JEDDAH, 14 October 2004 — A number of private TV channels launched recently in Pakistan are successfully catering for the diverse taste of their demanding audience. The new channels offer a wide variety of programs and objective reporting on events and incidents. GEO is one such channel gaining tremendous popularity, said Aniq Ahmed, who anchors GEO’s famous program on religious matters “Alif”.
State-owned channels offer very little entertainment and their programs are often boring and monotonous, he said. People prefer private channels because of their objectivity and sense of urgency in covering events. It has made the public aware of their responsibilities and rights, said Aniq, who was here to perform Umrah.
Discussions on politics and social issues are very lively, drawing a lot of feedback but religious issues are rather difficult to discuss because of the angry responses it might evoke from various groups. “Nevertheless, we have been able to present our program, Alif very successfully”.
At the outset, it was supposed to be an eight-episode series, but because of its overwhelming popularity, the program was extended to 100 episodes and beyond, said Aniq.
Aniq, who was the chief guest at a function jointly organized in his honor by the Pakistan Journalists Forum and the World Urdu Forum here, said he receives a large number of e-mails and phone calls from across the world. “The response encouraged us to continue the program and so far we have staged 100 episodes out of which 70 were on religious issues,” he said. “The main objective of the program is to bring the truth to the viewers and bridge differences among the followers of different schools of thought,” Aniq said adding that the program had largely been successful in its efforts.
Aniq, however, said private TV channels still need to do more to present the true social picture. “We are trying but I think there is still room for improvement,” he said.
Paying tributes to noted Pakistani poet and philosopher Jon Aliya, Aniq said he drew inspiration from the late poet who, he said, was his mentor and teacher.
Guest speaker Ashfaq Bayouni said Aniq was doing a wonderful job. “He gathers people from different schools of thought and discusses religious issues that are ‘explosive in nature’. This is a difficult task given the sensitivities involved.”
Ehsanul Haq, convener of the Pakistan Repatriation Council presented Aniq a magazine, Hisar, that deals with the miseries of the quarter of a million Pakistanis languishing in Bangladesh refugee camps for the past three decades. Ehsan urged Aniq to stage a program on the plight of these hapless people.
Professor Munawwar Hashmi of World Urdu Forum thanked Aniq for conducting a program that he said was narrowing down differences between followers of various schools of thought.
Pakistan Journalist Forum President Shahid Naeem delivered the welcome address and Hamid Islam Khan conducted the function. Jamil Rathore recited the holy Qur’an and Ahmed Raza rendered a Na’at. Muhammad Asad Khan, Zammurad Khan Saifi, Azhar Chishti, Abdul Qayyum Wasiq, Farooq Monis, Shahid Naeem, Mohsin Alwi, Abdul Bari Anjum, Syed Zafar Mahdi and Naseem-e-Sehar recited their poems.