To our media professionals
We, the undersigned women, would like to reach out to our media professionals in this time of upheaval in our country. The media in Pakistan has made it possible for people to have access to a whole range of information and debate that had not been open to the public before. At the same time, we are aware that too much attention given to certain factions, incidents or events can make them larger than life. Thus, where the media reflects public opinion it also has the potential to generate public opinion by the angle of its debate and the enthusiasm of its coverage.
Our concern is the upcoming election and any potential attempt to postpone it. After a long gap, Pakistan needs to go through a peaceful transition of elected governments so that we can move ahead and attempt to resolve our critical issues. While the rally of January 14, 2013 or other such interventions may sound sensational and an occasion to focus a lot of media attention on them, we want to be clear that we Pakistanis are focused on having this election on time. We do not know what motivates Dr Qadri and who backs this venture but we do know that we as a nation, with a fragile democratic system, cannot afford to have it derailed.
We hope that our media professionals will keep the larger context in mind and have an attitude of supporting the democratic process of going through this transition of power.
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