Daily Times

Mirali, a town in the North Waziristan tribal Agency, has been under siege for the last few days. A curfew was imposed after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast, followed by a suicide attack on a check post at Khajori, which killed five security officials. We hear two different narratives: one, the military in retaliation launched an offensive, killing around 35 militants, mostly foreigners who are using Waziristan as a safe haven. The defence minister, Khwaja Asif, also issued a statement that the military had the right to retaliate when targeted.

The second narrative is of the people of North Waziristan and their representatives in the National Assembly. Residents say that security forces shelled several villages along with the main market in Mirali, where bodies were still lying on the ground. They added that hundreds are stranded in Bannu and other parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) because of the curfew. A local journalist from North Waziristan updated his Facebook status the night the military launched an offensive saying that, in Mirali, villages of the Dawar tribe like Mosaki, Haider Khel and the adjacent market had been shelled, killing 35 innocent people and wounding many who could not be taken to the hospital because of the curfew.

During the ongoing session of parliament, on a point of order, Mullah Jamaluddin, who represents North Waziristan, said that the Pakistan army had launched a ruthless operation in Mirali. The houses, streets and bazaars of that town were replete with the dead bodies of innocent people, killed by ceaseless shelling. He alleged that some women had also been hit by deadly shells and that most victims were visitors to the town, staying at two hotels catering for truck drivers, etc. He also claimed that the army was not allowing them to collect the dead bodies and make arrangements for their burial, according to Islamic and local traditions.

Mohammad Nazir, another legislator from FATA, fully supported Mullah Jamaluddin. They rebutted the army stance on the recent incidents in North Waziristan. We do not see any media coverage of the incidents in North Waziristan; there are no talk shows, no breaking news stories, no tears brimming and sloshing in our commentators’ eyes for the reportedly innocent lives lost in the operation or for the wounded who could not be taken to the hospitals, no demands raised that even if the dead were militants, we should be respectful and let their relatives bury their loved ones. This is not for the first time that the media is either ignoring or presenting the narrative of the state only. FATA and Balochistan seem to be no-go areas for the media, especially the broadcasting media. One example is that of the Mehsud tribe’s displacement from South Waziristan for more than four years. No talk shows, no headlines, no editorial and, at the very least, not even news tickers about the miseries of the Mehsud tribesmen.

We are so good at repeating history. This is exactly the same month when Pakistan was comprehensively defeated in Bangladesh, on December 16, 1971. The following day, the front page headline of a major English daily was: ‘Victory on all fronts’. The outrage shown by our media over the hanging of Abdul Qadir Molla, ‘the butcher of Mirpur’, and the coverage it gave to this sordid affair is beyond comprehension. Frankly speaking, Qadir Molla was a criminal and was rewarded for the heinous crimes he committed against innocent Bengalis.

The mother of a Bihari friend in Islamabad wept watching the unprecedented coverage the media was giving to Molla’s execution. She said that not a single word had been spoken about the Biharis who are languishing in camps in Bangladesh or for those who came to Karachi. They are still living in a state of statelessness. The relatives of people who have gone missing in Balochistan set off on a gruelling 1,200 kilometre march from Karachi to Islamabad hoping to gain public support and pressure the government into freeing relatives who have disappeared.

How shamelessly the media has ignored the Baloch marchers, who include the elderly, women and children. One wonders how the media would react if the march was on the General Trunk Road (GT Road) and the missing people were not Baloch but from a particular ethnic group. They would be falling over each other to cover it for hours on end. We know how the media reacts when Hazara Shias die in hundreds in suicide blasts — some lesser humans cease living in a distant land. ‘This cannot be an act of a Muslim’ is what we are told. Chapter closed.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman was aptly right when he said on the floor of the house: “The people of Punjab are not feeling the heat of the violence going on in Karachi, FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Thank Allah that there is peace in Punjab. We are burning in this situation.”

The perception is getting stronger that the Pakistani media has been very selective in its coverage. It presents only the state’s narrative and sides with the army’s policy. The operation in Mirali and the long march for the missing Baloch people are very recent examples showing how the media intentionally provides a cover-up to human rights abuses. Unfortunately, those who needed to be heard are left unheard by the media. Only the media houses have benefited from media freedom while the people in FATA and Balochistan feel even more alienated.

The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at kaharzalmay@yahoo.com