Political Puzzles and Prospect of Media in Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan’s road to its destiny has not been smooth since its creation in 1947.While passing through several social, political and economic crises; the state has been deeply fissured along its ethnic and religious lines. The former East Pakistan has turned into Bangladesh after the bloody revolt of Bangalis against the elite of the former West Pakistan now Pakistan while the remaining ethnic groups (Bloch. Sindhi, Pushtoon etc) of the country were frequently voicing their concerns regarding what they claim the Punjabi dominance and unfair division of resources. Adding to this, the state has also become a shuttlecock among the interest groups, particularly the military, religious parties, feudal lords and industrialists. The country witnessed the wars, military and democratic regimes and economic crises. It attained atomic capabilities, constitutional amendments. Masses indulged into ideological and liberal clashes and finally entered into the 21st century with the country’s biggest posture as a front line state for war against terror. With the overview of the country’s situation, this article deals with the media birth, its growth and its current situation especially of electronic media. The media’s puzzles and prospective in national integration has been also discussed. Particularly, the overall focus remained at the point that how the media could contribute in achieving national goals. The past government’s efforts to take control over media were also picked briefly.