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Danger signals

It has been reported that PPP has contracted with Zee TV of India at a cost of Rs. 2.2 million to project the election results ONE hour before they are officially declared on Pakistan TV. While using anything Indian by a major Pakistani political party would make this exercise an extraordinary event anyway, using this particular medium makes it absolutely amazing for any number of reasons.

Zee TV has ostensibly been financed by the former Defence Minister of India and present Chief Minister Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar. While Sharad Pawar is a well known Pakistan-hater, what is especially troubling is the fact that he is actually a front, in fact Zee TV is a long term project of the Indian Research and Analytical Wing (RAW) to beam a subtle Indian message over a wide audience much beyond the shores of India in a more sophisticated manner than the official media. Instead of the blatant propaganda of All India Radio (AIR) or Indian TV (Doordarshan) which creates a backlash of revulsion among audiences, the first phase of media projection on Zee TV has involved getting the attention of the masses by making them into a captive audience through a wide range of suggestive entertainment. Once the audience attention is thus held in thrall, the second phase would involve a steady projection of the Indian line. In short, Zee TV is a sophisticated PsyWar weapon whose first target seems to be to break down the social and cultural walls of the citadel of Pakistan.

The cost quoted for the contract is also rather suspicious. Rs. 2.2 million is hardly the price one would pay for even an hour of prime time TV what to talk about 48 hours of it (NA and PA elections), as such there is either something wrong with this figure or some promises in lieu for services rendered have been made for the future. The potential for creating mayhem is tremendous. Suppose if Ms Benazir looks like losing the elections, Zee TV could possibly project figures showing PPP “winning” one hour ahead of the actual results in different constituencies in utter contradiction of the correct facts, a doubt will thus be created among the masses that will strike at the root of the Election Commission’s credibility. This disinformation could also be picked up by other media such as BBC, VOA, VOG and be repeated to Pakistani audiences as a fact thereby undermining the actual truth. The losers could take the “Heads I win, tails you lose” approach, this would be another form of “Long March” in disputing the election results and creating conditions of anarchy in the country. As it is All India Radio (AIR) has been constantly propagating a steady stream of Sindhu Desh material, what is to stop Zee TV from fomenting ethnic or religious riots during the election coverage by spreading disinformation and falsehood?

At best, somebody in the media management team in PPP has either blundered or at worst is in the pay of Indian intelligence. Everybody and his uncle knows that the Indians would prefer Ms Benazir should win since they perceive both Nawaz Sharif and Qazi Hussain Ahmad as implacable foes. The Kashmir situation for the Indians is so grave they are desperate. Since the Indians hardly have Pakistan’s good at heart, this blatant move is a “no holds” barred move to influence the issue their way. It is so obvious that either the person who contracted this media arrangement with Zee TV was dangerously naive about the consequences of such an arrangement or the ultimate prize of destabilizing was so great he (or she) had to come out of cover and take the risk of being found out. There are many ways to undermine the integrity of the country, a few years earlier under the cover of TV documentaries of the Thar Desert, we literally gave away “route reconnaissance” reports on video about “tank-going” countryside on our side of the desert on a platter. Announcing the election results by RAW’s media arm Zee TV ONE hour ahead of the official results has the potential of aiming at the core of integrity of this country.

One cannot believe for an instant that Ms Benazir had any knowledge of this development, she and her husband have been extremely busy on the road campaigning. With this knowledge about RAW’s Zee TV connection she should immediately go for damage control by cancelling the contract and give the person who thought up this atrocious idea six months rigorous hanging upside down. As it is the known Murtaza connection to RAW and his decision to contest the elections in Sindh ONLY is too blatant a separatist ploy to ignore by our agencies. If he is a committed Pakistani he could have contested in at least one other seat from any of the other Provinces. If nothing else this fact of using RAW’s Zee TV to project the PPP message will be exploited as another pointer by those who think that Ms Benazir’s relationship with India is “too cosy” for comfort. Giving a medal to Stephen Solarz was bad enough, the control of Al-Zulfikar by RAW was certainly worse, but the contracting of Zee TV by PPP is an unmitigated disaster. How many smoking guns do we need to have? In the unlikely event that Ms Benazir does not take immediate action, then the Election Commission (EC) should take suo-moto notice of the Zee TV potential for undercutting EC credibility and creating social (and political) mayhem.

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