A meeting with Bishop Joseph Coutts, Fr. Pascal Polous, Fr. Nisar Barkat, Dr. Khalid Rashid Aasi, Fr. Aftab James Paul, Nosheen Dsouza, Leonard Dsouza, Fr. Bonnie Mendes, Prof. Anjum James Paul on the statement of Shahbaz Bhatti, newly elected Minority Minister from the PPP government, “All the minorities are in Pakistan enjoying their rights”, and a Urdu language newspaper biased stories. Leonard brief discussed with the participants about the situation of minorities and electronic and Urdu language print media biased stories:
According to the SARRC’s key research Leonard Dsouza:
In Pakistan, the mainstream electronic and Urdu language print media do not cover the issues of religious minorities as they should. The Muslim majority is more influential and dominates the entire print and electronic media. Most media sources represent views of majority Muslim communities including fundamentalists. As a consequence, slowly and silently most people have accepted the ideology and mentality of Muslim clerics and now majority of people, negating the viewpoint of the founding father Mr. Jinnah, believe that the non-Muslims are not equal citizens of Pakistan.
Indeed local Urdu language newspapers publish biased stories about non-Muslims of the country. In 2006 two Christian men were allegedly accused of blasphemy in Faisalabad, the third largest city of Pakistan. A local newspaper wrote: "Two wretched Christian youths burned the Holy Quran" but in reality, both were above 65 years of age and there was an undecided First Information Report (FIR) against them alleging that they burned the pages of the Quran.
National Urdu language papers may fair a bit better but in general, display the same mentality. A few English language newspapers are better as compared to Urdu papers but their readers and circulation is limited. Some Christian-owned newspapers and magazines are published but they lack social and political coverage limiting themselves to religious news.
President Musharraf urged the media to play a proactive role in educating the people about the perils of extremism and terrorism, and to inform them about the dangers the country is facing. However, the situation on the ground is the other way around, the Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, however, journalists are forced to practice self-censorship as they are made to suffer acts of intimidation. Though the Government did not attempt to exercise direct control over views expressed in the print media where most editorials and commentaries were increasingly critical of the Government, direct criticism of the military and the judiciary was rare. Investigative journalism was hardly practiced; instead, the press published charges and countercharges by named and unnamed parties representing competing political and social interests. Also, both governmental and nongovernmental entities sometimes pay for favorable media coverage.
Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 provides for transparency and freedom of information to ensure that the citizens of Pakistan have improved access to public records and for the purpose of making the Federal Government accountable to its citizens. This freedom is available to all citizens. Unfortunately, the Media in Pakistan has never enjoyed the freedom of information promised in the Ordinance.
Heavy-handed surveillance and legal actions against journalists continue throughout the history of Pakistan. For example, different magazines have received threats from government officials for their critical coverage of the Government’s discriminatory policies. The media personnel are targeted and threatened by unknown persons. Further, the reported cases of journalist disappearances continue even though in most cases, the missing persons were found after several days having suffered the detention and torture by the police or security forces.
National Commission for Justice and Peace in its eighth Human Rights Monitor released its report on 'The situation of religious minorities in Pakistan'. The report says that Pakistan Television's serials Mohammed Bin Qasim, Saheen and Tipu Sultan were clear misrepresentations of historical events, presented to the disadvantage of non-Muslim minorities; The education policy has gone from bad to worse; The syllabus is not based on democratic values; and, The behavior of teachers is discriminatory toward non-Muslim students.
The strong anti-minority sentiment and intolerance by Urdu Press has been persistent and unrelenting in the last 60 years in Pakistan. It has contributed, more than its share, in further spoiling and perpetuating the communal hate climate. Its campaign has been so extensive that a whole book is needed to describe it. Due to the limitations of this paper, a few cases are mentioned below to illustrate the nature and level of this propaganda war.
Geo TV of Pakistan repeatedly puts on air the following public statements of Shiekh Rasheed Ahmad, the Former Federal Minister of Information: “Ahmadis abroad, continue to damage the image of the country, I consider them KAFIR (infidels).” (source: Daily Pakistan, December 20, 2004)
There are many instances where the media promotes religious intolerance through articles, dramas, stories and film scripts. This intolerance is not just confined to hate statements but also is provoked through actions taken against the minority groups. On many occasions, the Christian community of Pakistan has been called “Esai”. Hindus also are called names like “Hindu Banya”. The minorities are projected in the development sector in negative connotations as they are blamed for working for foreign interests in Pakistan. In many newspapers, the writers also demanded ban on the places of worship of the minorities, and to restrict their preaching efforts under the blasphemy laws. Following are some examples:
“A daily newspaper published a statement by Khatm-e-Nabuwat (Finality of Prophethood) a religious organization, reiterating their demand to remove Ahmadis from key government posts. They also demanded that the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working for Christian and Ahmadi rights should be banned.
In an article the writer said, “Ahmadis preach their faith and publish the banned literature violating the blasphemy laws so Government should put restrictions on Ahmadi community, confiscate their properties and their worship places should be put for auctions.”
After the Shangla Hill incident in Lahore where churches and other Christian properties were burnt to ashes by Muslims, Dr. Sarfaraz Naeemi, Secretary Tanzimat Madaris Diniya said: “Christian clergy had themselves set the churches on fire after the desecration incident and should be put behind the bars and not allowed to leave the country”, then added: “Christian clergy burnt their buildings like they did in Shantinagar.”
No one can deny the fact that the minority community members as well as the representatives of different international non-governmental organizations working in Pakistan have been targeted by the media. One of the newspapers says: “Some western organizations working in Pakistan in earth quack effected areas are preaching Christian faith to vulnerable people affected by the disaster.”
If even a nonentity decided to declare war on Ahmadis, the press is always at hand to project his howl to millions. For instance, the Daily Nawa-i-Waqt, in its Lahore edition of 8 March 1998, printed the following headlines in a 2-column news-report:
“Those Who Deny The End Of Prophet-hood Have No Right To Stay In Pakistan. The Time Is Now Ripe To Wage An Open War Against The Enemies Of Islam.” Then it states the following: “Mirzai Community (Ahmadis) should immigrate to London, the abode of Mirza Tahir, the apostate who is the successor to their false prophet, Ghulam Ahmad, the apostate. Put them to sword - burn their crops — demolish their places of worship, as I cannot tolerate the existence of rebels of Mohammad, the Prophet — and rebels have no right to live. It is government's duty to cleanse this pure land of all Mirzais and do away with their false mosques, as Mirzais are the worst and ugliest traitors to Islam and Pakistan; and no Muslim can tolerate the presence of these traitors and British agents in Pakistan.”
The dangerous anti-minority propaganda by Urdu Press has been persistent and unrelenting during the entire sixty years of the existence of Pakistan. It has contributed, more than its share, in further spoiling and perpetuating the communal hate climate. Its drive has been so extensive that it has created a huge gulf between minority and majority populations.
Perhaps there is some justification for including it in the newspaper as news but the editor made absolutely no editorial comment, not even a hint, on the harmful and disastrous effects of this edict from the podium. The owners-cum-editors of these publications are more concerned about their bank balance rather than playing their role in harmonizing and balancing the social and religious environment through the print media.
Pakistan’s major newspapers sometimes adopt a negative way of projecting the story. Press releases by religious leaders who are loaded with acrimony against the minorities are readily printed in full. Address given by a cleric to an audience whose number may not be in two figures, is reported often on front or back page under a two-column headline. Ahmadis are called enemies of Islam as well as of Pakistan, Christians are American agents in Pakistan, while in reality, they are neither. To excite the hatred of common man, Ahmadis are often linked in these statements with Jews and Hindus.
The government does not take this harmful and false propaganda into account, in fact, it is believed that government encourages such elements by employing a policy of deliberate and calculated negligence. On the other hand, the positive news related to minorities or regarding their fruitful contributions and views are either not published or unabashedly suppressed. This attitude validates the biased approach of the media. This has also spurred abusive language and name-calling against the minorities such as “Cunning Hindus”, “Hindu Maharaj”, “Banya”, “Mirzai”, “Essai”, “Choora” are the words commonly used for Hindus, Ahmadis and Christians in the daily newspaper of Pakistan. Yet during the course of this study we have not seen Muslims described as “Muslay” for example.
Hafiz idrees, leader of Jamat-e-Islami Punjab wrote in the Daily Khabrain that Jews were clever, Hindus were cunning and the Muslims were simpletons while RAW, MOSSAD and America formed a triangle of evil.
“Hindu was a snake which becomes more and more poisonous if you give it milk out of kindness. The Hindu will never refrain from biting you” and “A Hindu cared only for women, money and land but a Muslim cared only for the hereafter”.
“Qadianis, Christians and the Western Countries cannot be permitted to defile the Name of the Holy Prophet. Muslims can sacrifice their lives but will not allow disrespect to the Holy Prophet. US and the West will have to formulate laws to stop blasphemy against the Prophet. Qadianis are guilty of rebellion against the state when they preach their faith. They should be stopped from using Islamic terms and practices.”
The print media and especially the electronic media is also class biased. The reports regarding contribution of elite classes of Minority Communities may sometimes be glorified but the low class or poor segments of minorities are always ignored.
In short, the Press has acted as a veritable representative of a corrupt and decadent society; in fact it has, unfortunately, helped in speeding up the downhill trend, unmindful that the fall of this society will bring about the fall of its Press as well. The history may judge the Press of Pakistan harshly.
In analyzing the increasing treacherous situation in the country against minorities, sincere efforts must be made to build an environment of greater tolerance and harmony at both individual and institutional levels i.e. all the institutions must promote religious tolerance which is absolutely essential to live as full citizens. At individual level, leaders of both religious and political cadre must ensure religious harmony in their practices, speeches and actions as a responsible state entity. Sectarian violence must be curbed by enforcing laws against the keeping of arms, stopping the training of militants and checking the growth of bias based religious belief. Inter-faith dialogue can develop among people an attitude of love, tolerance and acceptance towards other religions.
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