Daily Times

In the rural areas of Punjab, it is considered immodest for a wife to call her husband by name. So, she uses metaphors like munnay de abba (father of the little one) etc. With time, such useless old traditions are fading away even in the heartland of Punjab but looking at a few directives coming from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and through the interim orders of the apex courts, one wonders if the state has taken up the tradition vowing to keep it alive.

One PEMRA directive asks media organisations to blackout all militant and terror outfits including those implied by the Indians in the Mumbai attacks of 2009. The other is a temporary court order by the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordering a ban on the appearance of the MQM supremo in the media against which PEMRA has issued the same directives to the media concerning the exposure of Altaf Hussain. Now, mentioning Mr Hussain on any media outlet becomes a violation of the mentioned PEMRA directive. From this, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the state is turning into a comedy of errors.

Although the two cases are different in nature, one cannot help but see the irrationality in the approach taken in both instances. Let us take the approach taken towards militant and terror outfits. There is no denying that our media outlets have been going head over heals to glorify, project and highlight militant and terror outfits, and their leaders. There have been anchors and opinion makers in the business of defending and projecting these outlets and their leaders even when innocent Pakistanis and brave security forces men lose their lives at the hands of these outfits. And, in overall media discourse, these terror sympathetic voices have been so loud that any rational voice calling this violent irrationality what it is has been silenced. But the problem will not be solved until we understand the roots of this near unanimous, favourable coverage and try to eradicate what lies therein.

For one, militancy or the lack of it does not get entrenched into the mainstream of common Pakistani discourse. Its appearance in common discourse becomes strongest after terror incidents and is mainly aimed at opposing it. Though most remain confused as to who the enemy is thanks to the dominant noise in the media, there is no doubt that there would be unanimous public consensus on eradicating the entities responsible for such barbaric acts. Without getting into such a blame game, rationally in such an atmosphere, the dominance of pro-terror discourse in the media can be attributed to two of the following: either there have been elements in the state patronising those spreading such discourse or the elements of the state are failing to protect those opinion makers who could raise any counter argument to this terror sympathetic view. With at least three anti-militant anchors/opinion makers in self-imposed exile and at least five of them attacked in the last decade, the latter seems the bigger reason for the dominance of pro-militancy elements in the media. So banning the naming of terror outfits will not change anything on the ground. The state needs to devise a mechanism to protect the rational and sane voices that could counter extremist ideology through a counter narrative. This is the only way the battle of hearts and minds can be won; without winning it we stand no chance of eradicating the menace of religious extremism and militancy.

The concern on the part of elements within the security establishment is that the elements that can best manage an anti-militancy narrative have been historically anti-establishment. A closer look and the anti-establishment stance of most is actually there because of the establishment’s support for militant and extremist elements. So, trust can be built between the two if clear signals are given that both sides are now partners in eradicating violence and extremism. The security establishment needs to initiate a dialogue with opinion makers and thought leaders who are considered liberal and anti-establishment because of the establishment’s support of extremist elements in the past.

As for banning Altaf Hussain, the ban is even more absurd. For one, I fail to realise how and why the focus of an operation launched to eradicate religious extremists turned into a fight against the MQM. Not that I am suggesting that the MQM has not been involved in dubious activities and not that I say that the writ of the state needs to be established in Karachi but religious extremism, unlike MQM gang behaviour, is an existential threat the state faces. The operation against the MQM has been a distraction from that, stretching the security forces thin. When all is said and done, the MQM is a party of the system and is a political reality with mass support among a large section of the Urdu-speaking population. This support is not built in thin air on media-driven steroids but is rooted on the streets as has been demonstrated in elections recently and in the past. So, even if Mr Hussain and his antics are to be dealt with, the state needs to act with extra caution and care in this regard. Again, in the case of Karachi, the way forward is ensuring the indiscriminate writ of the state, not only in Karachi but also in Punjab to rob anyone playing the Karachi victim card. It will also require letting an organic political alternative appear in Karachi rather than parachuting political entities to the city.

No one can deny that Operation Zarb-e-Azab (the current onslaught against extremist militancy) was initiated by the army alone despite resistance from the ruling PML-N, key opposition of the PTI and religious parties. General Raheel Sharif has been instrumental in taking this courageous plunge that his predecessors could not dare to. However, with such shenanigans, the operation is fast losing focus. Whether they are trapped into side steps of lesser priority by elements sympathising with extremists or whether there are issues with internal planning and execution, it is time the army goes back to the drawing board to steer focus. May the force be with them in eradicating the menace of extremism.

The author can be reached on twitter at @aalimalik