The Region of Punjab: A Sufi Perspective With Particular Focus on Chishtiya Sufism

Medieval Punjab was amongst the first regions of South Asia to encounter the substantial impact of early Sufi mystics. This article aims to investigate the history of the Punjab from a Sufi perspective with particular focus on Chishtiya Sufism and its generous role in diverting the local community center of attention. For that, the prominent Chishti Sufi Dargahs of Baba Farid Ganj Shaker in Pakpattan is selected. The study tries to investigate Dargahs’ impact on the socio-cultural and religious set up of the Medieval Punjab. How did it influence another important religion of the region i.e. Sikh belief, paper tried to highlight this impact as well.

Reflection of Pakistani Socio-Political Events in Western Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis.

The ideologies are expressed through discourse practices, from classrooms to corporate media, is hardly contested. Since the fateful events of September 11, 2001, Pakistan has been in the grip of a perpetual 9/11 scenario. As a result, it remains in the international media focus for all the negative reasons. Media discourse, as one of the most influential discourses, is opaque with ideologies, politics and overt and covert agendas worldwide. The present research aims to analyse this impactful medium of discourse and the embedded discursive practices of the Western media with special focus on one the most representative, widely followed and trusted media establishments, that is, the BBC, CNN and the Maxnews. The data is derived from the web pages in order to analyse the discursive and linguistic strategies employed in the news stories about Pakistan. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks developed by Van Dijk, that is, Ideological Square (1998c) in critical discourse analysis and the Socio-cognitive Model (2006c), the study analyses the selected media discourse qualitatively. The research calibrates the Western Media coverage of socio-political events, especially those surrounding the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in Pakistan during 2009 and 2010. The rationale for the selection of data from 2009 to 2010 is that it was during these years that Pakistan suffered a maximum number of terrorist attacks and civilian casualties. Pakistan suffered not only physically but also socially and ideologically as its image as the most dangerous region in the world was constantly portrayed and framed by the news media. The strategies and discursive structures used to depict Pakistan amount to a whole ideology that calls for careful and critical analysis.