Marriyum Urges South Asian Media Fraternity To Act As Ambassador For Changing Perceptions And Conflict Resolution In Region

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2018 ) :Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ms Marriyum Aurangzeb said�on Saturday�that South Asian media fraternity should become ambassador for changing perceptions and conflict resolution in the region.

Addressing the opening ceremony of South Asia Media Conference here, she said media communication would never be result oriented if it was devoid of people's communication. She said dialogue was key in conflict resolution and media could become a tool to create enabling environment for that purpose.

She said media moguls having rich experience attending the conference should ponder over the issues being faced by the region and give their recommendations for their resolution. She said the bonds which would develop among the media fraternity during this conference, if taken advantage of, then the cultural bonds, dialogue and communication and people to people contacts could reshape the media landscape in the region and help in conflict resolution in the South Asia.

The minister said media usually attached importance to political conflicts while ignoring�very important issues like natural resources, water and health which required adequate focus. Citing example of Pakistan and Bangladesh, she said, the increase in the population of these two countries would�not only affect them but also the entire region as the natural resources transcended the borders.

Marriyum said unfortunately media gave lesser coverage to topics of environment, climate change, population increase, malnutrition, stunting and unemployment but when those diseases and problems resulted in mortalities, or whenever there was an emergency, the media got alerted and alarmed.

She said in the past lessons were learnt from millennium development goals in South Asia and now sustainable development goals were also a challenge and one important component of the SDGs was creation of awareness through media tools and dynamics.

The minister said Pakistan was passing through a defining moment of its history as it was completing historic ten years of uninterrupted democratic rule which was a heartening fact.

She said democracy had inbuilt mechanism of constant conflict resolution.

She said the media in Pakistan was highly vibrant but it was going through challenging times. The minister said as democracy was passing through evolution, the media landscape was also evolving in the country.

She said Pakistani media was highly vibrant and a flagship law of Right to Information Act was promulgated last year to provide access to media and general public to public sector information and to ensure transparency in governance.

She said rise of social media was a reality and challenge and opportunity at the same time as youth bulge was depending on this medium and it was crucial to engage them positively. She said like the west, eastern countries also faced the problem of fake news which should be at the centre stage of conflict resolution debate and the counterparts from media in South Asia should define some Parameters and agree on some principles in this regard.

She said another area that could build bridges was people to people contacts and cultural exchanges among the regional countries. Referring to China Pakistan Economic Corridor, she said that cultural segment of the project has given value addition to the project.

She said screen tourism was another source for taking one country's culture to other countries and called for exchange of films, the greatest medium to promote core values of a society. She said during past four and a half years, Pakistan had made landmark achievements in war against terrorism due to unprecedented sacrifices of the Armed forces, law enforcement agencies and general public.

Marriyum said when the present government came to power in 2013, about 2600 incidents of terrorism were registered but now over 92 per cent reduction had been recorded and only 160 incidents were reported.

She said more challenging was the war of perception and expressed the hope that the participants of the conference�after watching the real Pakistan would help in dispelling�negative perception in their countries about Pakistan.