Azmaish Ka Waqt
Guilty until proven
innocent
As the unofficial fourth pillar of the
state, the media has a sensitive job – perhaps even one of the most sensitive:
telling the truth as it is. In a world where truth no longer sells, the media
has its job cut out for itself trying to juggle various stakeholders in the
complex equation of the nation state. There is the aspect of accountability,
ensuring unbiased dissemination of news and allowing other arms of the state to
function together in fluidity. The media throughout is the glue that joins
together the official arms of the state and therefore its responsibility
towards these arms is also immense. This
alone is enough to understand why it was wrong of GEO to blame the
Inter-Services Intelligence, the premier spy agency of Pakistan, of a terrorist
attack on its journalist Hamid Mir.
The question of national interest has
been vilified to the extent that it holds no longer holds a meaning. An
anarchic state of reason has begun to dominate the prevailing national
discourse, wherein, the constitutional authority of the state’s monopoly over
violence is challenged, branding militants and law enforcers with the same mark
of villainy. It is in the midst of these state of affairs that we look for
someone to blame such assassination attempts on. When blaming security forces
for such attacks becomes easier to believe than the militants they are charged
to fight, we know we’ve made a complete curry of national interest, throwing
the whole balance of the state into disarray.
GEO interestingly was alone in its
campaign to waggle fingers before the dust had even settled. Every other news
agency checked its sources. Senior journalist Raza Rumi of the Express News was
attacked only a few weeks ago. No one pointed fingers at state elements back
then. The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi stepped forward soon after accepting responsibility
for the attack. No one waited for a militant organization to make such claims
in this case. No one even considered the possibility that the assailants could
have been the people who had been threatening every single media house for
months now. GEO stood solidly behind Hamid Mir’s brother’s allegations in this
regard and broadcast these allegations as the truth without any prior checks or
investigation into the matter.
Media trials are an ugly affair. They
happen often and are always with impunity. The subject is portrayed as guilty
without a trial, without a chance to explain themselves or a judicial warrant
or ruling. This trial then becomes branded in the nation’s conscience. The
masses believe what they see and they condemn the subject to a punishment most
vile without offering to hear them out. The punishment is isolation. The
subject of such media trials finds themselves cornered. And who doesn’t like a
good conspiracy? We Pakistanis prefer conspiracies to the truth any day because
it is such a scandalous delicious departure from the mundane everyday news
about poverty, explosions and deaths that we have in abundance.
The news channel owes the armed forces
an apology. It was quick to vilify it and is standing behind its claims since
its credibility is on the line. The nation cannot expect an arm of the state to
bear the brunt of the onslaught of terrorism, to gather all the bruises and
cuts, lose its fingers fighting the forces of extremism and militancy that
plague this country and still be termed guilty for attacks. Last year in
November, Jamat-i-Islami’s Munawar Hassan said that Pakistani soldiers killed
in battle against the Taliban couldn’t be considered martyrs because they
fought on America’s behalf. Hekimullah Mehsud, who was killed that month in a
U.S. drone strike, was a martyr he said. Then too the Army demanded an apology
for the callous statement but got none.
If it’s the Army the nation wants put
to trial then a trip down memory lane would be in order. The Pakistani army has
lost roughly twice as many soldiers in the conflict with Taliban fighters as
the US. The price ordinary Pakistani
soldiers pay in the struggle against Taliban fighters is real and high. Since
Pakistan’s army began moving into the tribal areas along the Afghan border to
confront the Pakistani Taliban in 2004, more than 4,000 Pakistani soldiers have
been killed and more than 13,000 injured, according to military statistics. Of
those injured, hundreds are paraplegics and crippled, consigned to relive their
glory days in their memories alone.
The
nation needs to realize that it is not that easy to point a finger and pull the
trigger of denigration. There is so much riding on the back of these statements
and gestures. The media too needs to realize the power it wields. As mentioned
earlier, it has the power to corner the subject of its ire by the whole nation.
Media holds the strings of our national consciousness and in that must exercise
restraint. Hamid Mir is one, there are so many other journalists who have died
in the line of duty. The men fighting their murderers deserve the
acknowledgement if not gratitude and they most definitely do not deserve to be
labeled as murdering fiends.
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