KARACHI, Aug 13: It is the most sacred responsibility of the Islamic movements to set up their own media organisations because without such a network, the Ummah could not defend itself from media campaign and propaganda by the western forces.

This was observed by speakers at a workshop on media which was organised by the Jamaat-i-Islami at the Quba Auditorium here on Saturday evening.

Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, Dr Mumtaz Memon, S. A. Shamsi, Shahnawaz Farooqui, Atta Mohammad Tabassum, Azam Gondal, Farooq Adil, Mujahid Channa and others spoke on the occasion.

They said that modern wars were fought and won with the help of media. Giving examples in this context, they referred to the recent attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestinian territory and Lebanon, and said that the ground for all these military operations was paved by the strong and influential western media.

They said that it was the power of the western media that issues of East Timor and Darfur came to limelight in a short span of time whereas the long struggles by Kashmiris and Palestinians could not attract the required attention of the international community.

Quoting the example of Al-Jazeera, they said that this single news channel had brought a sea of change in the mindset of the people of Arab countries. They regretted that for the whole Ummah, there was not a single newspaper, TV channel or news agency as its mouthpiece.

They pointed out that a strong media was the first defence line of any country, hence a vital sector that could not be ignored.—PPI