ACADEMIC RESEARCH
INTENSE PAKISTANI
POLITICS HIJACKING
MEDIA
MR PROJECT
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to acknowledge and pay gratitude to Iqra University for giving us an opportunity
to study this course i.e. Marketing Research. Our mentor Babar Khan has been very supportive
and motivating for us to continue doing our research and polished our research skills.
We would like to thank all the fellow students in this course for participating and being an
influence too. We would also like to thank the Head Of Department of Media Sciences, Sir Latif
Abbasi, for constant support and encouragement. Our parents and family has also been a very
crucial support for our studies.
ABSTRACT
The Panama case was a Supreme Court Pakistan case between Imran Khan Niazi and Mian
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. The case was run from November 2016-Februrary 2017. Imran Khan
brought this case to the court stating mondey laundering links of eight companies with Nawaz
Sharif and his family. The case has been disclosed recently disqualifying Sharif from his position
in a unanimous verdict. There was an overwhelming response on social media of the Pakistani
audience over the final verdict. The trending topics on social media platforms like Twitter,
Facebook was overloaded with Panama responses. People even took out on a festive rally.
Pakistani politics is an important matter in the houses of the Pakistani society. This research’s
objective was to conduct the responses of the impact of Pakistani politics specifically Panama
case on the audience. A structured interview and questionnaire was used to conduct this research.
Some people disagreed to our point, but most people agreed overall our research turned out to be
positive. The questionnaire was distributed electronically while the interview was conducted to
news anchor experts taking their opinions.
The research has proved to be positive. It can be observed that people stay updated to news,
politics and city updates on a regular basis in Pakistan starting from leaving home in the
morning, to evening breaks to late night shows. Social media has made it even easier and kept us
all updated on latest trending topics. In Pakistan, it is always crucial for the audience to judge
politicians as their vote is counted in this democratic system. Panama case is a great example of
how much it is effective on the people of Pakistan; people are celebrating having new hopes for
avoiding corruption and for bringing a change in Pakistan and also it is like rebirth of politics for
a lot of people. The people of Pakistan are sensitive in these matters and can react instantly if it
comes to voicing their opinions for their mental peace. Politics plays a huge role in their
everyday lives.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.No
Description
1.
Acknowledgement
2.
Abstract
3.
Introduction/Literature Review
4.
Research Methodology
5.
Results
6.
Conclusion
7.
References
Page No.
INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW
Multiple theories are taking rounds predicting as to what is going to be the likely decision on
Panama Leaks case, and whose political career is about to end. Truth be told, it is almost
impossible to predict anything on Pakistan’s politics. It isn’t because of the turbulent nature of
politics in the country but mostly because of the opaqueness and under-the-cover dealings of our
political establishment.
What one can, however, predict is that such high-profile cases typically receive carefully neutral
and vague decision allowing both sides to save face, declare victory and get back to the politics
as usual. Panama Leaks case is likely going to see the same result. Neither is it going to be earth
shattering, nor decisive.
For one, any decision by the Supreme Court is unlikely to remove the Prime Minister (PM) or
have any major impact on his politics since he is not directly involved in the case. But with the
stakes so high, the judges are likely going to extend some level of punishment to the children of
PM Sharif for ‘negligence’ and perhaps ‘malpractice’.
For Imran Khan, any decision against any member of the Sharif family will be a huge victory,
and will have the PTI social media army go on overdrive. The PTI will be able to breathe once
more for the next elections or till the next scandal — something that it desperately needs at the
moment to even retain K-P in the 2018 elections.
The PML-N camp will also be jubilant, whatever the decision may be, even if Maryam Nawaz is
reprimanded by the courts. With the Sharif family putting its entire financial history out in the
public in courts, the fact that the sitting PM held himself accountable to the Pakistani courts will
clean away Nawaz Sharif’s slate, end talks of his ‘family corruption’ once and for all, give him
more strength, and his followers more reason to vote for him in 2018.
For Maryam Nawaz, any decision is going to be a victory. If the court gives her a clean chit, she
wins and that’s that. In case if the court reprimands her, what better way to start the political
career than being a political martyr and coming out as a true leader who had her life on trial.
Hence, in the short term, any decision on Panama Leaks is unlikely going to have any clear
winners and will probably strengthen the status quo. But here is a thing: there is no short term in
politics. Decisions, and games are all played for the long run. While the PML-N is in a defensive
mode mostly firefighting, since the PM has a lot to lose, Imran Khan on the other hand is
counting on time and his stars.
Khan, by now, obviously understands that he can’t defeat the PML-N through free and fair
elections, not in 2018 at least. But locking down the top boss, Nawaz Sharif into controversies
will eventually get him what he wants. For PM Sharif, getting out clean from every scandal may
be a win worth to celebrate in the short run, but scandal after scandal; he may lose his cards to
play the long game.
In chess, for instance, feeding the opponent with minor kills to lure and check-mate eventually is
the oldest strategy in the book. Put that in the context, first, the Election Rigging controversy,
now the Panama Scandal, Khans’ modus operandi to becoming the PM is not by defeating the
PML-N as a political party, but by defeating the person Nawaz Sharif with which the House
Sharif and the PML-N will also fall.
Indian reaction on panama verdict:
22 Indian media react with fury over Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in the media spotlight for last few days,
particularly after his disqualification by the Supreme Court in the Panamagate probe.
The media coverage saw more storms when it transpired that the PM has been disqualified for
life, stirring up debate in the political circles of the country.
The disqualification news received ample coverage in both national and international media with
mixed reactions about the political turmoil in Pakistan and its possible impact in the region.
The international media viewed Sharif’s disqualification as another spell of political uncertainty
with a wide number of editorials and op-ed publication. However, the Indian media was
exceptional in this regard by giving special focus to the disqualification news in context of its
possible impacts on Pakistan-India ties.
The Hindu, in an op-ed titled “Nawaz Sharif ouster: a blow to India-Pakistan dialogue process”,
said that Indian Diplomats and political analysts have opined the resignation of Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif is a setback to the process of dialogue with India and the internal democracy of
Pakistan. The newspaper quoted former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India Satinder K.
Lambah saying as: “Out of all the prime ministers of Pakistan since 1947, Nawaz Sharif is the
only one who has held the largest number of meetings – nearly 15 to 20 – with Indian prime
ministers, mostly in third countries. It is another matter that he has not travelled to India very
often, but he did travel once during Rajiv Gandhi’s funeral in 1991 and then during the swearingin ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. His departure amounts to the removal of
a partner in dialogue with a country which has been India’s main concern.”
The Economic Times India, in its editorial page titled here’s how Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s
ouster will impact India, said: “Though Nawaz Sharif was a weak prime minister……but there
was hope that Pakistan would slowly emerge as a stable democracy. But the Panamagate verdict
that disqualifies him and allows a six-month trial for all cases against him seems to belie that
hope.”
DNA India, in an op-ed, said that Nawaz Sharif’s ouster means fresh security complications for
India as political instability will result in an even greater role for Pakistan’s Army, which has
been calling the shots anyway.
The newspaper quoted opinions of Indian Foreign Policy Expert Shashadari Chari saying that the
Friday’s court order would have a negative effect on Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case.
The Hindustan Times, in an op-ed titled Nawaz Sharif’s ouster means hopes of mending IndiaPakistan ties dashed, viewed the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the
resultant political uncertainty in Pakistan as further diminishing the possibility of the
normalisation of the fragile India-Pakistan ties in the near future.
“First of all, we need to see who succeeds Nawaz Sharif and what is immediately in store for
Pakistan’s polity. Any change of guard in Islamabad is also set to bring change in the country’s
Indian policy…….,” the newspaper quoted an Indian official.
So far, the Indian government has made no formal statement with regard to Sharif’s
disqualification. However, the Indian media is already quoting political experts and analysts
cautioning the Indian government about the political crisis in Pakistan.
Pakistani politics are hijacking Pakistani media groups mainly Panama leaks. In which it was a
General perception that Pakistani media groups were divided. Since, November 1st 2016, in
between the 26 Supreme Court proceedings and until now, Pakistani media groups are
supporting desired political parties. It was not a general perception that Pakistani media was
totally hijacked during the SC hearings and JIT proceedings. In between we have watched very
few breaking news of other state affairs. After the proceedings we have witnessed the talk shows
on different channels in favor of different parties by journalists and politicians. People sitting on
one channel were favoring one extreme and on the very same time people on different channel
were favoring other extreme. Not only Pakistani media but also the international media had an
eye on Pakistani politics. When Nawaz Sharif was disqualified, Supreme Court’s decision left
Pakistanis to another uncertainty (Guardian, 2017). Pakistani court creating dangerous event for
Pakistan (New York Times, 2017). Indian Media had also focused on Pakistani prime minister
disqualification. According to deputy high commissioner India to Pakistan Nawaz Sharif was
one of prime minister since 1947 who had 15-20 meetings with India on different platforms.
(Lambah, 2017). Even we have seen so many journalist’s news related to parties favor. Like one
of the news journalist JIT doesn’t find Nawaz Sharif guilty (Noorani, 2017) Supreme Court sent
condemn of court notice to Jang Group/The News group. How a journalist can publish
controversial news. (Afzal, 2017). Whereas analysts of another extreme were favoring opposition
(PTI). Nawaz Sharif’s career is about to end and PTI is celebrating its victory on Panama verdict
(Rasheed, 2017). Few more people will never stop phrasing Imran Khan, leaders involved in
Panama from different country resigned but Nawaz Sharif is stiff on his decision that he will not
resign. (Najee, 2016) whereas few journalist were neutral saying If Prime Minister of Pakistan
has offshore accounts so he should prove, (Chaudhary, 2016), Nawaz Sharif faced different
challenges before, now whatever they are facing today are different, (Abbas, 2017). Nawaz
Sharif will face tough questions in JIT and it will be tough time for Sharif family (Abbas, 2017).
Whereas political parties started boycotting channels they don’t like. Like Imran Khan
announced the boycott of JANG/GEO for showing too much about Nawaz Sharif. Whereas, in
PMLN mostly the leaders boycotted ARY for showing too much about PTI. In 2014, Imran
Khan boycotted Geo. And now again in 2017, in PTI’s official page tweet they wrote, Geo has to
apologize, until PTI leaders and workers will boycott (PTI, 2014). In the recent tweet of Imran
Khan he said, In the era of freedom of speech, few media houses are preserving their personal
interests. (Khan, 2017). Whereas PTI leaders phrasing ARY for showing content in their favor
and boycott Geo for showing content in favor of Sharif family. This case took a turn in July
when the doubts were casted on documents central on the daughter of the ex prime minister’s
daughter, Mariam Nawaz Sharif who claimed that she was only the trustee of the companies who
bought the London flats. During the period of the proceedings certain documents were submitted
which turned out to be false, and on the basis of those documents the Supreme Court could claim
forgery, for which they have the right to disqualify the Prime Minister. (Zafar, 2017).
The disqualification of the Prime Minister created ample coverage in both the Pakistani and
international media and created a possible impact. So, as we discussed in our questionnaire and
interview questions, Pakistani media was just creating opinion instead of raising awareness and
instead of giving facts. Media was delivering fabricated news. According to general people,
Media was paid during panama season by different political parties and they didn’t raise public
issues during Panama season they were just showing related to panama. Gallup had a survey on
Panama Leaks just after 24 hours of PM disqualification, Before SC verdict PMLN was on Top
and PTI was on Second number where as after verdict 3 percent rise in PTI voters and 2 percent
drop in PMLN voters (Gallup, 2017), according to Gallup survey in four provinces when they
asked people of four province about the impact of SC verdict on Pakistan, So 28 percent said Its
good for the country where as 32 percent said its bad impact, 32 said did not had significant
impact and 8 percent didn’t know about Panama and Supreme court (Gallup, 2017). During
Panama season and after Supreme court verdict Pakistani Media is setting agenda for their
against political Parties. In the scandal of Ayesha Gulelai and Imran Khan One extreme Media
GEO NEWS set an agenda against Imran Khan and On aired and gave special coverage to
Ayesha Gulelai. And according to one senior journalist Mr. Hamid Mir in Geo News Television
confess in Program Aj Shahzeb Khanszada k sath, That Ayesha showed him Messages of Imran
Khan, on which Journalist from another extreme (ARY News and BOL TV) and PTI set an
agenda against Geo News and Ayesha Gulelai and start commenting on Ayesha’s sister who is
international Sqaush Player about her dressing that she wears shorts during squash game on this
Imran Khan Chairman Pakistan Tehreek Insaf Requested all party members to refrain targeting
Ayesha’s sister. (Khan, 2017). Imran Khan allegations on Media Groups are remain, Targeting
Mir Shakeel ur Rahman owner of One extreme media group. He gave challenge to MSR and
Shareef said do their worst, his struggle will hardened the party will become ever strong. (Khan,
2017), After SC verdict, Senior Journalist Hamid Mir said Verdict would not bring end to
political career of Shareef family (Mir, 2017). Whereas Journalists from different extreme (ARY
News) Kashif Abbasi and Arif Hamid Bhatti Praises Chairman Pakistan Tehreek Insaf for
Nawaz Shareef Disqualification in Show, And during the time Aamir Liaquat on another channel
of same stream enjoying and celebrating the moment and praising Imran Khan for this. After
Supreme court Verdict on Panama leaks, People protest outside One extreme channel Geo News
for showing too much in favor of Noon League and against Pakistan Tehreek Insaf. It is a
general perception that most of journalist from Jang/Geo are in favor of Mulsim league Nawaz
and they write and talk in favor of Shareef family like Hafeezullah Niazi, Imtiaz Alam, Ahmed
Noorani and other, whereas Most of Journalist in ARY and BOL write and speak in favor of
PTI, like Arif Hameed Bhatti, Kashif Abbasi, Aamir Liaquat, Hamza Ali Abbasi and etc,
Whereas most of the journalist from other channels are also in favor of PTI like Haroon Rasheed,
Nazeer Naji etc, In one tweet Noorani wrote, PMLN decision to Keep Shehbaz in Punjab is
good. Because PMLN supporters are in Punjab and Shehbaz shareef’s performance in Punjab is
good. (Noorani, 2017) After Ayesha gulelai scandal, One of the senior anchor person
confess that Ayesha Gulelai showed him messages where as one another media personality
Shafaat tweeted that Ayesha Gulelai also showed message to one senior reporter, and Reporter
admitted that it was IK’s personal number (Ali, 2017), Ayesha Gullelai also blamed Naeem ul
Haq for sending her bad tweets, On this one of the senior leader of Pakistan tehreek insaf tweeted
that Naeem ul haq told him his tweeter was hacked. (Mehmood, 2017), On which one senior
journalist of Jang retweeted it with the slug do you believe him?? (Abbasi, 2017), Where as one
TV anchor praises Ayesha’s Action that Ayesha opened up debate into work place harrasement,
It should made clear to many Men, (Idrees, 2017). In a show Aisa nahi chalega Aamir Liaquat
Quoted his tweet related to her scandal that Imran Khan never see her face to face, do you really
Think he will text you bad messages, (Liaquat, 2017). Plus Aamir Liaquat blamed Geo and Jang
Group for being in favor of Gulelai in their transmission (Liaquat, 2017). Ayesha
Gulalai called ARY Imran Khan’s B team (Gulelai, 2017), Ayesha Gulalai issue is one of after
Effects of Panama Leaks and Supreme court verdict so it was important to share here, But before
Supreme court Verdict Both extreme media groups set an agenda related to their favorite
political parties.
METHODOLOGY
An investigation is done using primary data. A survey was conducted through a structured
questionnaire and structured interview. Through the questionnaire we got to know the perception
of general public related to media and Pakistani politics. One on one interview was conducted
through which we got know the reality of field. Quantitative data was found through the
questionnaire. Through the interview we got the qualitative data related to the topic and point of
view of the experts. The questionnaire examined in this circulated through emails and social
media, A sample of 120 through simple random sampling in which 107 questionnaire were
received. In qualitative research, we conducted an interview of a senior anchor person and a
senior analyst related to a news channel, which supported our hypothesis.
Hypothesis (1) Media just created an opinion instead of raising awareness,
Hypothesis (2) Media was divided into two extreme,
Hypothesis (3) Media was hijacked by political parties during panama leaks,
Hypothesis (4) Media role was ineffective during Panama season.
Some respondents agreed to our point, some of them disagreed,
Our questionnaire was based on Likert Scale Strongly disagree – strongly agree. Our
measurement scale was not established.
RESEARCH METHOD:
Our research method consists of two variables; Independent and dependent.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Panama Issue
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Television
Newspapers
TELEVISION
PANAMA ISSUE
NEWSPAPERS
INTERVIEW 1:
While talking to Senior Anchor person of Geo News, she stated that during the Panama Leaks,
Media created opinions as nobody can change mindsets of media. Media organizations are being
run by humans, so every human has opinions. So while writing and speaking opinions reflects
thoughts. She stated that she is not defending media as she is a journalist. Yes somewhere there
is a planning to do so as well as to raise awareness.This created too many opinions but raised
awareness of that level now every sinlge Pakistani knows about Panama. It aware people to talk
about their rights. Different channels are creating opinions of very different things but all are in
depth and provided full knowledge. She said Bonding of
different media groups with different political parties is not real journalism. But as a nation either
we are from media or not, we are belonging to any profession we are stiff to our opinions and the
same mindset can be found in journalism. As a journalist or as a nation we should be
neutral, society should work on this. We can see the worst phase of journalism and politics today
and it is too much. It is a wrong perception that every single person sitting in one extreme
channel is one party supporter. Many people in Geo News are die heart supporters of PPP and
PTI. Like we saw Mr. Hasan Nisar in PTI protests and Irshad Bhatti is also a PTI supporter
whereas many people in ARY are PMLN supporters and many of them are PTI
supporters. When we asked her about working in Geo News, and what is her perception on who
is right or wrong. She stated that this is a wrong perception that she is working in Geo News so
she must be supporting PMLN. Or the person working in another channel will support PTI.
INTERVIEW 2:
According to Senior Analyst, the background of politics reflects the role
of media. When media was introduced, the first challenge it faced was in General Musharraf ’s
martial law era during chief justice favoring campaign. Media raised awareness regarding law
and politics and people had faith on media. Every single channel was educating people regarding
law, judiciary and constitution. During Panama, since 2014, PTI’s first protest, media had a
pressure from agencies. Agencies approached media groups and called in App ara in
Islamabad. Mostly journalists were paid. They were given good position in media and all the
media groups were working on agenda. Geo along with Dunya news created balance reporting.
Due to this, Geo was banned. He further said that he thinks that yes media somewhere is doing
ineffective reporting on Panama. All the channels were biased. Media is selling their agenda
instead of creating awareness. Media was hijacked during Panama. The people don’t know about
journalism given with prime time shows to sell political parties agenda.
RESULTS
The results of our research showed that most of the audience followed Panama case from the
beginning, most people support Imran Khan for his allegation against Sharif, agreed that
different political parties hijacked different media groups during Panama, agreed that media
rating got higher, Panama case was highly trending on social media and the Internet, raised
awareness amongst the public in general.
Interview results show that according to anchors and journalists, media creates opinions and that
politics effects the role of media.
CONCLUSION
The research hence proves to be positive, the results are positive. Concluding this research it can
be said that through media political parties hijacked different groups. The impact of politics is
quite effective and strong on the audience of Pakistan and not only is the nation curious, the
foreign countries are very much curious and stay up to date for whatever is going on in the
political era of Pakistan. Pakistan is a democratic country and people’s mind sets matter a lot and
today people reply on social media a lot and on the whole whatever is being shown on media
reflects their opinions as well. People openly voice their opinions on the internet now through
social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Politics is an important issue for any age
group any gender in Pakistan. The influence of politics is also powerful amongst the public.
REFERENCES
- http://www.firstpost.com/world/panama-papers-verdict-how-global-media-reacted-to-nawazsharifs-ouster-3871287.html (Panama Case, First Post, 2017)
- https://arynews.tv/en/indian-media-reaction-to-sharif-ouster-after-panamagate-verdict/ (Panama
Case, Ary News, 2017)
- https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/215519-Answers-to-13-questions-JIT-doesnt-find-PMguilty-but-his-sons (Panama Case, The News, 2017)
- http://nation.com.pk/national/10-Jul-2017/jit-report-story-sc-issues-contempt-of-court-noticeto-the-news (Panama Case, Nation, 2017)
- http://www.awaztoday.pk/urducolumns/columnist/141/1/Haroon-ur-Rasheed.aspx (Panama
Case, Awaz Tdoday, 2017)
- http://www.siasattv.com/2939/panama-leaks-by-nazir-naji-4-12-2016 (Panama Case, Siasat TV,
2017)
- http://www.columnkaar.com/panama-leaks-by-javed-chaudhry/ (Panama Case, ColumnKaar,
2017)
- https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/213452-The-Sharifs-uncertain-political-fate (Panama Case,
The News, 2017)
- https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/210699-All-eyes-on-Sharif-and-JIT (Panama Case, The News,
2017)
- http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/393280-PTI-announces-to-boycott-Geo/Jang-Group (Panama
Case, Dunya News, 2017)
- https://www.dawn.com/news/1103716 (Panama Case, Dawn, 2017)
http://gallup.com.pk/gallup-pakistans-survey-on-panama-case-verdict-quoted-in-the-nation/
(Panama Case, Gallup, 2017)
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI?lang=en (Panama Case, Twitter, 2017)
https://www.geo.tv/latest/151426-political-analysts-weigh-in-on-nawaz-sharifs-disqualifcation
(Panama Case, Geo TV, 2017)
https://twitter.com/ahmad_noorani?lang=en (Panama Case, Twitter, 2017)
https://twitter.com/shafaat_geo/status/893136924545875972 (Panama Case, Twitter, 2017)
https://twitter.com/AnsarAAbbasi/status/893365304960667649(Panama Case, Twitter, 2017)
https://twitter.com/Shafqat_Mahmood/status/893338539513049088 (Panama Case, Twitter, 2017)
https://twitter.com/AnsarAAbbasi?lang=en (Panama Case, Twitter, 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82bfKKU4C0s (Panama Case, YouTube, 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLFZokh7Db4 (Panama Case, YouTube, 2017)
GROUP REPORT:
Daniyal Pirani: Gathered information of Panama case, formulated literature review, interviewed
anchors from Geo, formulated and shared questionnaire
Shizza Javed: Formulated literature review, methodology, results of questionnaire, also
formulated and shared questionnaire with Daniyal
Shomaila Ali: Formulated abstract, results and conclusion, shared questionnaires
Farah Anwer: Formulated introduction/literature review, shared questionnaires
Asif Mughal: Shared questionnaires, gathered information for report, added references