‘Perverse’ coverage: TV REVIEW

THE president of CNN, Walter Isaacson, has apparently written a memo to a team of international correspondents to not give too much coverage to the plight of Afghan civilians. Mr Isaacson’s memo said that the issue related to giving “balanced” coverage to both sides in the current conflict and that it should not be overlooked (by the foreign correspondents, that is) that the Taliban have been harbouring terrorists. The memo also used the word “perverse” saying that the apparently lopsided view was giving this impression.

What Mr Isaacson has written simply confirms the view that many people in Pakistan, watching foreign news channels day in and day out, have been observing: that coverage of the conflict is biased to say the least. Of course there will be good guys and bad guys everywhere but watching Fox News for example would give the impression that the bad guys are either all Arab, Middle Eastern or Muslim (or all three) and that the good guys are only the Americans or the British.

But going back to the CNN memo, it would be naive for people to think that an international news network would have no bias, just as it would be naive of them to think that a newspaper would have no bias, even when it claims to be objective. But the difference between someone who acknowledges his or her biases and then works within that paradigm is vast from an organization or an entity that goes on denying the existence of the slightest hint of prejudice and lecturing others on how biased they might be. For instance, anyone who has seen Fox News or any of the other American networks like CNBC or ABC — both are available on cable in most cities — would see a sense of prejudice shown by these channels against Al Jazeerah. In fact, the managements of most US channels bought hook, line and sinker the argument given by the US government, especially National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who said that it would be wise not to broadcast statements by Osama bin Laden or his Al Qaeda network because they might contain coded messages for his followers or for people working in his “cells” in various European countries or North America. Why would Osama or Al Qaeda want to use American channels to relay their message, surely if there was a message to be relayed, and if Osama and his followers were so sophisticated in their planning that they managed to attack the Pentagon and the World Trade Center then they could send messages to their operatives through safer routes.

Unfortunately, Pakistan which is so close to the ‘action’, has a channel which usually is busy showing programmes that are anything but what’s happening next door. As for its news content, the credibility is so low that people usually have no choice but to watch Zee News or CNN or Fox. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that if there was a credible local alternative, most people would prefer it. Which brings us to ARY Digital which at least is making some sort of an effort in showing current affairs programming that is relatively free of government propaganda and makes no obvious attempts at forwarding the government stance. Indus Vision too has made a start with its daily news broadcast at 9:30 pm followed by a vigorous discussion segment (more on that next time). However, given PTV’s reach it really is a pity — and just shows what the results of myopic and selfish government policies can be. — OMAR R. QURAISHI

A campaign without legal cover!: DATELINE LARKANA

IT was during the Zia era that weapons were introduced in society on a large scale when the general buckled in under the US pressure to intervene in the Afghanistan crisis to drive the Russians out from there. As soon as the Russian troops withdrew, an unmitigated civil war cropped up in which various Mujahideen factions fought each other to rule the roost in Afghanistan.

As Pakistan still grappled with the situation, hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees poured into the country, bringing with them Kalashnikovs and other arms, as well as the scourge of heroin. Soon weapons from across the border became easily available in open market. Then weapons were bought and stocked. Out of this situation the Taliban metamorphosed into the now ruling militia in Afghanistan.

In our case, the easy accessibility to weapons created a crime-psyche in society, as a result of which common people have developed over the period a fear for life at the hands of terrorists, of all sorts. Realizing the gravity of the situation the government has taken steps to deweaponize society to restore the writ of law. The spirit behind the deweaponization campaign is commendable but proper planning is lacking. For any such campaign to succeed it is necessary to have proper legal backing.

Through the campaign the government wants to collect all illicit arms. As a first step the people were given the option to voluntarily submit illicit arms; and then the police were authorized to collect such arms from individuals or from well-organized parties possessing a large quantity of illicit weapons. Thus the weapons so collected were registered at the respective police malkhanas.

But in the absence of any effective law the deweaponization campaign may not prove of much help. It should not be out of place to cite here a court ruling that declares the drive as having no constitutional and legal cover for its justification.

In a ruling on Sept 19 Justice Atta-ur-Rehman said all FIRS registered u/s 7(C) were without force of law, and added that the FIRS, therefore, should be registered under the provisions of Arms Ordinance 1965 and only then could such cases be tried by the courts having jurisdiction.

These cases could be registered under Section 13-D in the court of judicial magistrates. Moreover, the court remarks about notification u/s 4 suggests to the federal government to disclose the authority where and to whom the illicit arms have to be surrendered, with the provision that Section 7(C) of the Act gets legal cover.

But ironically it is concluded in the court ruling that even the secretary of law, ministry of justice, confirmed the non-issuance of notification U/S 4 of the Act. So, without notification of U/S 4, no case U/S 7 (C) of the Act can be registered against the applicants.

It was on this basis that the circuit court here disposed of 10 bail applications filed by Shamas Panhwar, Hajan alias Papu, Muhammad Paryal, Uris Ghanghro, Ghulam Nabi Ghanghro, Mehrab Ghanghro, Dodo Ghanghro, Nizakat Ali, Ali Haider and Himat Ali Chandio.

The court ruling shows that the government campaign is haphazard and launched in a hurry, and could be challenged.

The most glaring aspect of the deweaponization campaign came to light when DIG Fayyaz Leghari suspended eight police personnel, including three SHOs, on Sept18 for the weapons that went missing from the malkhanas. The disappearance of weapons from all police malkhanas invites questions about the real state of the deposited weapons shown under registered FIRs. All the DSPs in the Larkana police range were ordered to conduct an inquiry into the authenticity of the FIRs, as also into the working of malkhanas.

The disappearance of arms from police malkhanas exposes administrative flaws which need to be plugged immediately. Further, it is reported, false FIRs were registered at some police stations. And again some weapons, perhaps second-hand, were bought for the purpose of displaying these during the campaign against illicit arms. It also happened that during the drive innocent people were wrongly implicated and false cases were registered against them. All this calls for immediate inquiry and proper legislation to make the campaign against illicit arms successful.