Shrinking space – Media War & Freedom of Press

Reza Aslan writes in his ‘Zealot’ that Hasmonaeans reclaimed Jerusalem from Seleucid control in 164 BCE and ruled for the next hundred years. But when civil war broke out between brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus over control of the throne, each brother foolishly reached out to Rome for support. Pompey took the brothers’ entreaties as an invitation to seize Jerusalem for himself and hence Jews were once again a subject people.

As if the human race learns nothing from the history, some in the media and journalism today think that they can increase their market share by appeasing the mullahs and the establishment. But they would soon wake up to the reality when their own poison will be served to them by their masters.  When Jahangir Karamat and Pervaiz Musharraf were threatened, the armed forces became a fort to protect them. Similarly, when Iftikhar Chowdhury was bullied by a military general the lawyers came out to defend him. These institutions learnt from their experience that their strength lies in unity. Though once the chief justice was restored to his position, his supporters did not shy away from taking a stand on principle even if it meant to stand against him. His very own defending lawyer, Aitezaz Ahsan has repeatedly spoken out against his rulings.

Journalists and media houses should recognise that their institution is far more susceptible to attacks by the other state institutions because their job demands impartiality and indiscriminate fair criticism across the board. The sad part of the story is that in older days, the press was in chains but the journalistic conscience was free. During the military regime of Zia, they used to meet in the dark of night in barely lit rooms. But it was out of fear, not shame. It was out of dedication to public service, not desire to conspire against each other. Journalists were flogged, jailed and some even lost their lives. And they were and still are respected and remembered for their services. In today’s democratic setup, their need to stand united is as pressing as it was under the former dictatorships because a free media is vital for a healthy democracy.

Sadly enough, professional jealousy grinded well with khaki agenda is so obvious in the present Geo-ISI-ARY-Mullah controversy that there is no room left for any rational debate on the issue. Suffice it to say, what we saw on Geo has indeed hurt our sensitivities and the host has duly apologised for the incident in question. But calling it a blasphemy – a word which carries far more dangerous social than legal implications in our society – is overblowing the whole episode. Though Geo has been airing vilifying campaigns against individuals which has brought enough distress to their targets but it does not mean that it should be singly targeted for mistakes which have been committed by almost every other channel. If Geo has committed mistakes, so have other channels and other institutions of the state too. Shall we threaten to shut them all down?

My real worry from the ongoing media war came the other day when I noted that press censorship is returning to Pakistan whereby space for writing on issues deemed sensitive is beginning to shrink. On Thursday evening, I came across a tweet by Tarek Fateh reporting that a blog on Express Tribune, ‘Jinnah made a mistake and I am ashamed of being a Pakistani’ has been removed and the twitter handle of the writer is disabled. Soon after that I tried to access my blog ‘Remove the right of defence in cases of blasphemy’ on the same website but in vain. I emailed the editor straightaway but to date have received no reply. Hence, it appears that we are crawling to a point where talking about blasphemy laws, ideology of Pakistan and the sensitive institutions (and who isn’t sensitive) will be next to impossible. However, the recent press censorship houses often miss the point that computer-mediated communication grows explosively. My blog is still available at https://zaakbarpak.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/is-there-a-genuine-right-of-defence-in-blasphemy-cases/

PHOTO: Screenshot of etribune blog page. The blogs in red boxes were removed. No notice was given before or after removal. The original title of the blasphemy blog was changed to a misleading title. The original blog is still available at https://zaakbarpak.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/is-there-a-genuine-right-of-defence-in-blasphemy-cases/

Time has proved how yesterday’s friends are engaged in war today. Those who were together in the Afghan war of 1980s are today waiting to kill their next target on ideological lines. And those who used to be the political wing of the military regime of 80s do not consider our fallen soldiers ‘Shaheeds’ today. But what journalists should remember is that their heroes like Saleem Shahzad and many others have not given their lives to pave way for internal rift. Their blood demands us as a nation to build a society where competition between entities exists and so does a space for speaking your mind without fear.

Interests are not forever living – principles are. Stand for principles, not for interests.