Fawad for capacity building of institutions to counter anti-Pakistan propaganda

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said the media is an important tool of narrative building and warfare at the international level.

Addressing a seminar on “Lawfare and Pakistan”, organised by the Centre for Law and Security (CLAS) in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said that the capacity building of institutions is vital to counter the anti-Pakistan propaganda of inimical countries.

He said in the war against terrorism, over 70,000 Pakistanis were martyred but not a single book or research study was available in the West highlighting the country's sacrifices.

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Referring to a global network of over 800 pro-Indian fake websites and think tanks unearthed last year, he said they were being used to defame Pakistan and influence the decision-making process in the world.

He opined that Pakistan has several senior legal experts having great experience in international law who are an asset to the nation, but there is need to introduce modern technology at the institutional level to meet the new challenges at a fast pace.

He said that facing the challenges posed by modern times is difficult but not impossible as there is no dearth of human resources. "The challenges could be overcome with unity and capacity building of the institutions."

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Fawad said with over 85 million people dying in the Second World War, new thinking emerged that the world could not afford such wars in future and the term 'lawfare', which could be interpreted as law and security strategy, was coined.

The colonial and oppressive powers, he added, used the 'lawfare' to crush the subjugated people by using international law to achieve their ulterior motives. "Many states had been using the 'lawfare' to damage the interests of their rival countries," the minister said.