Visiting Black Thursday Bombings, Media Coverage and Twitter

On 10, January 2013 two suicide bombers ripped through a snooker club on Alamdar Road, Quetta in North West of Pakistan’s troubled Province Balochistan targeting a neighbourhood dominated by ethnic Hazara Shiites, killing at least 115 people in total and wounding more than 270. The first bomber went inside the snooker hall and blew him up exactly at 8.50 PM followed ten minutes later by a second car bomb outside the building after police, rescue and media personnel had arrived at the scene. The intensity of the blast destroyed the multi storey building and damaged surrounding buildings. The hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of casualties and struggled in the face of worst ever terror attack in Quetta city. The banned outfit LEJ (Lashkar-e- Jhangvi) responsible for similar previous attacks on ethnic Hazara Shiites claimed the responsibility for the twin bombing.

The bombing was also responsible for the first deaths of journalists in Pakistan in 2013 in which three journalists and two camera crew died from the second bombing when they were covering the aftermath of first one. Sadly, the deadly massacre sounded not sensational enough for mainstream news media channels to provide due coverage to the terrorist atrocities that had hit the city and most of the news channels had resumed back to broadcasting protest march in Islamabad led by Tahir ul Qadri calling for electoral reforms in the country after breaking the news. The issue of lack of media coverage to terror incidents in Balochistan province has been a burning debate where most human rights activists, political parties and civil society has condemned the media blackout in the Province especially to terror related events which otherwise gets full media coverage in other parts of the country. As the mainstream media continued to ignore providing coverage to the Hazara community genocide many were turning to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to register their anguish and by staging a sit in and  refusing to bury the dead until the provincial government is removed and they are provided greater security against everyday life of bullets and bombings. 

The sit-in at Quetta’s Alamdar Road staged by thousands of people including women and children from the Hazara Shia community continued over night under freezing temperatures and rain while the mainstream media totally ignored the protest. Many of the tweets at that time depicted the moods and feelings of people like the ones below:

As the sit in entered its third day the protest movement had spread across the country thanks to social media sites especially Twitter and Facebook where many were calling the callous, inhumane, shameless leaders of present Government to act and mainstream news media to provide non-stop coverage of the issue to build pressure on government for some concrete actions. Most political parties which were absent from the scene were coming to join in solidarity and some for face saving in front of the nation.

Meanwhile, the hashtags #Quetta #ShiaGenocide #LeJ #WeallareShia was trending on Twitter in Pakistan. At a time when mainstream media was ignoring the issue activists and protesters were using Twitter to communicate and share images of disparity, hopelessness and brutality that had struck the people. The figure below is global mention of #Quetta on Twitter and it is interesting to note the way mention of #Quetta had increased over the period of time after the bombing and reached its peak level on the 13^th of January 2013 i.e. when the Prime Minister of Pakistan flew to Quetta to address Hazara community grievances and announced live on television that he had accepted all their demands, including the sacking of the provincial government and the suspension of its legislature. 

The second peak in the figure below is on the 16^th of February 2013 when another bomb had targeted young school children and women in Hazara town killing 84 and injuring 200. Again Twitter played an important role in protesting and mobilizing activists all across the country against the inhumane act.

The fascinating thing about social media sites and digital age activism is that it has made it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate and raise voice to their concerns which previously was not only difficult but in some situations impossible. There is no doubt that mainstream media is still big and dominant in variety of social, political and cultural domains but these new tools are catching up with them and gradually re-configuring the entire media landscape and also transforming older forms of Mediatization with newer ones interestingly eroding some powers of mainstream media. The Black Thursday activism and use of Twitter was the first time in Pakistan’s history that an elected government had to be removed where social media sites in particular Twitter played a pioneer role. This kind or magnitude of thing would not have been possible in a pre internet age and also shows how internet in empowering people especially giving the voiceless a voice to be heard across the world on a scale never witnessed before.

In memory of a loving friend who lost his life on that sad day. I am sure being a technologist you would have loved to see the way technology was used to register the protest, pain and anguish of those who lost their loved ones.  To Allah We Belong, And To Him is Our Return .

 

Women and the Web! Why Internet Access Matters

In the United States, we may often take Internet access for granted. But this is not a luxury all people have, especially women in developing nations. "Women & the Web," an infographic posted recently by OnlineClasses.org, provides a number of interesting facts and figures on this very topic.

There are approximately 2.4 billion Internet users across the globe, and in Western countries, women use the web 17% more than men. This includes everything from social media activity to online shopping. However, in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East & North Africa, and South Asia, the gender gap is very high when it comes to levels of Internet access. It's estimated that there were 23% fewer women online in these regions. In some countries, like Azerbaijan, this gap is much higher with just 14% of women having gone online compared to 70% of men. This is of particular concern considering the great amount of freedom women can find through the web. In fact, in a survey of women in developing nations with web access, 50% reported using it to find a job and 30% were able to use it to earn additional income. However, unlike men, who only reinvest between 30 and 40% of their income back into their family, women reinvested an average of 90%.

In addition, the availability of free e-learning sites is also an important resource for women and girls in developing nations. In fact, according to a survey of female web-users in these regions, 8 in 10 reported using the Internet to further their education. This is extremely significant given that of the 110 million children not in school around the globe, 60% are girls. Popular learning sites such as Coursera and Udacity give many students in underserved populations the opportunity to increase their level of education despite other barriers they may encounter.

This is not only an opportunity for self-advancement, but also for economic improvement in many developing nations. Currently, there are an estimated 600 million women online in these regions, but if that number doubled, $13 to $18 billion could be contributed to the annual GDP of 144 developing nations, 180 million women would improve their ability to earn additional income, and 500 million would be able to further their education.

With all this in mind, it's hard to deny the importance of discussing this issue. Also, it's not surprising that 70% of women surveyed in these developing countries described the Internet as "liberating." Going even further, 90% said that web access should be a basic human right. For more information and figures for this topic, please check out the brilliant infographic done by Allison Morris.

 

Source: OnlineClasses.org

Guest post by: Allison Morris

Quetta: The Valley of Death and Media Blackout

This tweet depicts the sad story of Quetta the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province which was hit by another deadly sectarian attacks on Thursday claiming more than 100 lives and leaving many more injured. As the death toll from Thursday attack rises the families of the people who lost their lives in the cowardly attack sit in the freezing rainy weather to protest against the attack and failure of government in protecting them.

The complete blackout of media on the occasion questions the claims of free and independent media in Balochistan and Media’s priority in framing of events and providing due coverage. 

The role played by the mainstream media in their failure to highlight the ongoing violence against Hazara community is sad but the way new media especially Twitter is being used to highlight the injustices is never seen before. 

As the mainstream media continues to ignore providing coverage to the Hazara community genocide many are turning to social media sites like twitter and facebook to register their protest and highlight the grave human rights violations using new media technologies. 

 

New Media, Legislations & Activism in the Digital Age

New media in the digital age is being used for many good, bad and the ugly ambitions of human society. We saw the glimpses of its real influence to disrupt years of dictatorial regimes in Arab Spring and previous to that in Pakistan during the famous Black Movement resulting in bringing democracy and restoring the rule of law. We have also seen the same tool being used to promote propaganda in the new age information warfare such as in Iran’s green revolution and at times used to distort the reality in ongoing conflicts and human rights violations in others. We have also seen people being charged and persecuted for expressing themselves on the new media like recently in India and in worst cases the users of the new media became the victims of brutal violence like in Mexico.

 

In this rapidly changing age of communications new media especially social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have raised profound questions on traditional mass media’s balance in reporting and framing events. It has also challenged authorities’ particularly authoritarian regimes in controlling the free flow of information like recently in Syria resulting in many developed and developing countries introducing some form of legislations to legalize interception of communications to catch “terrorists”. Recently Pakistan followed the same footsteps and introduced a draconian legislation i.e.  “The Fair Trail Bill 2012” allowing government agencies to intercept private communications such as phone calls, SMS, emails, social media etc in order to catch “terrorists”. Rights groups have been very concerned over the legislation with the possible misuse of the law by state institutions in targeting human rights activists especially in the volatile province of Balochistan which has seen an alarming rise in deadly violence against human rights activists, lawyers, students and journalists in particular.

The lack of media coverage by traditional mass media to the heinous crimes committed in the modern age especially in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and in some parts of Africa by both state and non state entities has resulted in new age activists utilizing new media especially Twitter and Facebook to highlight the grave human rights violations being committed. What is particularly interesting is the way the new media is being used in conflict areas deserving a separate post on its own. But in short most of the tweets stress on the shortcomings of traditional mass media in its failure to report the human rights violations taking place in the region and for governments in taking action. The huge amount of information available on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and YouTube can give a detailed idea on the ongoing situation and off course it also gives a platform to propagate acts of barbarianism like in this video from Pakistan’s Balochistan province uploaded by terrorists to glorify their causes and actions (user discretion advised for watching the video) and in other scenarios it also highlights World War II like human rights atrocities  still being committed by regimes in the modern age.

With governments around the world trying to figure out how to control the onslaught of new media many developing countries like Pakistan with controversial  record for civil liberties and individuals rights have introduced new legislation allowing security agencies to intercept any forms of communications making new age digital activism not only difficult but dangerous as well especially for the novice activists who use a camera enabled mobile phone and Internet connection for activism both against the state and non state actors. In a recent statement pro-government faction of the Pakistani Taliban led by Commander Mullah Nazeer also banned mobile phones with built in digital cameras and memory cards in Wana sub division of troubled South Waziristan. The Mullah Commander has previously set a blaze hundreds of mobile phones with built in camera and memory cards as well.

The way  use of modern technologies especially mobile phones and Internet have rattled governments around the world I expect to see more legislation legalizing the use of interception, surveillance and employing the kill switch for digital technologies not just only to catch terrorists but also keep the populace under check. 

Written on board Thai Airways TG492 from Auckland to Bangkok and sent using free Wi-Fi at Bangkok International Airport.

Media in the Valley of Death

Pakistan’s Balochistan province once famous in the world for its geographical beauty, art work, fruits and unmatched hospitality is now referred to as the "valley of death" by the fearful Pakistanis living in the area. The region has been on the receiving end of war on terror, growing sectarian violence and a decade of insurgency fuelled by the ongoing conflict between Baloch nationalists and the Government of Pakistan making it one of the most dangerous places on earth for media personnel. 

For the second year in row, Reporters without Borders has named Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world for journalists and with the deteriorating human rights situation the profession is under murderous assault in the south western province. According to a recent report “Media personnel in Balochistan are under constant threat from pro-Taliban Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Pakistani security forces, Baloch separatists groups and state-sponsored anti-separatist militant outfits”. The motives for the life threats and assault range from providing media coverage to their activities to restricting freedom of information on the media.

The issue with providing media coverage has taken dangerous turns in the last few years when both state and non state actors are trying to use the media as a strategic weapon for spreading misinformation and propaganda. As a result the media has been in the crossfire with a number of journalists being abducted, tortured or killed. The Unions of Journalists along with various press freedom organization has condemned the threats and attempts by the various groups to influence coverage of its activities as “extremely undemocratic, non-political and immoral”.  

In a recent workshop organized by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Islamabad many participants were also of the view that “media and civil society could not operate freely in the province due to security reasons and harassment by the militant organizations. Coverage and role of media in highlighting the conflict is limited due to external pressures and fear of violent repercussion”.

The debate of lack of media coverage to soaring national issue such as the Balochistan conflict has been going on for a while now where political parties, human rights organizations and civil society has condemned the role played by the mainstream media in their failure to highlight the ongoing violent conflict. Some believe that due to the lack of media coverage the issue has further worsened and many Pakistanis living in other parts of the country have very limited idea on the violent state of affairs in the region. If it is not in the mainstream media the issue hardly gets noticed these days such is the power of media to influence agendas and a broad range of policy initiatives in Pakistan.   

Martin Luther King once said that “the day we see truth and do not speak is the day we begin to die” here in Balochistan the issue has become far more complicated than just speaking the truth says Irfan a senior reporter working for a leading news channel. If we report the issue without imposing some kind of self censorship we run the risk of being targeted either the by government agencies or militant organizations. 

The state of media in the valley of death is dismal and hopes for things to improve looks very bleak. The ongoing Baloch conflict, rising sectarian violence and target killing of media personnel in the province has left many to stop reporting; some have migrated to other cities and others who are still following Luther King and speaking the truth face the consequences of never to speak again.