People Like You

Wednesday 28th November 2007

I wrote my first article for the BBC for very personal reasons. I am interested in pursuing a career in the media, and I wanted to make my mum proud. Therefore I have been literally blown away by the response to my article. People have seemed truly grateful to me for offering a different perspective to the one portrayed on a daily basis in the national news, and the experience has been quite touching.

You can read Andrew's first article about the reality of the State of Emergency by clicking the link below:

Protest in Karachi

It has made me realise that it is so easy for people to share their experience of something and yet so powerful at the same time. I guess this is the role that responsible free media should play in society; providing a platform for as many viewpoints as possible to be voiced and shared. And I think it was the presence of a different perspective, rather than the brilliance of the article or the views put forward, that made my article so well received with the few that read it.

Curbing the media

However in recent weeks the free media in Pakistan has been curbed heavily by the government under the justification of maintaining public order and safety. This has included at times the suspension of world service news channels such as the BBC and CNN. I don’t want to get into the politics of this and I am far from condemning or condoning the action of the government, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the active response of the public in regards to it.

Andrew Webster

This response was really brought home to me when I attended a protest about a week back. I had been told by many, including the British High Commission, to avoid protests at all costs due to the risks of being arrested, becoming a victim of violence or even a suicide attack. Therefore when my boss asked me if I wanted to see the ‘vigil’ outside of the Geo television studios, I was a little uneasy. But he assured me it would be fine and my temptation was too great to be overly sensible. So we went along…

To give you a bit of background, Geo is one of the most popular private Pakistan television companies who were taken off the air on November 3rd under the state of emergency. However they had continued to operate via satellite from Dubai until pressure from President Musharraf forced the Dubai government to take them off the air.

Peaceful - and positive

Compared to what I had expected I can only describe the vigil as a group of people having a good time in the name of what they believe is right. There was this amazing sense of community and solidarity among the people there, something I had not seen in Pakistan before. Although representing the instability of the present, surely such an atmosphere signals the potential positives of the future.

Candlelit protest in Karachi

The scene was 1,500 people down a side street next to the Geo studios. Images of the vigil were being projected onto the walls of the building. Marquees surrounded the side of the road, some with TV presenters chanting, some with people making protest signs and one with the petition to re-open the station being signed by hundreds of people. There were TV cameras interviewing protesters and loud music being played out over the crowd. I even saw people dancing. And everyone was holding a candle. It was brilliant; I can’t put into words how positive and fresh the atmosphere felt.  

I am far from telling you that every protest has been like this, as I am well aware of the isolated violence and baton charging of the past weeks. This is little more than a snap shot. But what I am saying is that here is an example of an injustice the people were passionate about, something that affected them directly and in response they had the maturity to protest for what they believed in, in a good spirited and effective way. Such incidents offer glimmers of hope in a politically apathetic and currently undemocratic society.

Now I wouldn’t want to portray myself as some sort of courageous activist leading the campaign for a free press, it was just by chance that I came to be at the protest and we weren’t there for long. But it did make me re-evaluate some of my thoughts on the Pakistani political mentality.

Andrew Webster (centre) with friends

At first I was surprised and even frustrated by the amount of apathy towards the political situation here. I initially found Pakistani politics fascinating and it evoked different emotions within me everyday. However in recent weeks I have become tired of it, watching the same old faces jockey for power and popularity on a daily basis, while the people have seemingly little impact on the outcome. Furthermore I have only been here for 3 months so I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have been watching it for the past 20 years. No wonder there is apathy and disillusion.

But the reactions to the media curbs have been refreshing. People can see their rights being infringed and so recognise a cause worth shouting about. Whether right or wrong, destructive or constructive such expression and participation has to be seen as an extremely positive sign for a Pakistan of the future led by its people.