• November 17, 2007
• Information Technology, Media and Society, News Archives
• Web Desk

In 1971, when (late) General Yahya Khan ruled the country and it was next to impossible to write anything against the government in print media, political activists would rely on graffiti and cyclostyled pamphlets to expose the atrocities of the ruling elite.

Obviously, the scope of cyclostyled pamphlets was limited and they would hardly be distributed among a few thousand people due to monetary constraints and technicalities. However, even that was sufficient to invite the wrath of the state machinery, often culminating in the arrests of the activists.

The trend continued during the reign of successive civilian and military regimes in Pakistan whenever the press came under siege. However, graffiti continued to be the dominant mode of venting one’s anger.

However, times have changed especially with the advent of internet in Pakistan in 1995. Now, even minor happenings are instantly communicated not only within the country but across the world too.

Internet users get instantly connected to those who sympathise with them around the world and feel optimistic when they receive solidarity messages from innumerable sources across the world. In other words, they don’t feel alone or isolated even if they have limited means to defy the government at home. This was amply demonstrated when President General Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency in Pakistan on November 3, 2007.

A small group of students demonstrated against the emergency in Clifton and its details along with pictures were made available to a large number of people within no time.

Often people quench their thirst for information through surfing foreign newspapers and get valuable information. The ordeal of Mir Shakeel-ur-Rahman, CEO, Jang Group was highlighted by the Washington Post before it was printed in the chain of newspapers he owns in Pakistan.

“The number of computer users in Pakistan is about 10 million while the internet users are four to five million and broadband users are about 100,000,” says Wahaj-us-Siraj, convener, Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (Ispak).

“Sixty to 70 per cent of internet use is confined to the corporate sector while about 30 per cent users enjoy the facility in their homes,” says Siraj.

But the vast majority of the users are confined to urban centres.

“Internet cafes did a lucrative business a few years ago but now, hardly five per cent users rely on these outfits and internet cafes are shutting down across the country,” he says.

However, Mohammad Nauman, an educationist and associate professor at Karachi’s prestigious NED University of Engineering and Technology says that internet usage is correlated with education and since Pakistan has a low literacy rate, only the English-speaking population makes its best use.

“The dominant trend is chatting and apolitical dialogue. However, with the increase in the usage of Urdu on the web, more people will become conscious politically,” he says.

Dr Tanveer Ahmed Shaikh, a senior executive and a former student leader, says it is true that political awareness has increased with the passage of time but sadly enough, it has not been transformed into popular movement.

“Private TV channels are resorting to catharsis since one or the other person on the channel must be expressing the sentiments of a certain segment of society,” he says. “Now we don’t need pamphlets,” he adds.

Dr Kaiser Bengali, an eminent economist who teaches at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) disagrees.

“Only the educated class is connected to the net. The vast population living in the rural as well as urban areas which is not connected to the internet still needs the traditional methods to defy coercion,” he says.
Source: The News
Date:11/17/2007