Shaista Lodhi Apologizes – ‘Mubasher Lucman Points Out’

Shaista Lodhi Apologizes

Although media is free. Freedom does not mean broadcasting and airing such content that would hurt the sentiments and emotions of the viewers. If media is doing so, it must be banned according to the law. Whatever we notice in Pakistan is that, in much case the media is using its power in a negative way, which otherwise could be a very helpful source for the betterment of society. We can see an excellent example of this thing out of the current programs which have been broadcast on Geo News along with the ARY News during the last few days. Geo news has been accused by ARY News host Mubasher Lucman for airing blasphemous content along with the whole nation for the blasphemous content recently.

 

Dr. Shaista Lodhi has publicly apologized the whole nation for her acts, she said:

In Urdu: “Hamry kal nashar hony waly program utho jago Pakistan mai ger danista toor par ek aisi surat hal pesh ae jis par hum sharmenda hain jis sy nazreen ki dil azari hoe and jazbat majrou hwai es k ly idara Allah Tallah k huroz jo nadanista galti hoge hy hum us par mafi k talab garh hanin Mustaqbil mai hum ap ki tajaweez ki zariyai aur feed back k zaryai hum apny ap ko bhtr krdaingy.”

In English: “We are sorry for the inadvertent mistake which occur in our program Utho Jago Pakistan, which was broadcasted yesterday, which hurt audiences’ sentiments and their emotions. We seek forgiveness form Allah Almighty for the unintentional mistake, and with your suggestions and feedback, we will be able to avoid such mistakes in future.”

This was after the mistake of team of Utho Jago Pakistan, which was aired on Geo News. On the day, host of the Utho Jago Pakistan, Shaista Lodhi, arranged marriage of the Pakistan’s most known actress Veena Malik. While she was performing it during the show, the background music so played was the famous Qawali of Amjad Sabri Ali aur Zohra Ki Shaadi Hai.  The qawwali was sung by a person on the set.

The Blasphemous Act on Utho Jago Pakistan Morning Show

Like many of the other blasphemous acts in the country, the morning show was one of them; moreover this act is considered as the blasphemy of the religion in Pakistan under the various clauses of the law. Sacred Qawwali, which included the names of Ahl-e-Bait including Prophet Muhammad, (PBUH), Hazrat Ali, and Bibi Fatima, was sung at a platform which was considered to be fun, chill, and non-sense acts. These holy Qawalis are played only during religious rituals, and thus there was no combination of the Qawali played and the occasion. Such a celebrity who has been defamed due to her exacerbating role in the media was (God forbade) given simile to that of the Holy couple of Ali and Fatima.

 

The above as a whole was very irresponsible act. One more thing which was sought, while the Qawali was played, and sacred name of Holy Quran, was spoken, on the other side, Shaista was waving shoes of the groom in the air. For this reason, the whole team of Utho Jago Pakistan are not only answerable to the whole nation, who sentiments, and emotions have been hurt but to Allah Almighty as well. The whole team is sorry for what they have done but seeking sorry does not mean any things, at least a single individual out of the program had sense of what was going on. Therefore, the whole team is accused of it.

One more thing is that, all those TV channels which broadcast such content must be banned. Although media plays a very critical role in making a country progressive and media is considered to be the fifth of the state, but what we observe in Pakistan is totally alarming. Most importantly, being the an Islamic Republic of Pakistan, we, specifically our media should take care of such things, and it should promote Islamic ideology, unity, faith and discipline instead of all the stuff whichever is ongoing, and we observe in media. More specifically when it comes to religion, and our faith, no one bears, the blasphemy of the religion, and in no case media should hurt the sentiments of the viewer.

Now what next is most important? During the last two days, case of blasphemy has been registered in various cities. Islamabad additional session judge Jahangir Awan has ordered police to registered case against the accused.

Arshad Butt registered a plea in session court, moreover the court directed Margalla police station to file a case against the Geo team. The court ordered to add section 295-A, 295-C, 298-A of the blasphemy law along with the terrorism section 7-ATA.

Why Does Not PEMRA Take an Action Against the Issue?

A notice has been issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to the Geo news. Whatever is the situation, but it should be handled with serious action. It is worth mentioning here at a total of five thousand complaints have been received by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) against the blasphemy.

Well, it has also been notified that Dr. Shaista is planning to leave the country before the situation gets exacerbated, however, it is possible that the law would not let her go abroad until the case settles down.

According to the clauses 295-A, 295-C, 298-A of the blasphemy law along with the terrorism section 7-ATA, a person is sentenced to death, against blasphemy. Now what we have to observe is that whether Geo New, or the individual whoever is responsible for this blasphemy would be sentenced to death? This is an openly ended question, because in Pakistan people are more emotional than intellectual. There is possibility that such situation may get calm down after a few days, and Geo news would survive as usual. And Dr. Shaista along with the whole team would start airing her programs as usual. Because many a times, we have noticed that, although many of the cases gets registered, but their finalized decisions are not clear. So let us hope that there would be the correct decision against the whole team of Geo News and Dr. Shaista Lodhi.