Freedom of The Press

Responsibility must precede freedom of the Press...
If you have watched Indian media you would have observed the media would never ever give a point of view that is different from the Government stand. For example in the case of Kashmir they dare not issue or refer to one statement that would reflect the Kashmiri or people's point of view. While India boasts of democracy if we talk of a democratic solution to Kashmir and fulfilling the aspirations of Kashmiris you will either be pulled up or put in jail. Not only that, you dare not talk one word derogatory of Rahul Gandhi let alone Sonia or Manmohan Singh.

And what a contrast is Pakistan. Every single vehicle in any media be it press or electronic, they target just one guy and that is Pervez Musharraf The President of a country. It is truely freedom of press. Yes fine but are you being responsible? Media like the judiciary cannot take sides. Once you take sides you can never ever be honest and objective but dishonest and biased.

Ary, Aaj and Geo are all now a part of the opposition party. They throw all kind of muck on The President but spare Benazir. As Cowasjee said openly and reflected public opinion that she is a thief. And she is called "Mohtharama", why? Can thieves be called "The respected lady". While she is so disrespectful of Pakistanis and every body else except United States. Check out her statements. She is on record having said "I am born to rule", "we know where to keep the people" as if we are her subjects.

The media has given Benazir the title "Mohtharama". Could Indira Gandhi have ever said she was born to rule despite the fact that her father was a successful and popular Prime Minister and so was her grand father. But she would always talk of serving the people and country and not ruling. She was neither foolish nor arrogant to that extent.

Has the media forgotten the utter mis-rule and corruption in Benazir's time. Why do they deliberately ignore it or are promoting her? Sir this is not the job of the media. Have they forgotten when her beloved husband had said "today things are very good, only 50 died". Why do you forget all that? I went to Rani Kote and a poor man who is the custodian there said that they had a lot a antiques till ten years back. I asked what happened, he a Sindhi like me said that "Sir Asif Saheb has taken them away". There are thousands of instances of Asif Zardari corruption. If she comes back all this corruption comes back too.

Yes indeed General Pervez Musharraf belongs to the Military Establishment but the guy has performed and no major issues of corruption have surfaced so far. He seems to be at least an acceptable villain better than the other two proven villains who failed in two terms each. Give the devil his due. He saved Pakistan from total annihilation post 9/11 although he should have bargained to get Pakistan problems solved too in which case there would not have been problems of terrorism and suicide bombings he now faces. Least of all he should have got the Kashmir problem solved and avoided bloodshed in a divided area. After all Kashmiris are as much human as Indians or Pakistanis are. There aspirations are no different. This is an un-necessary issue that is bedevilling the relations of two similar brotherly nations. I am sure both nations would be more at ease.

Why does the media not take up the real issues that affect all Pakistanis like addressing the core issues and the structural reforms that Pakistan so desperately needs. Corner stone of any economy is agriculture. It is controlled by whom? The land lords. How can the basics of economy be ignored. It is no more a secret that the root cause of all lawlessness is feudalism. Why does not the media take up such important issues.

The media should be more responsible and highlight both sides points of views and not take sides at all, if you want to be credible. The way media is behaving it has no parallel any where in the world be it US, India, UK or any other country. I hope the media, if it is responsible takes note.