ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Thursday that Pakistan had no option but to win the war against terrorism, both for ensuring national and regional security.

“If we lose this war, it would be a defeat for the whole region because no country can survive in isolation and dependency was more relevant in current scenario,” said the minister addressing the South Asian media summit on 'Newspapers in the New Media Ecosystem' organized by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society.

He said Pakistan was facing challenging circumstances, though since coming to power, the government had re-established its writ in several areas which were being used by terrorists as their havens.

Kaira told the gathering, comprising of newsmen from South Asian countries, that terrorism was not something indigenous rather it had been imposed on the country, which has shattered its social fabric.

He said after 9/11, Pakistan was compelled to support the war on terrorism, realizing that the extremism had no borders.

The information minister said the government was proud that local media had been playing a vital role to improve Pak-India bilateral ties which had, had a deep impact on relations of Saarc countries as well.

The information minister said only the media can play a role to soften and develop public opinion because the government and society were in dire need of the media's effective role.

Kaira said the Pakistani media had played an effective role in all movements for protection of democracy and the rule of law.

The minister said peace in Pakistan was vital for India and vice-versa, which can be possible through positive public opinion and exchange of media delegations between the two countries.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Hameed Haroon, CEO Dawn Media Group, stressed the effective role of Press Council of Pakistan and review of laws including the centralised media policy.

He urged the participants to adopt a resolution, demanding transparency in the process of allocation of advertisements to newspapers by the department concerned.

Krishna Prasad, Editor-in-Chief Outlook, an Indian news magazine, said bilateral dialogue should be expanded to more localities because the two countries had been unable to involve the common man in the dialogue process.

He said unfortunately both governments had been sucked into debates that was narrow. Prasad said the media from both countries have never carried forward the voices of the common people to the other side of the border.