Light Within: Call for Transparent, Responsible and Good Governance

Call for Transparent, Responsible and Good Governance
Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Independent press is a new found luxury we have started to enjoy. For the first time, media, print as well as electronic, is trying to tell the public what they need to know – the misadventures of those sitting in power corridors.

Media took a bold stance after the success of movement to restore the judiciary, and more so after the apex court decision against NRO . Media is now trying to dig the names of those loan defaulters and of those who go their loan waved off.

As if media was going a little too far, some of the People’s Party leaders have been talking a little irresponsibly threatening media anchor persons. The daily News editorial today reads,

Senior PPP leaders, while addressing the provincial party council on Monday, threatened physical harm to four journalists of the Jang Group. Rana Aftab promised an aggressive reaction while Raja Riaz, thundering like a Punjabi film villain, vowed to "chop off their hands" (mercifully not their heads) if they didn't mend their 'anti-government' ways. It is indeed unfortunate, and alarming, that the PPP leadership is behaving in a manner that is not only unsavoury but falls within the ambit of criminality. The anti-media PPP campaign was launched with criticism by Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and PPP Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab. Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer then joined in. Now this criticism has transformed into real threats.

Legally speaking, Raja Riaz can be booked for making such a real and blatant threat, which was not one made in a moment of unguarded fury but was the logical culmination of a longwinded argument which preceded the ominous warning. Threats are nothing new for us. We have faced rough weathers, suffered hardships, seen business closures and undergone incarcerations. We have seen it all. But so far such behaviour had predominantly remained the forte of successive uniformed despots. No longer, it seems. A culture of elected autocracy sired by moral bankruptcy and growing political isolation appears to be taking roots within the ruling dispensation. It would be advisable for Raja Riaz and his ilk to put their own house in order, provide good governance and fight corruption to improve their political standing instead of threatening journalists. We can take care of our principles and ourselves. Though the seriousness of the threat does not escape us, we cannot help being amused by this shameless display of sycophancy, in which threats are being made in Lahore to actually score loyalty points in Islamabad. What remains worrying is that these sycophants do not know where and when to stop.

Earlier last evening (the evening marked the end of the shortest day and beginning longest night of the year by the way) Kamran Khan – one of the anchor persons targeted by PPP leaders – in a special broadcast reiterated very what media has been uncovering in the recent past.

This brings some question in my mind. Are we poised to lose the independence of media once again? Why is government opening yet another front against one of the important organs of the state instead of trying to give transparent and good governance? Anyone has the answer?

Labels: Governance, Media

posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, December 23, 2009,

4 Comments:

At 4:09 PM PKT, jalalHB said...: There has never been any government in Pakistan that ever tolerated media. But at the same time dont you agree that our media is also biased and some have their hidden agendas?
At 4:11 PM PKT, Security Camera Systems said...: Government is opposing the independence of media because it doesn't want to expose the blatant corruption taking place in the country.

It's possible that there was more freedom of press under a dictatorship than under a democracy.
At 5:40 PM PKT, Shirazi said...: I agree with JalalHB. And that is the problem.
At 9:48 PM PKT, Deb S. said...: I've participated in videoconferences and highly recommend them. I've also seen the technology used successfully to enhance classroom learning at the primary and secondary level.