Banning cable TV

Several newly-elected legislators of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) have said that the first thing they intend on doing after forming a government in the NWFP will be to ban cable television. Apparently, this was one of their key election promises to their voters, the others being banning coed schools and universities, reverting the weekly holiday to Friday and ending interest from the economy.
Unfortunately, especially for those who live in the NWFP (and the writer must be thankful that he doesn’t), things like providing clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, basic health units, primary schools or building roads seem to feature nowhere among the MMA’s election promises – and if they did we certainly don’t here their leaders talking about them.
However, coming back to the issue of banning cable, the MMA’s premise is that this spreads “vulgarity” and hence is considered inherently un-Islamic. Perhaps, the MMA does not know or has conveniently overlooked the fact that channels like National Geographic, Discovery, all the major sports networks, several Pakistani channels and children’s networks like Nickleodeon and the Cartoon Network do not really show any kind of “vulgar” programming. If some foreign-based entertainment channels do show programmes that might be a bit out of synch with popular feeling in Bannu or Tank then that doesn’t mean that the whole of the NWFP population be barred from watching them. There is something called parental responsibility and it’s been emphasized in faiths worldwide, that parents have and should exercise their authority over children so that they are not exposed to, say, pornographic material. However, the MMA isn’t talking about keeping cable TV – which can hardly be called pornographic by any stretch of the imagination – away from minors, it even wants adults not to watch television. Adults, though, hardly need to be told by others what to do, especially if its in the privacy of their own homes and something as straightforward as deciding what TV channel to watch.
In any case, what is the MMA so scared of when it comes to cable television? Is it afraid that the people will be led astray by this handmaiden of the devil and are corrupted so much that they fall out of the MMA’s influence? Surely, if there was some way that they could utilize cable TV’s ability to reach out to people they would have done so, and hence would be in two minds about banning it. That’s probably why Islamic parties in Pakistan have never advocated a ban on the Internet, because they use the medium – and quite effectively so – to propagate their views. As for the charge that cable TV is ‘vulgar’ well there are many things in Pakistan that are vulgar and television, or cinema, is not the only place you can see them.
For example, what’s more vulgar than being sanctimonious and hypocritical about trying to lead a pious life? And not to make a joke out of it, but even people can be vulgar and obscene in their mannerisms and the way they conduct themselves. Should they, too, be banned? How many of us – and this is not directed exclusively to those who support the MMA – actually practice what we preach? If some people think cable is so bad well they don’t have to subscribe to it. What’s this business of forcing others not to do something just because you think it’s wrong? I suppose such arguments do not make much sense to the MMA since it feels it is the keeper of everyone’s morality.
Surely, religions all over the world also talk about being good to others, about being polite, about keeping the environment clean, and about respecting the wishes of others who live around you. They also talk about the rights of the weak and the infirm and how one should always try and do the right thing, and how good governance means caring for such people. It would be much better and advisable that the MMA government that gets elected in the NWFP thinks about these more important priorities.
As for their last argument that this is what the people, their electorate, want. Well again, the MMA did get around 48 seats in the NWFP assembly but that by no means it got the highest number of all registered voters. In fact, non-MMA parties got a higher proportion of all votes cast, and if one takes into account that fact that the alliance did manage to mobilize much of its available vote-bank while the mainstream parties – for various reasons some of which were beyond their control – could not, then by no means is it proven that the majority of people in NWFP want cable to be banned. (In fact, according to an article in The News on Oct. 22 the MMA 13.7 of the popular vote in the NWFP). Also, a ban would probably cause thousands of people associated with the business all over the province to lose their jobs. The MMA’s election stand was virulently anti-American and anti-Western and, like MMA leaders say themselves, that’s why they got all these votes. So, how is banning cable – which would surely cause many local people to become jobless – a way of standing up to the Americans? If the idea is to, again as the MMA says, to stand up to the “cultural invasion” coming from foreign networks, then banning them is at best a short-sighted solution. It would be better if those excessively worried about this onslaught on their culture (as if there was a monolithic and uniform perception of it among all Pakistanis) actually tried to instead spread their cultural values to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, the more cynical among us might say at this point that this is precisely what the MMA might end up doing if its succeeds in banning cable TV in the NWFP. (Readers should also note that the legal arguments to this debate haven’t even been touched upon, since cable licences were issued to operators all over the country after a policy directive from the federal government.)