Despite all the sacrifices Pakistan made in the war on terror, the US and the media launched a propaganda campaign against Islamabad.
Many CIA reports including Western writers and journalists believe that Pakistan is a failed state and a hub of terrorism and extremism.
They created diverse perceptions about Pakistan in the mind of American citizens. Western media, especially British and the US, strongly supported their governments’ policies. Today, media is a powerful pressure group in different countries. It is the media that helps governments in making policies and promoting their different agendas. It is a fact that US media provides protection to interest of the ruling class in the country.
After 9/11, Western media started to portray the developing world in a more biased way. For example, CNN produced partial news coverage on war against terrorism.
American media gives more importance to issues that favor domestic and national interest. This is how the US media has become a powerful tool for both the US and its citizens. The contents of their news coverage are entirely against South Asian countries. On the other hand, America urged Pakistan to “Do more.” This is one of their tactics to pressure various governments of the world.
Everyone is aware about the media approach and how it gives coverage to various events. And Pakistani media has also highlighted the issues regarding the war against terror and different opinions were published in various national and international newspapers.
Unfortunately, the US media and Obama administration have alleged that the Pakistani government supports the Taliban. The US National Council and CIA irrelevantly portray that Pakistan will become “a failed state by 2015.” These reports were published in Newsweek and TIME magazines.
US media has said that American policy is pro-Pakistan while supporting its declining economy and has always supported the democratic government. However, the US blamed Pakistan of having a soft spot for the Taliban when its strategic concerns are involved. The coverage about Pakistan military operations are shown negatively. Additionally CIA and US officials have also described Pakistan’s role in the war against terror.
The US attacked Afghanistan to eliminate terrorism from the world. Pakistan supported Washington and NATO in every critical situation. Pakistan’s military launched operations against terrorism in its own homeland after insistence from the U.S. The Pakistani army achieved its goal of eliminating terrorists from different areas of FATA. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the army launched operations in its own territory.
When NATO forces failed to control the insurgency in Afghanistan in 2009, President Obama demanded Pakistan “to do more” in the war on terror. But despite all the sacrifices Pakistan made in the war on terror, the US and the media launched a propaganda campaign against Islamabad.
Syed Fakhar Imam is a lecturer at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan and is currently pursuing a MS degree from Riphah International University (Riphah Institute of Media Sciences), Islamabad.
