PAKISTAN PRESS STANCE ON GOVERNMENT-TTP TALKS: ANALYSIS OF THE EDITORIAL COVERAGE IN DAILIES; THE NATION AND THE NEWS

Abstract

The study at hand is an effort to look on to the stances and opinions produced by some major dailies in their editorials on peace talks between Pakistani Government and Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Peace talks in Pakistan have been the core issue in the country for the last few months and have been covered and framed by national and international media accordingly. Since the inception of new regime of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) in the country the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been stressing the need of peace in the country. For the purpose he has, many times, shown his concerns and efforts to cope with the issue. On January 29, 2014 Mr. Nawaz formed and announced a four-member committee to start peace talks with TTP. After few days, TTP also announced the names of their representatives. Both the parties selected well known individuals in Pakistani politics, media and religious life as members of their negotiating committees. Government nominated RahimullahYusufzai, a known journalist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Major Amir, an old Nawaz loyalist who was part of the Midnight Jackals plot to bring down the first Benazir Bhutto government, and other two members, former diplomat Rustam Shah who is now linked to the PTI and columnist IrfanSiddiqui are both known for being pro-talks. On the other hand, Taliban nominated Maulana Sami ul-Haq, dubbed the "father of the Taliban" by the media, is an influential Pakistani cleric and politician whose teaching are thought to have influenced the Taliban movement, Maulana Abdul Aziz who is a staunch advocate of enforcing Sharia (Islamic law) in Pakistan. He was the prayer leader of the controversial Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad. Other member is Prof. Ibrahim Khan, a former senator from the tribal region of Bannu. He is the head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial chapter of the Islamist political party Jamaat-i-Islami, which is a vocal supporter of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. This study considers this entire situation in the country as a problem to be discussed in the context of role of media. The researcher would analyze and report on the stances used in the editorials of dailies; The Nation and The News, during January and February 2014. The core purpose of the research is to inform the reader about the stances and views of the editorial contents of the selected newspapers. Pakistan press, with their varied opinions and stance, covered the issue with due urgency and priority. The press supported the government policy initially but condemned the TTP and criticized the government for not taking action due to the fact that TTP did not follow the ceasefire and carried on attacks in Pakistan. The researcher selected two major dailies from English national press in Pakistan i.e. The Nation and The News to develop a critique on their stance on Government-TTP Talks. Editorials in both the dailies published during January and February 2014 have been selected to compare the newspapers’ policy and develop a critical write-up on it. The researcher would analyze the editorials to check how they supported and/or opposed the Talks process and what kind of arguments they presented to support their stance in the context.