ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The jingoistic language used by President Bush and the western media is not much different from the mediaeval mindset prevalent in “Jihadi journalism” in Pakistan, said speakers at a workshop here on Wednesday.

The workshop on “Mediaeval mindset and modern media,” organised by the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung Foundation, debated the evolution of newspapers produced by the religio-militant organisations, state sponsorship of the language of hate and its adverse impact on society.

Zafarullah Khan of FnSt said the kind of discourse present in the publications of militant organisations like Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Jaish-Muhammad evolved in the aftermath of the Afghan situation in 1980s. After they were abandoned by the West, it created a conducive environment for espousing militant causes throughout the world. Certain state institutions also patronised such publications, he said.

About the number of publications brought out by the religious organisations, he said that during a mapping analysis of spanning the last eight months some 20 publications, including dailies, weeklies and monthly magazines were identified for study. According to the claims of the publications, their circulation is at least 200,000 (two hundred thousand). If an average readership of five per publication is taken as a statistical analytical figure, the target audience comes to around 1 million people. He said most of the publications have ABC certifications.

Naella Quadri of Conscience Promoters, an NGO activist from Baluchistan, said that it were the people in power who used the religion to justify their sway on power.