Critical Review About Pakistan In International Media

According to Transparency International Pakistan’s ranking in the list of corruptcountries improved during Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s government. List of 177 Countries has been issued by Transparency International in which Pakistan’sranking is at No. 127 with 28 points and neighboring country India is ranked 94 with 36 points.

The corruption in Pakistan last year’s list at No. 139, but the Government of Prime minister Mian Muhammad  Nawaz Sharif Corruption has been less but in India there is the same situation and not any kind of improvement have been seen yet.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PRESS FREEDOM IN PAKISTAN

Syed Abdul Siraj (PhD)

ABSTRACT

Press freedom has never been consistent in Pakistan . Different regimes used legal and constitutional means to control the press from public debate and criticism. In it sixty years of history, Pakistan has been ruled by military more than the civilian. Press in Pakistan usually faces threats, violence, economic pressure, etc.  The country’s law on blasphemy has been used against journalists. Poor literacy, urban orientation of the press, and the high price of newspapers are detrimental factors for the under development of print media in Pakistan . Beside these barricades, one can now easily notice a shift from the centralized broadcasting to an open competition broadcast system in Pakistan , enabling the audience to enjoy more power of selective exposure. All governments including the military say high about the press freedom but often thing the other way round when the press criticizes the government. However, during the Musharraf military and civil regime for about nine year, press was operated in a mixed character. In view of this situation, Pakistan ‘s place in the Reporters sans Frontiers – Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index is 152 out of a total of 167 for the year 2007. However the new government of the Pakistan People’s party has promised for maximum freedom of the press.

ISLAMABAD: Freedom Network [FN], Pakistan’s first media watchdog organization, has demanded of all the four provincial governments and administrations in other special zones to each create an office of special public prosecutor to exclusively deal with cases of attacks on media in areas of their jurisdiction in Pakistan where impunity is making the situation worse.

The demand was made to coincide with November 23, the International Day Against Impunity. A global campaign is under way to highlight the need for tackling impunity against media. Pakistan is among the five worst countries of the world to practice journalism according to international watchdog groups on freedom of expression. Over 90 journalists have been killed in the last decade in Pakistan with the killers of not a single journalist, identified, arrested, prosecuted and punished making the country one of the worst cases of impunity.

“As long as the issue of impunity is not addressed by investigating the murders of these journalists, as well as kidnapping, intimidation and harassment cases involving working journalists, these attacks will continue thanks to the prevalent impunity,” FN said in the statement.

Pakistan – Politics

Pakistan’s political system is broken: its political parties are ineffective, functioning for decades as instruments of two families, the Bhuttos and the Sharifs, two clans, both corrupt. The Bhutto-Zardari axis may be considered “left leaning,” while the Sharif brothers may be considered “right leaning.” The Sharifs are much closer to Pakistan’s military, and to Pakistan’s Muslim fundamentalists. Punjabi, the Sharifs represent Pakistan’s major ethnic bloc, and the devout Sunni Sharif has an advantage over the Bhuttos, who have Shiite ties.

Pakistan held successful elections in February 2008 and has a coalition government. Voting in Pakistan is intensely personal, with parties gathering votes primarily through allegiance to an individual candidate who is either a feudal or has a proven ability to deliver services. Pakistan is a developing country with some modern facilities in major cities but limited in outlying areas. The infrastructure of areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) regions were devastated by an October 8, 2005, earthquake and have not yet been fully rebuilt. Massive flooding in 2010 destroyed infrastructure throughout the Indus River valley.

Pakistan continues to face extraordinary challenges on the security and law enforcement front. The country has suffered greater military, law enforcement, and civilian casualties in fighting extremism and terrorism than almost any other country. In the midst of this difficult security situation, Pakistan’s civilian government remains weak, ineffectual, and corrupt.

Pakistan’s long term stability depends more and more upon the government’s willingness to confront difficult economic policy choices it has long sought to avoid. Pakistan must begin to address a breadth of economic challenges that would overwhelm many emerging economies: overhauling the tax infrastructure, eliminating over $4 billion in circular debt in its energy sector, altering revenue sharing agreements among the provinces and the Federal Government, reversing a contraction in consumer credit and expanding financial access, removing price controls in commodity markets, preventing a crisis in water distribution, and breaking Pakistan’s dependence on external financial support.

A number of extremist groups within Pakistan continue to target US citizens and other Western interests and Pakistani officials. Terrorists have demonstrated a willingness and capability to attack targets where U.S. citizens are known to congregate or visit. Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations, bombings — including vehicle-borne explosives and improvised explosive devices — assassinations, carjackings, assaults, and kidnappings. Pakistani military forces are currently engaged in a campaign against extremist elements across many areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, formerly known as Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). In response to this campaign, militants have increased attacks against both civilian and government targets in Pakistan’s cities and in late 2010 launched several coordinated attacks against Pakistani government and civilian targets, especially in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies.

Top 5 Parties Votes & Seats in General Elections[edit]

General Elections, 2008

General Elections, 2013

Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaaf (PTI) party announced 18 august 2014 that its lawmakers have all decided to resign from the 34 seats they control in the country’s National Assembly. The party also said its lawmakers would resign from all provincial parliaments with the exception of the legislature in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, which the party controls. That announcement meant Pakistan would have to organize a raft of fresh elections.

Tens of thousands of protesters have forced their way past a barricade of shipping containers in the Pakistani capital as they marched on parliament to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Some 40,000 Pakistani riot police and paramilitaries had used the containers to seal the “Red Zone” — the diplomatic and political district of Islamabad — before the march began.

Police did not intervene 19 august 2014 when protesters broke down barricades and forced their way into the high-security “Red Zone.” The area houses the parliament and offices of the prime minister and president along with other key government buildings. In an unexpected reaction to the political tensions, Pakistan’s powerful military called for a “meaningful dialogue” to resolve the crisis. In a brief statement, it warned that the situation requires “patience, wisdom and sagacity from the all stakeholders to end the prevailing impasse.”