The Acting High Commissioner of Australia, H.E Jurek Juszczyk, visited on Monday 29 June, 2015, the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) “Sabawoon” program at the Radio Pakistan office and studios, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was welcomed by the CRSS and Radio Pakistan teams, and briefed by Aized Ali, Director Media & Communication, CRSS and Shamsul Qamar, Sabawoon Executive Producer (CRSS). Sabawoon (a pushto language program) meaning ‘New Dawn’ has been a successful CRSS ongoing project since 2011 in partnership with the Radio Pakistan. The programs are produced and aired five times a week, Monday to Friday, between 3:00 and 4:00 pm, simultaneously from three FM stations of the state-broadcaster – Radio Pakistan – in Peshawar; AM 1170 KHz, FM 101.5 and DI-Khan 711 KHz.
The main objective of the programs is to promote liberal, progressive, democratic discourse for de-radicalization in the society, and address radicalized mindset through an alternative narrative embedded in the universally practiced democratic, inclusive values. Other objectives of the shows include: to empower the women towards their political, economic and social rights; to promote a culture of tolerance and coexistence and to counter the religious extremists’ narrative of exclusion and bigotry; to raise awareness among the youth and women about the benefits of a democratic and developed society by engaging influential people of the areas for a discourse on social, political and development issues impacting their daily lives.
The Acting High Commissioner was given an overview of the CRSS initiatives. The CRSS takes pride in being one of the few civil society organizations that took up radio as a means for community-focused strategic communication on issues such as militancy, counter-radicalization, promoting democratic values, harmony, and tolerance all over Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. These shows highlight the sanctity of the Federal Constitution as a reference for social harmony and all-inclusive equal citizenry. The CRSS has completed several projects explicitly aiming at advocacy and raising awareness on fundamental democratic rights and the need for secular political governance. The CRSS has aired approximately 3000 radio programs under its media advocacy through airwaves.
Sabawoon is one such endeavor which provides opportunity for open debate and public discourse on above objectives and subthemes emanating from these, where the participating guests cover all stakeholders, leaders, celebrities, notables form amongst the civil society, parliamentarians, government officials, law enforcement agencies officials, lawyers, media representatives, academia, women, and youth. Since 2011, so far 983 programs have been produced and aired. The demographic outreach is monitored by a team of CRSS field reporters. It can be gauged by 1673 research based stories collected form field that the program covers and is listened to not only in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and the adjoining Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), but also some parts of Punjab and Baluchistan (areas that have Pashtoon population), as around 22897 mobile SMS messages have been received from listeners stretching across the country. During the four year period about 18247 listeners called in, out of which 3772 were aired live during the shows. Around 1325 guests have participated from all walks of life in the programs.
Acting High Commissioner Juszczyk applauded the CRSS efforts to combat radicalization. He noted: “the issue of extremism and radicalization is not only limited to a country like Pakistan. Now, it is becoming a global problem, as extremist militant organization such as Al-Qaeeda, Daish, ISIS take maximum advantage through social media websites to lure, brainwash, and stray the youth with their exaggerated, distorted, and misguided interpretations, using religion as a tool”. He added: “Australia is dealing with such radicalized mindsets as more than 100 young Australians had traveled to Iraq and Syria to be foreign fighters there with Daish/ISIS”.
He also highlighted that during the recent visit of the Australian Foreign Minister, Hon. Julie Bishop, in May 2015, among other important issues this message and discussion resonated during her meetings with the top leadership of Pakistan, including her counterpart Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, the Minister for Interior, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as well as with the Chie of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif. He reiterated Australia’s resolve to combat extremism and terrorism and cited that the Government of Australia this month hosted a summit in Sydney on “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE), which was a follow up of the first moot in the USA in February this year.
The Acting High Commissioner later visited the studio after the program was aired. He met with the Radio Pakistan team, Ameer Nawaz Marwat (Acting Station Director), and Zafar Ullah (Program Manager), as well as with the moderator of the shows, Shamsuddin (Senior Journalist). He was also introduced to the two participating guests of the show, Fasihuddin, Deputy Inspector General of Police (KPK) and President Pakistan Society of Criminology, and Amna Durrani, social and human right activist and Coordination Officer for the Provincial Commission on the Status of Women KPK. They informed him that the topic for yesterday’s Sabawoon program was rule of law, and the need to reform legislation for women rights and women empowerment. He acknowledged and appreciated the imitative and said that such endeavors should be encouraged and supported as they not only provide an important forum for open public debate and discussion, but also help in advocacy campaign outreach and dissemination to general public, particularly youth and women.
Report compiled by Aized Ali, Director Media and Communication, CRSS