ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The military rulers have damaged the democratic fabric of the country and promoted religious intolerance, undemocratic norms, violence and extremism in print and electronic media to protect their interests.

Speakers at a seminar on “Promoting Values of Peace in the Age of Media Abundance” shared these views here on Monday. The seminar was jointly organized by the Liberal Forum of Pakistan and Friedrich Naumann Stifftung Germany

The former MD of Pakistan Television, Agha Nasir, said print and electronic media had failed to create awareness among masses due to the government’s control over it.

“How unfortunate is it that the chairman of Pakistan Information and Media Regulatory Authority (Pimra) has asked the representatives of private channels to follow the government directives strictly otherwise their licences would be cancelled,” he said. “No private channel is now operating from Pakistan.” he said, adding they were forced to leave the country, as there was complete check on media. “We could not release any story of our choice because of the government check and policies”, he said.

The renowned columnist, Munnu Bhai, said democracy had never been allowed to flourish in the country. “It was always made subservient to the military bureaucracy.”

He said: “A powerful premier like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was forced to name Khar as chief minister of the Punjab in place of Meraj Khalid. Bhutto wanted to name Meraj Khalid as chief minister but the military establishment did not allow him to do so”.

He said the future of Pakistan was linked with democracy and if it was not allowed to flourish it would damage the country. He said in past progressive writers and journalists were engaged in this profession, who built a good image of the profession. “Now there is a deterioration in this filed, as the newspapers owners are not paying well, which discourages the journalists.”

It is said that if a country dies in hearts of its people then it could not survive outside, Munnu Bhai said and added that ruling elite should realize this.

The renowned TV artist, Rahat Kazmi, said “film reflects a culture and provides people a chance to understand about the culture, traditions and life of a nation”. He said: “We must improve the quality of our films to give a good message outside Pakistan.” He stressed the inclusion of film-related education in the syllabus and said if the government could not establish a film academy, it should include this subject in syllabus.

He further said the government should play its role in the development of film sector and resolve the problem this industry was confronting with. Dr Tariq Rehman said Urdu journalism was always played a pro-status-quo role and promoted the ruling elite by projecting that they were inevitable for the country. He called for the establishment of a media ownership body according to which all working journalists should be considered owners of the newspaper, as was in East Europe and former Soviet Union. Others who spoke on the occasion were Irfan Urfi, Ijaz Gul, Sahira Kazmi, Zafarullah Khan and Imtiaz Gul.