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Internet advocacy: Blogs in Pakistan – no more a silent revolution
Imran Khan makes surprise entry, steals the show at the Blog Awards 2011.
PTI chief Imran Khan, who made a surprise appearance at the Pakistan Blog awards held in Karachi, said bloggers are part of a revolution. PHOTO: SIDRAH MOIZ KHAN
KARACHI:
To the audience’s delight, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan made a surprise entrance at the second Pakistan Blog Awards that kicked off Friday evening at the Regent Plaza hotel.
Acknowledging bloggers in Pakistan, Imran said that a silent revolution is building up in Pakistan and that the bloggers are a vital part of the revolution.
“Political class is in a state of shock due to this revolution,” the PTI chief said. Stand-up comedian Sami Shah had his reservations about Imran’s presence, saying, “It turned political all of a sudden”. However, Shah said that the event was a positive step.
The awards were attended by prominent, as well as the not-so-prominent faces of the Pakistani blogosphere and cyberspace. The popular opinion remained that the blogosphere has shown an exponential growth.
“This year around, it is great,” blogger Sana Saleem said. “You can gauge the importance of media from the fact that almost every news organisation’s website has a blog now,” she added.
Applause roared across the hall, which housed around 300 people, as Rabia Gharib, the host for the event started to announce the winners.
“Each nomination represents a different hue of Pakistan,” Gharib said.
“The environment is electric,” remarked CEO P@sha Jehan Ara. “Blogs are definitely going to go a long way.”
Jehan Ara, who began blogging a few years back, said that there were about 25 blog nominations in every category.
However, prominent talk-show host Faisal Qureshi said, “Pakistani blogs have quantity, but don’t have quality. We are a nation of complainers, not advocacy. We should be more responsible about our content,” he added.
“Internet usage is converging in Pakistan, which is helping new and social media,” said Badar Khushnood, the Google Pakistan’s country consultant. “There is always a certain level of noise and hype, but in my belief, blogs have done a lot of good to citizen journalism.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2011.
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My best wishes with Imran Khan and I am sure he will be next Prime Minister of Pakistan. I hope he will deliver and resolve issues.
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For this statement…Stand-up comedian Sami Shah had his reservations about Imran’s presence, saying, “It turned political all of a sudden”.
I have never understood why some people consider it a hallmark of sophistication to call everything political a taboo…how can you be apolitical when it touches pretty much every waking moment of your life (take load shedding for example, which is an outcome of institutional failure triggered by our sub-optimal political choices)
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He ruined our ceremony by his appearance. khan Sb is trying his level best to tap Karachi youth in PTI by all marketing strategies. Inquiliab doesn’t come through sms or emails.
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the environment was electric?
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@Sohail:
wouldl you have much rather Zardari or Nawaz Sharif attend??
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agreed omar
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IK the new obama of Pakistan.Recommend
Please don’t insult Imran by comparing him with Obama. We people living in USA know what a failure he has been. Obama is also intrumental in killing so many innocent people ( alongwith a few terrorists ) by drone attacks, while IK wants to stop, em. IK is also a handsome person.Recommend
IK should synthesise a new political set up in Pakistan which can mutate the country . A set up that can handle the situation in an entirely different way , could dare to take action demanded by the majority of the people in the world even if the action could face severe opposition at home . It apeares to me that IK can do it .He declaired to have a good relation with US and so he can have Mussarraf and MQM .
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Prior to his recent successful rally in Lahore that drew at least 100,000 people, Imran Khan’s energized young supporters employed social media to spread his message, and the participants and observers offered play-by-play accounts of the rally on Twitter. This is a first in Pakistan’s political history for a serious contender for high office.
With near 265,000 Facebook fans, Imran Khan is only surpassed by former President Pervez Musharraf’s 433,000 fans. None of the other politicians come close.
Half the population of Pakistan is below 20 years and 60 per cent is below 30 years. With this youthful population and rapidly expanding Internet access, the use of social media is growing in the country. Over 5,000,000 people in Pakistan use Facebook. Although this only targets about 3% of the population, this translates into more than a quarter of the Internet users in Pakistan having a Facebook account. Half of them are between the ages of 18-24, and an additional quarter are between ages 25-34.
With expanding educational opportunities, rising middle class and growing access and use of the modern social media by the nation’s youth, Pakistan is now in the midst of a dramatic social and political transformation that is likely to change the face of politics in the coming decades. The arrival of this new era has the potential to eventually end the old feudal style politics of patronage, and replace it with a truly participatory democracy and vastly improved governance.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/11/imran-khans-social-media-campaign.html
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Good luck with the Jalsa
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@Falcon:
If Imram Khan was not trying to get support for next elections, he would not make this surprise visit. That is political gimick/
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PakSoldiers.com bags Best Sector Coverage Award !
Wohoooo Am Happy :)
IK – Thumbs Up man, I wasn’t expecting that IK ‘d be there !!!
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Must read Rabbia Gharib and Sami Shah don’t mind and take some positive criticism
http://www.pakistanprobe.com/2011/12/pakistan-blog-awards-2011-review.html
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SAM [ student angel mother] which is an international magazine for well being and specifically protects students from violation is also part of this revolution. lets Trust in God!
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