ELEMENTS

HOW FICKLE CAN AN EARTHQUAKE GET

By: Nasser Yousaf

All is grist that comes to his mill,' an idiom that can be applied best to explain how the merchants-controlled Pakistani electronic and print media works.

One needs not be a geologist to know some very elementary facts about an earthquake. This too in a country like Pakistan where earthquakes are common occurences. Pakistan has been the scene of some of the most disastrous earthquakes.

Each time tremors jolt Pakistan, especially the North and Northwest of the country, the news is carried by the mainstream media in a most bizarre manner. For instance, in the latest incident when an earthquake of a moderate intensity struck on June 17, at around 2.20 PM, the media reported that tremors were felt in Peshawar, Charsadda, Pabbi, Nowshera, Mardan, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Gilgit-Baltistan and New Delhi.

Now, this is the most ludicrous way of presentation of information and news. The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Hindu Kush mountains ⛰️ on the Line that divides Pakistan from Afghanistan where most of the seismological activity takes place.

Any earthquake that originates in the Hindu Kush region cannot be an earthquake that strikes Peshawar and then leaving behind the outlying areas and districts goes on to hit areas as far as Multan, Gilgit and New Delhi. Such an earthquake could be somebody's figment of imagination having nothing to do with reality.

If this is not a case of disinformation, and indeed of utter ignorance, than the Almighty help us all. But then this can happen in a country like Pakistan where the quality of education is wanting in so many respects. The media exploits the gullibility of the populace to its own advantage by selling its wares in a manner most suited to its business interest.

What is most painful to note here is that even the mainstream English language press also cares the least how to sift the reports forwarded by its stringers from around the country. It's not just one odd incident, but the norm and hence nobody in the country minding it the least.

One believes, with sufficient evidence, that this being the situation, the Single National Curriculum introduced in the country by the previous government will inflict even more misery on the population of this godforsaken land by rendering them bereft of all their senses of proportion.