Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Print and electronic media restrictions
In the age of the internet, where flow and access to information is a click away, undue excessive restrictions and censorship on the traditional print and electronic media will only compromise their credibility. If there is a major political event taking place, or an astronomical rise in basic food items, or people are being defrauded of their lifelong savings by a few within powerful land mafia and private/statutory housing societies such as CDA E12/4 general balloting in 1989, or DHA Islamabad Valley project and the traditional media fails to report it, it is they whose credibility is dented.
Instead of shooting the messenger, a responsible government must address the problems. The print media has its own editorial board to review every major news item published for its authenticity and any adverse content sowing seeds of ethnic or sectarian strife and messages of hate crime. Similarly, the electronic television media can be regulated.
It must be understood that news of public interest, especially when state organizations or powerful members of the elitist rich and powerful of this country are involved in breach of trust acts which violate basic constitutional rights of citizens must never be blocked. Public interest must prevail, otherwise the traditional media will become irrelevant and the internet based social media take over.
ALI MALIK TARIQ
Lahore
Respect
Sindh Police!
Sindh Police has given many sacrifices to establish peace in the province. They work day and night for our security and safety but in return they don’t get due respect from all classes of peoples. Though it is Eid, Moharram, Christmas, Easter or any religious day police perform duty without holiday. The incident happened day before yesterday with IGP shocked whole department and left everyone in deep thinking. Everyone in department think that if the IGP is not safe and is used by other institutes then what about them. This is also against the law. Let everyone work themselves. We salute Sindh Police for its sacrifices and we are standing with them.
ANTHONY SAHOTRA
Larkana
Late metro
The Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus from Peshawar Morr to the new Islamabad airport is likely to face delay. Construction of the extension project, which started in 2017, is also facing shortage of fund. Minister of Communications Murad Saeed told that this project would be completed in 2019-20 but government has not started work on this project.
Mr Saeed said the project requires altogether Rs:4.57 billion for completion. However, the public service development program 2019-20 provided a grant of Rs: 1.25 billion for the project according to the Minister. If the government does not increase annual allocation the project might not be completed until 2022. The project will provide much needed public transport access to the airport on the city’s western suburbs.
In a letter by NHA Chairman Sikandar Qayoom about pending bill payments to project contractors, it is mentioned that 95% and 86% physical work is complete on the first and second packages respectively. But 30 months after construction began the entire bus line is still not operational. I am requesting the Prime Minister to gear up work on this project for public facility.
NITASHA FAROOQ
Rawalpindi
Hindu festival, Dussehra
Dussehra, also known as Vijayadashami, is a combination of two words, ‘Vijaya’ meaning ‘victory’, and ‘Dashami’ meaning ‘tenth’. Hence, Dussehra is celebrated on the 25th of October every year with great enthusiasm and fervour. The festival is of tremendous cultural significance for all of us irrespective of caste, creed, colour or religion and is celebrated with gaiety and love. Even though Dussehra is a Hindu festival, people from various religions enjoy themselves in a united way. On Dussehra, the streets are decorated with bright lights and songs are played from loudspeakers that come from all directions and mix to create beautiful chaos along with the voices and cheers of the people who crowd the street to have a good time.
Delicious roadside street foods and small souvenirs are sold by vendors during the ten days of Navratri. Navratri is the festival, which is devoted to the worship of goddess Shakti. It is the celebration for nine days. During these nine days, people worship and pray to goddess Shakti. Navratri has a special significance in Hinduism and is one of the most awaited festivals across the country.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
5th generation war
“For the present, we are at war and do not grasp the dimensions of the conflict.” Ralph Peters. In the past few decades. Fifth-generation warfare (5GW) is the battle of perceptions and information. 5GW is also a cultural and moral war, which distorts the perception of the masses to give a manipulated view of the world and politics. Moreover, India is involved in the destabilization of Pakistan; the best example of this is the capture of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving officer of the Indian Navy. His capture was a big victory for Pakistan in this asymmetric war.
Concurrently, India has been operating 265 websites in 65 countries flashing out anti-Pakistan propaganda, mostly in Europe. These websites were run by Srivastava Group, a front office of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW. Therefore, it is crucial for Pakistani nation to be able to understand these fourth and fifth-generation warfare tactics to better defend its territories from unlawful intervention, propaganda and misinformation.
SARFRAZ SOOMRO
Sukkur
