BBC Urdu Reports on Tribal News Network

Presenter at TNN recording news bulletin. Photo courtesy Hani Taha

BBC Story on Tribal News Network 

’دا دے ٹی این این خبرونہ دی۔ زہ یم ناہید جہانگیر (یہ ٹی این این کی خبریں ہیں، میں ہوں ناہید جہانگیر۔۔۔‘

پاکستان کے قبائلی علاقوں میں بیٹھ کر پاکستان کے غیرسرکاری اور نجی نشریاتی ادارے کی جانب سے تیار کی گئی ایسی خبریں یقیناً اس خطے کے لوگوں کے لیے اچھی تبدیلی ہے۔ پاکستان کے قبائلی علاقوں اور خیبر پختونخوا میں ایک دہائی سے زائد عرصے سے جنگ صرف بندوق کے زور پر نہیں لڑی جا رہی بلکہ معلومات کی فراہمی یا عدم فراہمی کے ذریعے بھی مدد لی جا رہی ہے۔

قبائلی علاقوں میں آزاد میڈیا آج بھی ایک خواب ہے جس کی تعبیر حاصل کرنے کی کوشش پشاور کی ایک نجی تنظیم نے کی ہے۔

اب تک اس علاقے کے لاکھوں کی آبادی کو معلومات کے حصول کے لیے یا تو سرکاری ریڈیو یا پھر غیرملکی نشریاتی اداروں پر انحصار کرنا پڑتا تھا۔ جن علاقوں میں شدت پسندی کا مسئلہ ہے، وہیں معلومات سے متعلق خلا بھی موجود ہے۔

بلوچستان اور قبائلی علاقوں میں معلومات کو پاکستان کے مرکزی دھارے کے میڈیا نے آج تک نظر انداز کیا ہے۔ ان کی ضروریات کیا ہیں اور کیسے پوری کی جا سکتی ہیں اس پر کم ہی دھیان دیا گیا ہے۔

قبائلی لوگوں کو کسی آزاد مقامی نیوز ریڈیو چینل کی کمی کا سامنا ہے جو ان کو متوازن اور تنقیدی پہلو کو سامنے رکھتے ہوئے خبریں مہیا کر سکے۔

ٹی این این کے بانی، طیب آفریدی

مقامی میڈیا سرے سے موجود ہی نہیں۔ شدت پسندی سے متاثرہ علاقوں میں مقامی میڈیا کا پنپنا ابھی بھی مشکل ہے۔ ٹرائیبل نیوز نیٹ ورک نامی ایک غیرسرکاری نجی تنظیم نے قبائلی علاقوں اور خیبر پختونخوا میں ریڈیو کے لیے یہ انوکھی سروس شروع کی ہے۔

پشاور میں قائم ٹرائبل نیوز نیٹ ورک ان علاقوں میں نجی ایف ایم ریڈیو سٹیشنوں کو پشتو زبان میں دن میں دو مرتبہ مفت خبریں مہیا کرتا ہے۔ ٹی این این کے روح رواں اور بانی طیب آفریدی کہتے ہیں قبائلی لوگوں میں بھی حالات و واقعات سے اپنے آپ کو باخبر رکھنے کا اتنا ہی شوق ہے جتنا کسی اور خطے کے انسان کا ہوگا۔

’انھیں کسی آزاد مقامی نیوز ریڈیو چینل کی کمی کا سامنا ہے جو ان کو متوازن اور تنقیدی پہلو کو سامنے رکھتے ہوئے خبریں مہیا کر سکے۔ سرکاری ریڈیو کے علاوہ اب فوج کے تعلقات عامہ کے ادارے آئی ایس پی آر اور فرنٹیئر کور کے ریڈیو آئے ہیں لیکن وہ تفریح پر زیادہ توجہ دیتے ہیں۔ ٹی این این بنانے کا بنیادی مقصد یہی تھا کہ اس کمی کو انھی کے علاقے سے پورا کیا جا سکے۔‘

یہ ادارہ فی الوقت پانچ ایف ایم چینلوں کو یہ بلٹین مہیا کر رہا ہے۔ نجی ایف ایم سٹیشنوں کو خبریں چلانے پر ابتدا میں آمادہ کرنا طیب آفریدی کے لیے مشکل مرحلہ تھا۔ وہ خود بھی بیرونی امداد سے یہ منصوبہ چلا رہے ہیں۔

’ہمارے پاس اتنے پیسے نہیں تھے کہ ان کو دیتے یا ان کا ایئر ٹائم خرید سکتے۔ تو ہم نے بتایا کہ آپ اگر خبریں خود تیار کریں گے تو وسائل چاہیے ہوں گے، ہم آپ کو ان خبروں کے بدلے ریڈیو کی تربیت دیں گے جس پر وہ تیار ہو گئے۔‘

اس خبر رساں ادارے کے قیام کا بنیادی مقصد قبائلی عوام کو تنقیدی خبریں فراہم کرنا ہے تاکہ وہ اپنے سماجی اور سیاسی موضوعات پر بہتر انداز میں بات کر سکیں۔

اس سے ہمارے سامعین کی تعداد بڑھی ہے اور ہمیں تیار خبریں مل جاتی ہیں۔ قبائلی علاقوں میں نہ تو کیبل ہے اور نہ ٹی وی اخبار بھی دیر سے پہنچتا ہے۔ تو ہمارے لیے مارکٹنگ کی تربیت بھی بہت ضروری ہے۔

تہذیب ریڈیو کے ایاز رضا آفریدی

خیبر ایجنسی میں تہذیب نامی ریڈیو سٹیشن بھی خبریں نشر کرتا ہے۔

اس چینل کے ایاز رضا آفریدی سے یہ خبریں نشر کرنے کی وجہ جاننا چاہی: ’اس سے ہمارے سامعین کی تعداد بڑھی ہے اور ہمیں تیار خبریں مل جاتی ہیں۔ قبائلی علاقوں میں نہ تو کیبل ہے اور نہ ٹی وی، اخبار بھی دیر سے پہنچتا ہے۔ تو ہمارے لیے مارکٹنگ کی تربیت بھی بہت ضروری ہے۔‘

شدت پسندی سے متاثرہ علاقوں میں پاکستانی سکیورٹی ادارے غیر ملکی سٹیشنوں کو موقع نہیں دینا چاہتے۔ ان کا کہنا ہے کہ عسکری جنگ کے ساتھ ساتھ وہ نفسیاتی جنگ بھی لڑ رہے ہیں جس میں غیر ملکی اداروں کا کوئی کام نہیں۔

تاہم اس مقامی لوگوں کے لیے مقامی سٹیشن کے ذریعے مقامی خبروں کا امتزاج کیا رنگ دکھا رہا ہے۔ میں نے خیبر ایجنسی کے ہی چند باسیوں سے دریافت کیا تو ان میں سے اکثر نے موسم کا حال، شوبز نیوز اور زیادہ مقامی خبروں کا تقاضا کیا۔

اس منصوبے کے لیے غیرملکی امداد ہمیشہ کے لیے نہیں۔ لہٰذا طیب مستقبل کے بارے میں بھی سوچ رہے ہیں: ’ہم تین چار منصوبوں پر کام کر رہے ہیں۔ ان میں سے ایک اشتہاری کمپنیوں سے سپانسر حاصل کرنا، دوسرا اپنے پروڈکشن ہاؤس میں دیگر اداروں کے لیے خصوصی پرگرام تیار کرنا اور موبائل صارفین کو انتہائی کم رقم کے عوض یہی خبریں فراہم کرنا بھی شامل ہے۔‘

ایم ایم پارٹنرز کا ہمیشہ یہ موقف رہا ہے کہ وہ کسی کی خبریں کیوں چلائیں۔ تہذیب ریڈیو کے ایاز آفریدی کہتے ہیں اگر پیسے دینے پڑے خبروں کے لیے تو پھر اس وقت دیکھیں گے۔

وانا سے لے کر دیر تک سنے جانے والے اس انوکھے تجربے کے لیے مستقبل میں چیلنج بہت ہیں۔ دیکھنا یہ ہے کہ معاشی اور سرکاری دشواریوں کے بیچ میں یہ کیسے قبائلیوں کی ضرویات پوری کر پائے گا۔

Tayyeb Afridi talks about mobile news project providing free news to people in FATA and KP

During his fellowship at Stanford, Tayyeb Afridi explored, discovered and embraced new approaches to creating and operating independent news organisation and launched the Tribal News Network to serve the Tribal Areas of rural northwest Pakistan. “I realised that journalism is not only a public service, but also a business and should be treated like a business,” Afridi explained.

“This entrepreneurial aspect of journalism was a transformative experience for me.” Through his experiences and coursework at Stanford, Afridi also came to see that developing an information economy is vital to creating an informed society in his home region, because it would bring both jobs and information that people need. 

Fellow from Pakistan discovers Silicon Valley is a state of mind

Fellow From Pakistan Discovers Silicon Valley Is A State-Of Min

D.School has innovative approach towards solution of problems. 

When I arrived as a Knight Fellow, I asked the staff, “Where is Silicon Valley?” I was expecting that it would be a building like the Stanford Shopping Center, with every tech company inside.

“Silicon Valley is more like a concept, driven by the spirit and curiosity to build new things,” I was told. From that moment, I really wanted to understand what that meant. Now, I was looking for two different things - to explore and experience these ideas.

But the picture was still incomplete until I had the good fortune to attend the Boot Camp at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, commonly known as the d.school. 

The d.school works on the design of ideas.  Normally, we think of a problem as a challenge to tackle, but here they think of a problem as an opportunity to creatively explore and come up with a solution - and that solution might be something that has never existed before. 

As a group, our challenge was to help a new female student at Stanford. Her parents wanted her to be as religious as she had been at home. They also wanted her to talk to them every day. Being a student, these two would be difficult for her. At first, we thought about the many existing social media websites that she could use - but that wouldn’t suit the parents who also wanted to have a complete record of her activity at the end of the year. 

We brainstormed by empathizing, defining the problem, ideating, prototyping, and finally testing a solution. We came up with the concept of a new app that would help her share every activity of the day with her parents through taking photographs. The parents would also send their picture stories back to her. 

The pictures that she took would be automatically added to a calendar, and at the end of the year, the app would create a single story of her year, like a family picture book, telling every moment of her time as a student. 

The values that we demonstrated as a group (spirit, curiosity, collaboration and finding solutions for real-world problems) told me that finally I had found Silicon Valley. These are the ideas and culture that have turned many students at Stanford into entrepreneurs, inventors and collaborators.  

Unfortunately these values don't exist in many universities in the developing world. My country, Pakistan, is no exception. I graduated in Journalism from the University of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, and I didn’t see any student follow these values. Some obvious reasons could be that the universities don’t encourage their students to be innovative, and that the students do not have the passion for such ideas.

Also, there is no space for immature ideas to breathe because many students have them, but they soon kill their ideas when they think of the resources they will need to make them real; they are scared by the amount of innovation that already exists elsewhere so they think there is nothing left for them to create, and in Pakistan, everyone is competing against each other, which makes it difficult for them to collaborate and increase productivity. 
  
But here at Stanford, students pursue their ideas regardless of the resources and the competitive marketplace by choosing to innovate and collaborate, and that is the beauty of Silicon Valley. 

Journalists: Are we driven by facts or egos?

 ICFJ Alumni  Group Photo at Media Summit  held  in Islamabad on Feb 1,2,2013. Photo taken by Alumni fell

My inner critic is always haunting me with this burning question: am I objective and unbiased as a journalist?

I found the answer in the first week of February, at a media summit organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Islamabad. More than 80 journalists from all over Pakistan, who are alumni of ICFJ attended this summit. Speakers shared their views on important subjects, like the state of media in Pakistan, and how the USA and Pakistan see each other through media. It also gave us a chance to get to know each other.For me, the most interesting part was a session where journalists quizzed the speakers. That’s where my burning question was answered.

From (L-R)Muhammad Ziauddin, executive editor express tribune, Muhammad Malik, senior anchor Dunya TV, Rana Jawad Islamabad bureau chief Geo TV. Photo taken by ICFJ Alumni fellow

A journalist issued a challenge to Rana Jawed, bureau chief of Islamabad Private Television. Why had the station “fanned” the controversy over a provocative YouTube film about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by repeating the clip dozens of times, and calling upon government to ban YouTube? And why did the station later boast – via breaking news – that it was responsible for the YouTube ban? Rana Jawad replied, but the journalist wasn’t satisfied. Neither was I.

Zia-u-ddin, executive editor of Express Tribune, joined the discussion. He explained that television is part of mass media, so its priority is set by people’s emotions and expectations. If you ignore this reality they will switch to another channel. This made sense, but the journalist was still not satisfied.

Enter Muhammad Malick, editor of The News. His view was that no one is perfect in the media business, so we should learn from each other and develop professionalism throughout the industry.

But the journalist was still unwilling to let the issue drop. Later, I learned that he works for a rival television station. The episode made me realize how difficult it is for journalists to move from fixed angles. We stick to our position at any cost.

When another journalist – this time from Quetta – raised his hand to ask a question I gave him all my attention. I was keen to learn about the situation in Quetta, and the ongoing violence which is related to ethnicity and Baloch separatists.

But it was not to be.

“I am impressed by you, Mr Zia-u-ddin,” the journalist began. “You challenged the dictators. You did an excellent job during the Zia regime (and so on), and my question is: should I continue in print or switch over to television?”

I wasn’t expecting such a personal question. Neither was Zia-u-uddin. As soon as he sensed that the issue was superficial he leaned back in his chair and smilingly accepted the admiration. I am a hundred percent sure he wasn’t interested to hear flattery in such a public place. It’s well-known that he is a serious journalist.

This made me realize how important it is for us to ask questions on behalf of the people we serve, instead of just following our own needs. And, as the session also showed, journalists need to understand the difference between making comments and asking well-designed questions. Good questions generate news. The ability to ask good questions is the essence of journalism.

A journalist from FATA fell into the trap of confusing comment with question. “We are thankful to Pakistan for military operations, we are thankful to USA for drone attacks and we are thankful to the Taliban for destroying schools because you all taught us the importance of education,” he began. Personally, I didn’t like this attitude. 

But then the journalist redeemed himself with a strong question to Hamid Mir. Why, he asked, couldn’t he come to cover tribal issues? Hamid Mir explained that he is not allowed to enter tribal areas. He described how his DVR was snatched and smashed by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) while he was covering a drone attack.

At this, another journalist from Khyber PakhtunKhwa (KPK) pointed out that Hamid Mir had interviewed Osama Bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. Why, then, couldn’t he cover issues in tribal areas?

I liked the question but not the challenging tone. Later, the KPK journalist told me that he had been “infuriated” by the “disrespectful” way in which Hamid Mir had responded to his colleague from FATA. Emotion had spurred him to join the debate. See? Egos are driving our journalism.

An ICFJ Alumni, Gharieda Farooq is asking a question. Photo taken by Alumni Fellow

I thought seminars were for listening and analyzing. But this one turned into a television talk show. It seemed some people were desperate to pull others down, just so they could enhance their own reputations.

Another interesting observation: those who were keen to ask many questions were not equally keen to report the answers. Yes, they were free to ask but they didn’t feel the need to write. Surely then, they had lost sight of journalism’s aim: to pass on information to the people, through traditional and social media.

So what did I learn from this summit?

Most importantly, that journalists should be clear about what they want to ask, and should have the skill to design their questions coherently and simply. Our questions must be challenging, but we should ask them in a polite way that shows we’re interested in information – not defamation.

Why Is Critical Media Important For Pakistan's Tribal Region?

The 18th amendment has abolished the “concurrent list,” and gives much more provincial autonomy than is now available to the provinces. If the provinces still have technical problems in having powers to establish local radio, they should demand this from federal government to inform marginalized communities across the country.

Picture source: BLIP.TV

In Peshawar, I met a radio talk show listener Haji Noor Zaman, who is 60 years old and is displaced from Khyber Agency due to operation against militants. I asked: Do you still listen to radio? He said yes, he is listening but only to news bulletins from Radio Deewa.


Radio Deewa is U.S. government-sponsored radio. I asked what’s new. He said America has diverted its cannon facing Baluchistan and has built up its human rights case against Pakistan.

I was surprised to hear this sort of comment from a person, who is illiterate and once had a hashish shop at Khyber Agency. I asked in the same breath, that if they are making human rights case against our country, then why do you listen to it? His answer was that no local radio is providing this sort of critical news and he can’t change the dial as long as they are providing critical local information.

I got his thinking. He wanted to listen to critical media, in the form of radio broadcasting. Readers of newspapers and viewers of the television are luckier than radio listeners in Pakistan because they can read and watch critical media. But the people of FATA don’t have access to critical mainstream media, and using the Internet for information is out of the question as most of the region has no electricity and telephone connections.

One couldn’t do private news business in tribal areas of Pakistan because of laws that prohibit independent local broadcasting. That is the reason the people don’t know much about their surroundings and even they don’t know about most of their rights: rights to good education, rights to good health, rights to freedom of expression, rights to freedom of assembly, rights to legal counseling and so on.

In the absence of local broadcasting, people rely on U.S-run radio services, which offer local and regional information in the Pashtu language. The entire FATA could tell you what happens to Muslims in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan because they have access to global information through radio networks but they couldn’t tell you what is happening to them because a critical local media doesn’t exist.

A local reporter working for an English newspaper got a phone call from a person who was a native of Khyber Agency, telling him that his daughter’s polio case has been confirmed. After taking details, the reporter asked why you want to tell this story to people. The caller’s response was quite interesting. He wanted to tell the public to accept polio drops – otherwise they too would lose their daughters.

But to me, his choice of medium looks inappropriate, because he was about to convey his message to English readers, who already understand its importance. Ideally, this story should be told to people through radio, which is popular in the border region – and would be broadcast in their own language. Unfortunately, that father doesn’t call the local government radio station because it seemed he has no faith in that radio station.

Local government executives, who benefit profitably from border region, have no interest in encouraging the masses to speak in a community voice against injustice. The executives were allowed by the government to control, instead of serve, the people. The principle was left to them by British Raj and they continued with it to serve themselves instead of people. In fact, the Mullah Radio had grabbed people’s attention as they were critical of system injustices and offered solution to these injustices in the form of Islamic Sharia. We have seen how the Mullah has used radio for his political advantage in Swat and FATA.

The local government in FATA and Swat didn’t see radio as important in reaching the public as the Mullah did. Even today, local government officials still don’t prefer radio to newspapers, because it’s easier to show a newspaper to bosses sitting in Islamabad or Peshawar. Such officials often prefer to read newspapers rather than listen to the radio, which is regarded as a cheap medium for the masses. The irony is that local government has yet to establish radio in Swat, which was devastated by Mullah Radio.

The local media can lure back audiences from foreign radio if they were allowed to play that critical role. They would need to realize that they have competition from abroad, and they have to win local people’s hearts and minds through critical media. They would need to incorporate more important topics such as militancy, security, politics and good governance into the agenda. Today our thin Government and Commercial agency-run local radio lacks all these, even in Pakistan.

Good local radio journalism can’t be established in the region until and unless government ensures freedom and protection, with easy procedure and less expensive licenses. The federal government needs to understand that people have right to expression – to criticize policies – if they are not benefiting the citizens.

The 18th amendment has abolished the “concurrent list,” and gives much more provincial autonomy than is now available to the provinces. If the provinces still have technical problems in having powers to establish local radio, they should demand this from federal government to inform marginalized communities across the country.

Theoretically, everyone agrees that radio can play a very important role in governance and in alleviating systematic injustices. But in practice, they don’t want to give voice to impoverished communities. If we couldn’t establish and empower local radios, then listeners like Haji Noor Zaman can’t change the dial to listen local radio.

Short Bio of Radio Mullahs in North Western Pakistan

The Individuals, who rode airwaves in the North Western Pakistan used radio as an effective tool to get people support for their imposition of ''Sharia'' (Islamic Law) in Swat and Khyber Agency.  Here is the short bio of those:

Source: thenewstribe.com

Maulana Fazlullah started an illegal local FM channel in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Swat Valley in 2006. He preaches forcing vice and virtue and has an anti-Western Jihadi stance. He is considered pro-Taliban and a very powerful figure in the area. Though he considers most communication based electronics as "major sources of sin" he transmits broadcasts of his sermons on an illegal local FM radio channel, hence the nickname "Radio Mullah" or "Maulana Radio".

FM signals are relayed from mobile transmitters mounted on motorcycles and trucks. During nightly broadcasts, prohibited activities are routinely declared and violators' names announced for assassination, which often includes beheading.                                                                                                                        Maulana Fazlullah (born 1974) nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" or "Mullah Radio", is the leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, that aims to enforce Sharia in the country. He is sometimes referred to as "chief" of the Swat Taliban and is the son-in-law of the TNSM's founder, Sufi Muhammad. (Source Wikipedia.org)

Source: veengle.com

Mufti Munir Shakir (birthdate unknown) is a religious figure operating in northwestern Pakistan, and the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam. Shakir worked in Kurram Agency until 2004, when he was ejected by tribal elders following a mosque bombing.

Shakir's fame increased after he moved to Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency, where he established an FM pirate radio station. Using this vehicle, he began to promote his religious beliefs, based in Deobandi theology. Among his more controversial pronouncements was his alleged statement that opium is halal, provided it is produced and used for medical purposes^.

Source: news.pkvids.com

Mengal Bagh is said to be a successor of Mufti Munir Shakir, When Shakir was ejected from Khyber Agency, he turned over his radio station to Bagh, a local driver, and Bagh then formed the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam.^[3] Nowadays he is somewhere in the Vally of Tera. But members of LeI are still in Bara and areas of Khyber Agency. (Source Wikipedia.org)

source: irfankas.blogspot.com

                                                                                                       In 2005, Pir Saifur Rahman, a supporter of the more moderate Barelvi school of Islam, established his own FM pirate radio station to compete with Shakir's station. Rivalry between the two clerics increased, causing tribal elders to denounce the two in December 2005 for fomenting sectarian tension. Both clerics then went into hiding, with Shakir handing control of his radio station and Lashkar-e-Islam organization to Mangal Bagh. The hostilities peaked around March 29, 2006, when "hundreds" of Shakir's followers gathered in the Badshahkili neighborhood of Bara tehsil to attack Rahman's followers. (Source Wikipedia.org)

source: khyber.org

Ansar ul Islam (AI) was founded in June 2006 in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency by Qazi Mehboob-ul Haq who also belongs to Deobandi theology but had difference with Lashkar-e-Islam.  It was founded to counter the expansion of Lashkar-e-Islam who believes in strict implementation of Sharia.  Qazi Mehboob-ul-Haq used his pirate radio to counter the ideology of Lashkar-e- Islam and his radio is very famous in the Tirah Valley bordering Afghanistan. (Local Source)

Would Social Media Bring Change To Pakistan’s Tribal Area?

Published in the KUT News----Austin, Texas University.

I read on Facebook recently that the Taliban had attacked the Pakistan Naval Base in the southern part of Karachi. Karachi is Pakistan’s biggest shipping port. As I read the story published by the Express Tribune Newspaper, I saw a Tweet about what was going on in Karachi during the attack. To see a Tweet in the midst of a reported piece was astonishing to me. We have still traditional journalism in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA. It’s very new there, and people don’t really know or understand citizen journalism. They don’t consider it meaningful when it comes to covering breaking news.

The Page of Tehrik-e-Mutaserin chairman in FATA.

We are familiar with SMS (texting) and we use it all the time to share news about what is happening around the area. Say you heard a sound like a blast, and didn’t know what exactly happened, you would send a text to your friend near that location to find out what happened. But you wouldn’t know what happened until you got his reply. This is one-sided communication.

But social media, like Facebook and Twitter, are different because you can follow things as they happen, or you can see the exact time and date someone posted an update.

This technology has not yet reached the FATA. We don’t really have the Internet in general, because we’re short of electricity, and computer and mobile technology are expensive. It’s fair to say that part of the world is without social media. This is probably ironic for the Americans I’ve met in Austin, Texas; they probably don’t remember what it’s like to be without social media.

Right now, in FATA, we depend on cell phones, but it’s not the same as social media. Things are changing, although it is happening slowly. For instance, the cellular companies have begun giving short packages of Internet access for mobile services so users can check and send email. These are specifically used by students, but not the general public yet. Also, in the areas where there is no military operation against the Taliban, it’s easier to get a cell signal and subscribe to the Internet. But in most of the areas that are under operation or surveillance, signals are jammed.


It’s not surprising that young people are engaging in social media. They’re more involved and capable of handling it because they understand what it’s about and think it’s important. If young people in the FATA areas were given the opportunity to use the Internet and social media, think of what could happen! They might even bring about changes like the Arab Spring. Social media has changed the Arab World and brought down dictatorships and bad governance. Why not in the FATA?

In the FATA areas, mobile phones are also used for many other reasons. Like, to play music, watch comedies, see pictures and movies. People keep all this stuff on memory cards, though, because they want to avoid militants who frequently check phones for “illegal” music and videos. Memory cards are small enough you can hide them, and you can keep your data without fear of it being seen by others. If you get searched, you can easily throw away a memory card.

Cell phones, of course, can be traced. So in FATA people are afraid to talk about Taliban and government politics because they worry that their phones are being traced and taped by either one. I don’t know how the Taliban has got this technology to trace people’s phones but they have it. In the case of the government, it’s because security forces probably got it from the US. But who helped the Taliban purchase it?




If social media and the Internet were to come to the FATA, a few things would quickly change. I believe people would begin to express themselves more freely and people would have access to international organizations and news sites and learn for themselves what’s going on in the rest of the world. Many laws – such as the articles of Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR), which is the system of governing the tribal areas -- would become inactive. It will also provide an online meeting place for many activists to work for human rights and legislation. The activists and lawyers who have worked for years to change the FCR would be able to get their message out to more people – especially young people. And they are the people who are going to change things.

Why Fighting Mullah Radio Is Not Easy

Published in Pakistan Express Tribune:                                                  http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/10611/why-fighting-mullah-radio-is-not-easy/

Picture of the Radio Khyber Studio.

It was May 7, 2006 that, as a team, we started transmission of Radio Khyber. It was located within Khyber Agency, one among seven districts of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the Northwestern part of the country. I started transmitting with a passion to empower local people and give them voices. Voices which had been kept silent since 1901, the day the colonial empire of India promulgated the Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) in FATA. The FCR was designed by British, who used the region’s own tribal traditions and social psyche to rule ruthlessly over the territory. All of the sections of this law, which to this day are still intact in tribal areas, are authoritarian. One among them was a ban on freedom of expression.

It was ironic for me that even though the ban has never been repealed, the Pakistani government decided to establish four radio stations in FATA. And we journalists were hired -- after years reporting for newspapers.

As the days passed I came to know that the Khyber radio was established to give voice to the government’s activities and developments – not to its people. There was no element of local empowerment. The government was more interested in using the airwaves to fight back against three Mullah Radios, which were at that time broadcasting in the Khyber Agency.

Although we tried to explain that without the buy-in of the local community, there wouldn’t be an audience for Radio Khyber, far less change a whole region’s mind. We argued that what was needed was a way to ensure the station’s credibility for the public – and that was not possible without news and opinion programming. The government was leery - news and views could bring about unrest - disturb law and order - and no local radio stations had been allowed to broadcast local news.

Nafees Afridi is interviewing local tribal on community issue.

Once, a political agent of the Khyber Agency in FATA Secretariat (FATA Secretariat is a body which runs the affairs of tribal areas and appoint political agents to each district of FATA) criticized radio and questioned the outcome of this radio and proposed to shut it down. If a top executive of the tribal district, who has the power of policing and prosecution was not supporting legitimate airwaves and at the same time couldn’t stop illegal firebrand mullah radios, what one could expect other than that to shut it down.

When the person responsible for the radio station tells you there’s no room for local news, how are you supposed to meet your mission of promoting a positive government image? It’s not enough to play music. Also, the hate radio stations banned music, labeling music as Saytan (Devil) work. So if music, in their opinion, is Saytan work and those radio stations still have a large audience, then it doesn’t make sense to fight back by playing music. This is a very basic issue that needs to be addressed.

When those mullah radio stations reported for their followers that the government wanted to modernize tribal women and men on the tip fingers of west by playing music? What happened, they started campaign against gov’t radio. For example, the chief of Lashkar-e-Islam Mangal Bagh twice warned people not to call for radio station because they are promoting vulgarity. But when we started local bulletins—brief news updates -- with the approval of high ranking officer, it went well enough that we had covered the whole military operation in Swat. And the hate radios didn’t have to offer news bulletin and opinion programing to community and therefore, the public turned on to the government station because it was giving fresh news bulletin and news programing. No one threatened us because we were seen as non-biased reporters. Impartiality is the only security guarantee for a journalist in Pakistan. But news bulletins were closed down in March 2010, for security reasons.

The people in FATA are very used to radio broadcasting and they prefer Pashto news bulletins from VOA Pashtu Service, BBC Pashtu, Radio Azadi Afghanistan Pashtu Service, and Radio Mashaal Pashtu. The literate people of FATA also listens BBC Urdu Service, VOA Urdu Service, Voice of Germany Urdu Service, Radio Veritas Asia Urdu Service, Radio China Urdu Service, Radio Tehran Urdu Service and Delhi Radio Pashtu Service.

How could Radio Pakistan compete with that much news broadcasting? If you have a news service that only provides information about the government -- what the President said, what the Prime Minister said and what the Information Minister said – then you are just ignoring community problems. You can’t compete in the tribal areas when there’s so much other, reputable, news broadcasting. The government has lost an important potential audience to Radio Deewa and Radio Mashaal. Those are funded by the US State Department. When I asked Shandi Gul, an office boy who works at Radio Razmak, North Waziristan why he listened Radio Mashaal, his reply was simple: he just wanted to know what was going on in his surroundings. This proves that days of centralized information dissemination has been gone and people are now more concerned about local news.


The total estimated area of FATA is 27,220 km2 (10,509 sq mi). It has been almost covered by foreign radio broadcasters providing news and other programming in the Pashtu and Urdu languages. The expert staffs are drawn from Pakhtun areas, which were earlier neglected in mainstream media of Pakistan, has been putting their head into tribal affairs and also they enjoy respect in their respective communities.

Reporting staff is doing refresher course at University of Peshawar 

The government is fighting a losing battle for the minds of the people in FATA with those four radio stations. One, in Wana, South Waziristan, was closed down in 2009. None of them will ever be successful until and unless local media is allowed to hold accountable the local administration, education, health, agriculture, sericulture, and forestry, public works departments and development projects.

Just talking about patriotism isn’t enough. That doesn’t solve the common man’s problems and if people’s wishes and hopes are not respected now in FATA than they were in the past, then those people will choose to change the dial – and listen to a radio broadcast that does.

In Tribal Area: Radio Sensitize Public For School Education

A local radio station in Pakistan’s unsettled tribal areas has shown how important the media can be in spreading awareness of the importance of education. About 180 new students turned up at one government school in the town of Razmak in North Waziristan after the local radio station broadcast announcements telling parents that education in government schools was free. Most local parents thought they would have to pay for schooling. 

                                    The freshly admitted students are taking lessons from teacher.



North Waziristan is believed one of the main bases for militants causing instability in both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

The Razmak radio which was established in 2006 to bridge gap between people and government has started Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) campaign to educate people on development issues. It has, in this scenario, designed PSAs in March and broadcasted it throughout the month to motivate local people to enroll their children at the schools. Razmak town is relatively safe unlike other fata schools where schools were blown up regularly. Local media sources say that more than 300 schools have been destroyed or damaged by militants in the tribal agencies in the past few years. The government school in Razmak is more protected because the town has one of the main government military bases in Waziristan.

Bahadur Nawaz, principal of the Government High School Razmak said that his school used to have only 30 students. There is little tradition of formal education in the fiercely conservative tribal areas, and few parents send their children to school. When the Razmak radio broadcasted PSA, he has started receiving good response from people of the locality .It is conveyed to listeners that their children will be taught freely and they would be provided free books. After broadcasting the PSA, large number of parents has started coming in for admission. ‘In less than a month, the number of students at School have raised to 210’’ Bahadur Nawaz added. Most of the students, he had admitted in school were fresh and brought in by parents who were poor and couldn’t bear little expenses in the form of admission fee.

Bakhtawar Jan, station Manager at Razmak Radio said that this message has been repeatedly broadcasted over a month and he has received tremendous response from listeners, who calls to station; asking for further information about free education.

He added that those, who called in station, were first suspicious about the authenticity of this announcement but when they realized that its true then they questioned the qualification of teachers whether they are qualified . ‘You can see the curiosity and interest of the public from this’, he told. He has never imagined such a response to PSA which brought 180 students to a deserted school.

Gul Khatem, the father of eight years old Junaid said that he heard this message from radio and took his child straight to school for admission. “It was exactly free of cost as was said by radio” he told. His son was studying in 1st class when he pulled out his child from a private school because of expenditure, said Khatem, who hails to Sola Borakhel Village of Razmak sub division.


The principal said that still people are coming regularly for admission and even today he has admitted more eight (8) students. Apart from fresh students, he has also admitted those students who were migrated from private schools.

Mr. Abdul Haseeb, resident of Shankie village at Razmak told that his two sons have been studying in fifth class in a private school but when he heard this message; he couldn’t resist bringing in his children to this school for free education.

The principal added that people who are Internally Displaced from South Waziristan and living in camps at Razmak and Shawal have also responded very well and they brought their children for admission.

Militancy Harms Families In Pakistan's Tribal Areas

Published in the KUT NEWS----Austin, Texas University.       

Khyber Agency:  A gate way to Central Asia from  Pakistan's Tribal Region                          

Two outlawed groups have been fighting each other for years in the Khyber Agency, a tribal area of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. The Khyber Agency is also known as the gateway to Central Asia. The militant groups are Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) and Ansar-ul-Islam (Brother of Islam).

Pakistan security forces intervened in the fighting in 2008 when they launched operations in a subdivision of the Khyber Agency called Bara. The operation against these outlawed militant organizations was codenamed "Sirat-e-Mustaqeem" (The Righteous Path).

The operation continued into 2009 and intensified. That’s when the Lashkar-e-Islam, which previously banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in their territory, allowed TTP in Bara subdivision.

TTP’s mission was to fight first against Pakistan security forces for aiding the United States in its so-called War on Terror, that began with the ouster of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

The Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam fled to the mountains and engaged in war so intense that they began slaughtering each other. No Islamic scholar has issued a fatwa (religious edict) related to this case, except Maulana Hassan Jan. Maulana publically reject the movement of both militant groups and said they have nothing to do with Islam. He was killed soon after this comment.

After his death, no one in Northwest Pakistan has dared to try to calm the dispute. It has only expanded with the passage of time. Now, every family in the Khyber Agency has had a relative killed by one or another militant group.

For example, the Afridi tribe living in Khyber Agency has two homes. One is in Bara and the other is in Tirah Valley. In summer, one brother used to go to Tirah Valley while the other brother used to arrive in Bara in winter.But after the establishment of militant groups, the two brothers find themselves in opposite theological groups. One found himself in Lashkar-e-Islam, based in Bara. The other found himself in Ansar-ul-Islam, based in Tirah Valley. The families stopped visiting each other and started killing each other.

In this way for the last seven years, war is engulfing the Pakhtun people in general and the Afridis in particular. Everyday mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are mourning their beloved ones.

Pakhtun society is male-dominated. Women don’t have say in the life of male partner. The women have to accept whatever decision a man makes, regard of his religious affiliation, even if it could cost him his life. If she resisted, she would be told that her job is to give birth, nurture children, keep the house clean and cook food. She has no further role. Therefore, women are paying for the decisions taken by such men. They have been made widows, orphans and ill-fated mothers when men are killed.

One among those women was my friend Nasrullah Afridi's wife. Nasrullah was 40 years old, and he didn’t surrender to threats of these militant groups, despite repeated requests from his wife. She pleaded many times but he replied that he could leave her, but he couldn't leave journalism. And that’s exactly what happened to him. He left his wife for journalism when he was killed by a car bomb.

She has been in mourning since May 10, 2011, wishing her husband should have gone to America with me on Journalism Exchange Program and prevent this from happening. She sent me a message through my wife to help collect her husband’s radio interviews, discussions on national and international radio, because she wants to keep his voice alive, this time only for herself.

My another journalist friend told me that his eyes were opened that how family suffers, especially in Pakhtun society where some women have to spend their entire lives with only memories.

Radio Is The Lifeline in Tribal Areas of Pakistan

people listening to rado Miranshah.

In FATA, Radio is the only Voice, Published by Express Tribune.

Twice, I missed cadet college tests during my school period because the only source of news was newspapers and the admission news failed to reach me in time. But even today, students and people of the FATA don’t get news in real time.

An International media development organization in Pakistan has trained Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) broadcasters on public service announcements (PSAs) in a training held in Islamabad Pakistan. Broadcasters from local radio stations have attended this five day hands on training on PSAs. While PSAs are used widely elsewhere in the world, they have never been used by these stations in Pakistan before. “I have done my Master in journalism but I have not learned on how to produce PSA,” said Asadullah who attended that training along with 10 other colleagues at February 2012. The use of PSAs and other Public-oriented media trainings is crucial to help Pakistan Local government in FATA to establish relationship with its militancy affected people located at Pak-Afghan border.

Asadullah and his colleagues wasted no time putting their new training to good use. They immediately returned to their stations and began developing PSAs, the first of which was about the ongoing voter registration process in Pakistan. After broadcasting the voter registration PSA on Radio Miranshah, the station started receiving a number of calls and letters from listeners congratulating them. According to listeners they are providing them guidance on voter registration and other important social issues. Asadullah a young reporter who has risen quickly to the ranks never thought that he would be bridging gap between government and local people.

A media development organization has engaged five partner radio stations from FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to train them on professional broadcasting. The partner radio stations have been provided with professional equipment in order to improve working capacity and trainings to strengthen their production skills for the benefit of the local population. These radios are the only government voice in the tribal areas to inform listeners about government development activities. That is why Asadullah and his other colleagues from the same partner radio stations have also been trained in PSA production.

Mr. Fazal Rahman, station manager of the radio Miranshah and who also attended that training, regarded this training very fruitful. He has also produced PSAs about local government and has solicited applications from students to attend a free skill development program. Fazal, who remained my colleague during our four years broadcasting in FATA, told me that as soon as he broadcast that announcement, he received many calls from listeners inquiring about this opportunity. He was surprised to see how fruitful this activity was. He never experienced this kind of broadcasting which is very short and concise, and he was happy to see that he has engaged destitute local people in constructive activity.


The impoverished tribal regions have no other option to learn about any opportunity provided by the government or non-government organizations except these radios. Twice, I missed cadet college tests during my school period because the only source of news was newspapers and the admission news failed to reach me in real time. Cadet Colleges are special colleges established by government with subsidized fee and high standard and they admit those students who cleared their tests. They every year announced admission with limited seats for general students who can make their way into college. But even today, students and people of the FATA don’t get news in real time.

So, the broadcasting of these five radio stations working in Northwestern Pakistan Tribal areas has attracted large audiences, especially students and women who are more interested in education and health programs. This practice has converted lot of opportunities either from government or non-government into public announcements to reach to larger audiences of FATA. These radios also requested local government to give them permission to start commercial broadcasting in tribal region.

Though, the government has started number of projects to provide basic facilities to public such as health, education, but those were going unnoticed because, there was no mechanism in place to disseminate information to large audiences. The local government of FATA usually issued information to newspapers and televisions and both the mediums lack access to large audiences in FATA, mainly because of illiteracy and power shortage. Therefore, the information failed to reach concerned people, most of the time, which have been living far away in the mountains. For instance, I have heard commercials given by local government to Peshawar FM channels despite knowing that it is not being heard fully in the FATA. Today, most of the scholarships are advertised in the newspapers meant for fata students while knowing that newspaper circulation is few hundred in the whole of FATA.


The Fata radios since its inception are totally dependent on donor’s money and local government has not yet design commercial plans to make these radios financially sustainable. But Asadullah is confident that sooner or later his radio would get permission of commercial broadcasting and then he could be able to utilize his skills for making commercial spots. He said he would be happy to become part of that broadcasting too.

Pakistani Province Reaches Out Through Radio

Published in the KUT News----Austin, Texas University.

Mr. Shuaib-u-din endeavoring to reach out public through radio.

Northwest Pakistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, previously called the Northwest Frontier Province, is trying to empower local community by installing community radios in troubled regions.

This is an effort to counter the influence of illegal radio, or Mullah Radio, in Northwest Pakistan’s settled and tribal districts. Settled districts are the responsibility of the provincial government that came into power in February 2008 elections. The provincial government fought the Taliban in Swat, Bunner, Dir valleys.

At a press conference, I got chance to ask few questions of the Director of Information and Public Relations, Mr. Shuaib-u-din, about media policy in Northwest Pakistan Khyber Province. He is implementing government media policy in KPK, Pakistan.

Tayyeb Afridi: What urged the provincial government to install new radio stations in KPK province, despite having regional stations of Radio Pakistan?

Shuaib-u-din: Radio Pakistan is a national radio, and they are broadcasting in national language. And when you are broadcasting in national language Urdu and international language English, you are missing the huge population of the province.

As you know, according to government statistics, 75 percent people don’t understand Urdu and English. When this much population of your province is not getting your message, what would happen? They would fall to propaganda of Mullah Radio, as happened in Swat, Bunner, Dir, the respective districts of Northwest Pakistan.

By establishing local radio stations, the government will be able to reach their message in a local language to the [province's] population of 20 million, and this will give them a sense they are participating in local government.

Tayyeb: What made it possible to establish provincially controlled radio stations, since dealing with information falls under federal jurisdiction?


Shuaib-u-din: You know, the immediate problem of terrorism in Northwest Pakistan settled and tribal areas was widely propagated by Mullah Radio, thus it was a justified demand of the provincial government to establish local radio.

However, this decision to establish provincial radio was according to the constitution of Pakistan. It says the federal government shall not unreasonably refuse to entrust to a provincial government such functions with respect to broadcasting and telecasting.

Tayyeb: How would you handle the issue of credibility when it comes to government media?

Shuaib-u-din: Yes, I understand this concern, and therefore the provincial government has decided to give a feeling of participation to local people, and they should be engaged in dialog for their development.

We are working on semi-autonomous structure of the radio to ensure people are represented. We will go further as time passes, to increasingly empower these radio stations with rules to engage their community.

Tayyeb: What kind of content would be programmed on these radio stations?

Shuaib-u-din: These channels will be predominantly infotainment. It would carry local news, thematic and cultural programming. It will also carry public service announcements and public advertisements that appeared in newspapers in order to reach a large audience.

The provincial government understands that you can’t keep people stupid for a long time, and that is why the content would be community-driven with a slight check so that these radio [stations] shouldn’t lose the aim of development.

Tayyeb: Could this network help to improve cross-border relations with Afghanistan?

Shuaib-u-din: We have kept an element of Afghan presenters in radio stations in order to accommodate their accent, not only for other Pakhtun, but also for Afghan refugees who are living in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is the government's effort to give voice to Afghans’ problems, and this would certainly play an important role in developing trust between the two countries.

Tayyeb: What is the budget allocated for these radio stations?


Shuaib-u-din: The provincial government has approved [a] 100 million Pakistani Rupees (about $1.2 million US) budget for 24 community radio stations in 24 districts of the province. The budget was passed by provincial assembly on June 20, 2011. Initially, we would establish three community radio stations in the fiscal year 2011-12 in District Bannu, District Lower Dir and District Abbottabad.

With establishment of this, the number of radio stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will reach five, because two FM radio stations have already been established in District Peshawar and District Mardan in 2009, the two comparatively modern cities of the province. The rest of the 19 radio stations will be installed with passage of time and keeping resources in mind. This fund, we have reserved in Annual Development Program.

Tayyeb: Does your staff have expertise in broadcasting to run these channels?

Shuaib-u-din: You know, all the information officers working under Directorate of Information and Public Relations have expertise in print media. Since radio is new for us, we have signed letter of agreement with media development organization. They will help us in programming and management. Once we have established all these radio stations, we will connect them through networking.

Tayyeb: What was the magic that allowed Radio Mullah to hijack the community in less time than government radio channels?

Shuaib-u-din: (Laughing) this question arises, even in bureaucracy, that why can’t we achieve the fruits as quick as done by Mullah Radio. This is a question for research, but I would like to share one point that I have heard my radio stations' presenters who are talking on health, education, governance, and they wrap up each program with one conclusion and that is “our solution of problems is lying in Islam”. Being Muslim, I can’t disagree with that message, but it leaves no room for debate and dialog.