LONDON, July 17, (APP):Majority of Pakistanis do not support elements aligned with extremism and sectarianism and the upcoming national elections provide them with opportunity to choose a Government that focus on their uplift and tackle social and economic problems vigorously.
This was stated by Hameed Haroon,,Chief Executive Officer, Herald Publications, while speaking on “Pakistan: Politics, Media and Conflict in an election year” at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) on Tuesday.
Sir Hillary Synott, the former British High Commissioner, chaired the proceeding.
Mr.Haroon dwelt at length on various issues and challenges facing Pakistan, and also traced the linkages of Al-Qaeda with the extreme Islamic groups in Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He said Pakistan began to come under the influence of predominant Islamic influence during the rule of late General Ziaul Haq. However, he regretted that successive political governments after General Zia failed to reverse this trend.
It was only after the events of 9/11 that the present Government in Pakistan began to tackle this issue, he said. But according to the media executive, the problem was far from over and poses a strong challenge to Islamabad.
He thought that Waziristan will focus prominently during the upcoming election while hinting on the possibility of the success of Pakistan People’s party and MMA in forming governments either at the Centre or the provinces.
Mr.Haroon felt that MQM has retreated after May 12 incident but still has the potential in Karachi. He said barring Nawaz Sharif, there could be many parties and candidates both to form the government and for the post of prime ministership.
The media in Pakistan, he said, has done generally good in the country but the journalists face potential threat to their lives while on active duties. In this regard, he referred to the Red Mosque episode when a TV cameraman was killed and other media men injured during cross firing.
He said formation of a rational government must the utmost desire of all Pakistanis.
