witnessed escalating conflicts on ethno-political, geo-political and socio-religio fault lines, with estimates suggesting that 110 million lives have been lost to around 250 conflicts, as marked increase from the 19th century where 211 conflicts resulted in the loss of 19 million lives. Statistics like these have prompted a global need to create channels that de-escalate rather than exacerbate such situations,” Ms Rehman said.

Appreciating the role of SAFMA and some individuals and English dailies in exploding the myths about Kashmir, she said, expectations from the media were high. In seemingly intractable conflict-zones like Kashmir, she added, it was not for the media to play its traditional role of watchdog: it must strive for unbiased and non-partisan angles when reporting, but when commenting, it must act responsibly as an advocate for non- violent transition, possibly acting as a stakeholder in bilateral peace.

To a question, she said, it was encouraging that some prominent Bollywood stars like Sharukh Khan had refused to sign anti-Pakistan movies.

In his opening remarks, Dr Andreas Rieck, Resident Representative, Hanns Seidel Foundation, said at the end of 2004, public opinion in Pakistan had become somewhat disillusioned with the results of the composite dialogue with India, especially with regard to Kashmir, however, another breakthrough came in the shape of bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar, which was hailed widely.