NATIONAL SUMMIT: STRENGTHENING MEDIA’S ROLE IN A PEACEFUL FUTURE FOR PAKISTAN

Islamabad, Pakistan – July 25, 2024: The Peace and Education Foundation (PEF) proudly hosted the “National Summit on Strengthening Media’s Role in a Peaceful Future for Pakistan.” This pivotal event showcased the impact of our initiatives and highlighted the critical role of media in promoting peace. With over 120 attendees from media, civil society, youth, faith communities, and academia, the summit was a landmark in advancing peace building through media.

Event Highlights

Opening Ceremony: The event was moderated by Ms. Rubab Zainab (Senior Manager Programs, PEF) as she greeted the guests and formally began the event

Welcome Address: Mr. Azhar Hussain, President of PEF, outlined our vision to build a peaceful Pakistani society by engaging media professionals, faith leaders, and youth. He introduced the PEF Insight Publication 2024 expressed that “This publication is an essential resource for stakeholders looking to collaborate with media. It contains a model for engaging media in peace building, provides valuable insights, and offers a comprehensive set of recommendations.

Documentary- Media Voices for Peace Initiative

Ghulam Murtaza, Director of PEF, presented a documentary on Media Voices for Peace initiative for engaging journalists and media influencers from across Pakistan. The project fostered peace, tolerance, and gender empowerment through diverse media stories, reaching wide audiences and promoting inclusivity. The documentary highlighted the success of the “Media Voices for Peace” network, featuring diverse media stories led by Media Influencers that advanced peace through various media platforms.

National Summit: Strengthening Media`s Role in a Peaceful Future for Pakistan Highlight

Panel Discussion- Strengthening Media’s Role in a Peaceful Future for Pakistan

A Panel Discussion featuring Media Experts Sabookh Syed, Arooj Raza, and Dr. Muhammad Hussain explored the expansion of Media Discourse for Peace. The Discussion highlighted the impact of Media on Society, the need for diverse storytelling, and the challenges faced by journalists. The Panelists shared their experiences and insights, emphasizing the importance of media influencers in promoting peace and accountability. The discussion was followed by a Q&A session and the presentation of shields to the panelists by PEF President Azhar Hussain.

Sabookh Syed: “The media discourse often prioritizes entertainment over addressing serious challenges. I commend these Media Influencers for reclaiming digital space with impactful stories of peace, showcasing Pakistan’s soft image, and challenging extremist narratives.”

Ms. Arooj Raza Sayyami: “As a female journalist and initiator of Peace Media, I realized the crucial role women play in highlighting social challenges. Despite facing similar issues as our male counterparts, such as health, climate, and human rights, the media often prioritizes sensational news over meaningful storytelling. I took the initiative to promote human rights and encourage others to create positive change.”

Dr. Muhammad Hussain: “Religious content is widely consumed but often lacks engagement, potentially fueling radicalization. News coverage tends to be urban-centric, neglecting local communities. There’s a critical need to diversify news to represent various communities and promote inclusion. Media influencers have made significant strides in addressing this by collaborating with civil society, universities, and government bodies.”

Concluding Remarks by Guest of Honour Khursheed Ahmad Nadeem:

“Khursheed Ahmad Nadeem, Chairman of the National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Wa Khatamun Nabiyyin Authority, emphasized the need for media to go beyond commercial interest and focus on serving communities by promoting tolerance, acceptance and diversity. He presented awards to Media Influencers for their exceptional contributions.”

The Media influencers for peace who were able to complete this two-year journey. They expressed that:

Ms. Suheera Tariq expressed that: I belong to Multan city and work for 24 news and Rohi channel of south Punjab. Media voices for peace was an incredible journey of two-years not only for me but all the media influencers present here. Being part of the project, I realized that interfaith harmony and peace is very important for our communities and for journalists who encounter these challenges on daily basis.  I believe that this journey will not end here, in fact it is a beginning of a new path of becoming a contributor for peace as a journalist

Mr. Bilal Bashir expressed in his views: I am working with print media organizations since last 12 years, currently I work with daily Mashriq, even while living in a diverse city like 2 Karachi I wrote few articles on interfaith harmony initially faced backlash. Even now I faced the same criticism from my previous madrasah fellows as I have background of religious education; but I had dialogue with them that addressing minority rights and human rights is not against any Islamic principle or teaching. I was even denied entry in worship places of other faith groups due to my religious background. But then the story I covered on the interfaith harmony of a mosque and temple supporting each other on religious festivals purely on the basis of mutual respect and co-existence was appreciated by the larger audience. Similarly, as part of the religious media group I always made sure that the print stories are published in newspapers of all sects rather than being confined to the limited audience. PEF has provided us enough skills to break the stereotypes related to religious minorities

Picture Gallery:

Media Coverage

Electronic Media Coverage

• News Coverage on Jang E-paper
• News coverage of PEF event on Suno FM Facebook Page
• News coverage on IBC Urdu
• IBC Urdu FB Page
• News Coverage on Mashaal Radio in Pashto
• News coverage on Online Indus TV