Why doesn’t TV focus on education, health, laments information minister

Too much time is wasted on trivial issues, says Shazia Marri.

KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri has said that she and her family members are ‘disgusted’ with the state of affairs on television channels, where she has to appear time and again in leading talk show programmes to defend the policies of her government.

She was speaking on “Life Based Skills Education for children” at an event organised by the NGOs RutgersWPF and Hands at the Marriott hotel on Monday evening.

She asked why TV channels didn’t talk about real issues such as education for children, health and other important problems affecting the youth of the country. But instead, the media seems to focus only on non-issues. “A person from my district (Sanghar) doesn’t know what the bloody ‘Memogate’ is,” she said in frustration.

“My own family is not in favour of watching such shows even when I come on air,” she said, adding that she even keeps her 14-year-old daughter away from it.

Earlier, the minister appreciated the performance put up by school-going girls from Matiari district. She said the Pakistani woman of today has to face a number of challenges in her daily life despite the fact that she has achieved numerous milestones.

“The only achievement can’t be that a woman today is able to get a job,” she said. “A conducive environment is also needed where she can work and live with respect.”

She urged women to stop blaming the men “all the time” and asked them to take responsibility. Narrating an incident, she said that she was shocked with women who would go to any lengths to pick a fight with their husbands when it came to buying the latest lawn suits at an exhibition, but would express their helplessness when the issue was about fighting for the education of their daughters and opposing early marriages.

In an obvious reference to herself, she said a woman should not be judged at her face value alone. “It’s not just a pretty face that matters, it’s the ability to run the show in the most efficient manner, better than men.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2011.