Indian media madness

Pakistan sells in India. Hence a major TRP (television rating point) stuff. Any news — bad one that is — about Pakistan makes headlines on Indian news channels. Coverage to serious news like Pakistan being grey-listed by FATF or a suicide blast is understandable, but things like power breakdowns — all sauced up to suit the viewers — too spread like a wild fire in all corners of India. Even fake and fabricated news is given too much of airtime on Indian media. A case in point is how a few years ago, all big and small television channels remained occupied, for days, with “the Taliban militants closing in on Islamabad” and “the Pakistani capital falling soon.”

On the contrary, India does not sell in Pakistan — well, apart from the Bollywood flicks. Indian elections hardly earn any mention in our news media even though the canvassing campaigns there are seldom void of verbal salvos at Pakistan. Even a young girl getting raped on a moving bus in the Indian capital and then thrown out to eventually die in a hospital becomes a subject of our television talk shows so that the rape capital tag of New Delhi could be projected all across the region.

A few recent examples are there that speak of the India media madness that knows no bounds when it comes to portraying Pakistan in a bad light. As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan scented victory in the July 25 vote, the whole of Indian media erupted into hyper-hysteria of ‘Taliban Khan’ taking over the reins. Several media outlets have already spread alerts that Khan’s victory could create serious problems for India in the region. Besides, the deployment of eight hundred thousand security personnel to stand guard on the election day and the deputy commissioner in Peshawar arranging a thousand kafans or burial shrouds were treated as biggies. Indian media is required to act in a responsible manner and stop fanning hatred of Pakistan among its people.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2018.

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