TV THOUGHTS: An optimistic PTV discussion on the gas pipeline: A sad documentary on Balochistan from Indus plus

The subject of energy in South Asia is not only of high importance at this point in time, but the way in which political realities in particular exist, and may or may not change, the energy theme is going to assume much higher significance. For what the people of this region would like to see is whether adequate energy can be made affordable for the common man.
Energy is no more an elitist technocrat theme as was believed a couple of decades ago. It is a common man's theme, and integral as it is to life style and quality of life, even its politics will gain in focus.
That the electronic media focuses on the energy theme, and is content is viewed with varying degrees of curiosity and interest, is something that needs to be underlined here. PTV world, I noticed in my channel surfing during the week, in its current affairs programme called South Asia Watch, was handling a high profile theme that dealt with the prospect s of having a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India, via Pakistan.
This pipeline is being discussed at the highest forums in the three countries, and is quite understandably, given the political realities, of increasing significance. Energy needs grow, as indeed do people's expectations and demands.
This particular programme was fousing on "Gas Line project; Finally going ahead."
The fact that the name of the talk show was thus titled, reflects perhaps the official status of the project? Compered by a young enthusiastic Ahmed Qureshi, the two panellists were Tanveer Ahmed Khan, a former Pakistan foreign secretary and Ms Asma Shakir Khawaja of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. In passing, two points need to be mentioned about the discussion, which the producer would do well to keep in mind in future discussions which have experts on the panel.
There is a definite need to frequently show the names and discussions of the panellists, which clearly helps to enhance the degree of the viewer's interest. More often than not, the participants and speakers, even when familiar, need to be reintroduced to viewers who may not identify them easily. Like, in this programme, one kept wondering who Asma Shakir Khwaja was., as compared to Tanweer Ahmed Khan with whom viewers were more familiar.
The other point to emphasise about the above programme was that while the absorbing discussion was being telecast, a news reel was being screened at the same time, distracting the attention of the viewer. This happens very often with not just PTV, but with other channels too. It is something that is irritating, and more than a bit of a nuisance.
With regard to the proposed gas pipeline it was emphasised that Pakistan will gain in many ways with the realisation of this pipeline. There is not only the transit fee that will benefit this country, but the fact that Pakistan will be hosting such a mega project, will enhance enormously the strategic significance of the country.
This will improve the image of the country also. The emphasis throughout was on the optimistic side of the pipeline, rather than on what could be described as a "worst case scenario", which the pessimistic and skeptics have been highlighting.
There was also the mention of "gas for water" point that Pakistan could take up with India, as part of its preconditions, keeping in view the point that India is particularly deficient in energy, and needs it as soon as it can to go ahead with its vision and plans for performing its economic miracle.
The programme was a realistic one and also took into account the American and Chinese factors in the proposed pipeline .It also took into view what expert panellist Asma Khwaja described as the political, technical and the economic dimensions of the gas project.
It is perhaps relevant to mention here that TV panel discussions like this do contribute to the creation of an awareness on the energy theme in the common man's mind.
The common man, who in South Asia is still far behind the developed world when it is a matter of per capita consumption of energy. It was basically the voice of Islamabad based journalist Nadeem Hussain that caught my attention in this Indus plus documentary on Balochistan on July 17 at about 9.20pm (which is news time otherwise).
That voice sounded thoughtful, and the script that was being followed was thought provoking.
The point that was being emphasised in part three of a four-part series, was that some parts of Balochistan are suffering from neglect, and misplaced priorities. I was distracted by the PTV Khabarnama and other news channels including BBC this time, with a part of me wanting to know the latest in the post London bomb blasts context.
But this Indus plus documentary was hard hitting, and realistic, and must have been engaging for viewers who may or may not be familiar with the socio political context of Pakistan's largest province. One of the areas of emphasis in this programme was Nadeem Husssain's visit to Khuzdar, in particular to the University of Engineering and Technology there.
The campus and the university were both reflecting a long standing nonchalance that they are suffering from. I saw the programme at that point where Nadeem Hussain was interviewing four youth leaders, at the campus.
They were representing organisations like the Baloch Students Organisation, the Wattan Students Organisation, and the Pakhtoon Students Federation. And the student leaders spoke out freely and candidly, a couple of them expressed explicit support for the Sardars of their respective areas.
They disagreed with the contention (and the campaign?) that the Sardars and the tribal leadership had not delivered. One of them said that the federal and provincial governments must rise to the occasion and play their due roles.
THE OCCASION: the development of Balochistan. Nadeem Hussain interviewed teachers and the management staff of the University, and the point driven home, very clearly was that the University needed to be taken seriously by the concerned.
And that it is calling for attention. Then this particular programme also focused on the district hospital in Turbat. A very striking aspect of the coverage here was the visual that depicted the locked rooms of doctors, who presumably were supposed to be on duty that day. It was also reported that the head of the hospital was also out of his office.
Patients were shown complaining of the shortage of medicines and other facilities. There was no blood in the blood bank for example, and there were other shortcomings in the pathological lab.
The documentary focused on numerous details, all of which brought home a very depressing picture of the hospital. The interviewer spoke to a spokesman of the hospital, who even remarked that the state of affairs at the hospital were "like any other hospital in the country". That was a strange remark, to say the least. This sad documentary was presented in a programme called Encounter.
It was scripted, and conceived by Nadeem Hussain and he was the interviewer also. Sometimes, only sometimes, documentaries on local channels can be so revealing, and effective. And on Wednesday morning my channel surfing brought me the chance to see the morning show on Aaj TV and the little that I saw was engaging.
The team that was handling the show was interesting, and impressive, and even refreshing. I hope to see more of this to be able to comment in a more responsible manner. One of the elements of this morning presentation was the focus on the newspapers of the day. And the headlines that mattered.
I do not know whether other local channels have this sort of emphasis, but I think it is a good idea to focus on the print media. In fact I believe that were the channels to focus on the print media it would enhance the authenticity of the medium itself.
It was interesting to see how the young woman presenter picked up a story from one of the newspapers of the day which detailed how the average woman in Britain today spends more than 54000 US dollars on shoes alone during her lifetime.
There were other statistics that were mentioned which were the result of a survey that an insurance group had carried out.
The research carried out by 72 Point group for the insurance group questioned 2000 women during July. It was interesting to hear that one third of women say they have 25 pairs of shoes in their wardrobes, and around 1.3million women claim to have well over 30 pairs. About 44 per cent of females admit that shoes are their biggest weakness when out shopping, with 86 percent claiming to buy atleast one new pair a month.
The Research group found that "overall 42 percent of women admit they regularly splash out on accessories they don't really need. Unsurprisingly, one in five women say they hide their purchases from their partner, while 22 per cent lie about how much they have spent."
And it was on Wednesday morning that I heard the news on Aaj TV that the famed film actor Rehman of former East Pakistan had died. This particular news bulletin that I saw was also carrying excerpts from his old films which he had done in Pakistan with actress Shabnam in particular. It brought back memories of the days when Rehman starred with Shabnam, and which meant that a bit of nostalgia came alive.
There was mention of his famous film, Darshan, and the musical compositions of Bashir Ahmad. The news report also showed that unforgettable song" Hum Chaley Chor Ker Teri Mehfil Sanam, Dil Kaheen Na Kaheen To Behal Jaiga" In that ARY programme called "Katehra" which brings out yet another dimension to Moin Akhtar.
It was interesting to see actress Reema in the "docks" and in which she was expressing her views on actress and anchor person Mishi Khan, who had reportedly done a parody on her. Reema was complaining and Moin Akhtar was serious and amused. I am sure viewers must have found it all entertaining.