Tackling extremism: We are to blame as well, agree journalists and politicians

SAFMA organises seminar to discuss solutions.

KARACHI:

The attack on 14-year-old children’s rights activist Malala Yousufzai has jolted politicians, civil society and journalists into action. Some of them gathered at a seminar organised on Saturday by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) to discuss how to curb extremism and violence.

There were many politicians on the panel, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Haider Abbas Rizvi, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s deputy secretary general, Malik Sikandar, Pakistan Muslim Leage-Nawaz’s Nihal Hashmi, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional MPA Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Nadir Akmal Leghari and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Aleem Adil Shaikh.

Other panellists included journalist Zubeida Mustafa, poet Fahmida Riaz, economist Dr Kaiser Bengali and Civil hospital’s former medical superintendent Dr Tipu Sultan. Though they disagreed on many points, the panellists agreed that they were partly responsible for giving way to extremism, poverty, violence and intolerance.

“Extremism has been steadily rising in Pakistan which is a clear indication of lawlessness,” said Babar Ayaz, the managing director of Mediators, a public relations and communications consultancy. He added that according to Jinnah Institute’s report for 2010-2011, there have been 181 terrorist attacks in which 534 people were killed and 1,391 were injured. “The report indicates that 85 per cent of the attacks were sectarian.”

Dr Bengali said that violence is rampant in Pakistan because the law can be altered to suit anybody’s whims and fancies. MQM’s Haider Abbas Rizvi argued that factors such as poverty, inflation, unemployment and illiteracy have enraged people and made them desperate. “They have nowhere to turn to and are confused.”

The discussion turned towards brainwashing and its effects. “A change needs to be brought about in the media’s mindset rather than that of the extremists,” said Dr Tauseef Ahmed, the chairperson of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology’s mass communication department.

Dr Tipu Sultan said that politicians work like “blind men leading other blind men” and blamed them for the country’s problems. Supreme Court Bar Association’s president, Yasin Azad said, “The role we played in Afghanistan [in 1979] has come back to haunt us.” He added that nobody is paying attention to Balochistan even though the SCBA provided a platform for the parties to talk about it. He also said that the media should refrain from bias.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2012.