President Masood Urges Media To Present A True Picture Of IOK

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has urged the media to paint a true picture of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK)

ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Apr, 2019 ) Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has urged the media to paint a true picture of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

Addressing a seminar titled "Role of Pakistani Media in Mitigating Diplomatic Pressures" in Islamabad, he said state-run media enjoys great legitimacy but it lacks the capability to influence the world opinion and needs to increase its global outreach and influence.

He, however, appreciated the positive role played by Pakistani media in recent Pakistan-India stand-off whereas Indian media emerged as a hawk by advocating war policies of the Indian state and promoting the war hysteria. “We are today facing disinformation about Pakistan’s way of life, country’s ideology and its national security paradigm.

We are facing constant hostility from India and Indian media,” President Khan said and added that war hysteria whipped by Indian state and fuel and fed by Indian media in the wake of Pulwama incident aims to cast Pakistan in a certain image, he emphasized. We must counter all these threats by making an effective partnership between media and the diplomacy and there should be more informal and in-depth briefings for the journalists by the diplomats so that they (journalists) should understand the perspective of the state. He went on to say that our journalists have to develop the competitive edge and skills to compete and counter their Indian counterparts, who have penetrated in different global media organizations and using media houses against Pakistan. He said the promotion of national narrative is not only a responsibility of a certain government department, but it was the responsibility of the entire state and the nation and the media has an important role to play in this regard.

He thanked and complemented Rana Athar Javed of Pakistan House for organizing this very timely seminar on an important topic and said that the present landscape of the country and time demands that journalists should take responsibility for highlighting the issues that were good for the country and discourage negative campaigns against Pakistan. Underlining the need for a truly international media network to highlight national agenda and promote the state policies and national objectives by communicating with the rest of the world, President Masood referred to media network like Turkish Radio and TV (TRT), Central China TV and Aljazeera that have been broadcasting to millions of households in hundreds of countries and promoting the interests of their respective countries Speaking on the occasion Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said media diplomacy in conflict resolution has great significance. Describing mass media as a powerful tool for diplomacy, the Spokesperson said Pakistani media deserves praise for its positive role in recent Pak-India tension and called upon the international community to play its due role to solve the longstanding issue of Kashmir. The event was also addressed by the former defense minister, Lt Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi, Rana Athar Javed, Director General Pakistan House, Dr Abid Hussain, Associate Professor Department of Digitalization Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, Waqas Majeed, and others. The seminar was attended by academics, diplomats, civil-military bureaucrats, representatives of national and international media and the university students.