as students get classes cancelled
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As students get classes cancelled, KU
launches History Media Policy project
ByTehmina QureshiPublished: April 27, 2012
The Biannual Journal of History and Social Sciences was also launched. PHOTO: SAFDAR
ABBAS RIZVI
KARACHI: The timing of the launch of the History Media Policy project by the
University of Karachis history department was impeccable. Just before it happened,
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was convicted of contempt by the Supreme Court.
In the university itself, classes were cancelled by activists of political parties. The universitys
administration employees protested outside the administration block as the seminar proceeded in
the Arts Auditorium against the hegemony of student activists at the campus.
The projectwas inspired by the London project of History and Policy by Kings College
London. History Media Policy (HMP)aims to bring the academia, media and policy makerstogether in light of accurate historical data. It will try and channelise various academic
researches to the knowledge of the policy makers. The history department also took advantage if
this opportunity to launch their biannual research journal, called Journal of History and Social
Sciences.
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In their presentation, Arwa Juzar and Adeel Ahmed Khan referred to the Haldane Report of
1918, according to which the research spending of the government should be decided by
researchers themselves instead of the politicians and should be supervised by independent
research councils.
One of the speakers was the additional deputy commissioner Karachi South, Afzal Zaidi. He isalso a former student and teacher at the history department. He deplored that election turn out
was very low in Pakistan. With only 18 per cent of the people deciding who comes to power
how can you expect the government to form a tangible policy? said Zaidi. He graduated in 2001and then taught in the department for more than four years. At home we are told to stay away
from politics. The university also makes you promise to do the same before the admission, he
said, referring to an affidavit all the students have to sign at the time of their admission to pledge
that they will not take part in any political activity. But then how can you bring a change if you
are supposed to do nothing? A citizen only becomes equal by the power of his vote. All of us
have only one vote to give.
Referring to the earlier presentation, Zaidi said it was the feudal mindset that had to be abolishedinstead of the feudal land practice itself. Even in capitalist countries like America you are free
to own as much land as you like, he said. But you have to treat a human being as a humanbeing which lacks in our industrialists and feudal.
Prof. Nisar Zuberi from the mass communication department said that the policy makers had the
tendency to decide matters without actually understanding the root of the problem. While
replying to Zaidis comments about being more politically active, Prof Zuberi, who has remained
the editor ofAkhbar-e-Jahan for about two decades, pointed out that even if the urban population
were politically active, the deciding vote comes from the large chuck of rural population of the
country. So while you create political awareness among the students it is also imperative to
convince the haaris not to vote for their feudal lord.
Shamimur Rahman, a senior correspondent atDawn,justified the criticism on media ethics by
almost all the speakers. He said that media was a reflection of the society, not a hub for
producing information or theories. If people are uneducated then it will reflect in the media, hereplied to those who talked about the crass behaviour of television anchors and politicians in
talks shows. This is the outcome of not nurturing our nurseries of producing thoughtful
individuals which are primary and secondary education. But he also admitted that sometimesthe media people did not confirm their facts before reporting it. This is why we need the
academia, to provide us with information and verify it for us, he said. A policy maker will
never reveal that information.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2012