Media Framing of the ‘War on Terror’: The Case of Urdu-Language Elite Press During the Dictatorial Regime in Pakistan

This research is focused on press-government relationship on the issue of ‘War on Terrorism’ (WoT) during the dictatorial regime led by the then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf who remained in power till 2008 in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Global war against terrorism, generally known as ‘war on terror’ was actually started by the United States of America in the aftermath of 9/11 episode in 2001. Pakistan, on US demand, had not only become an important ally of the grand alliance formed under the umbrella of the United States but had also adopted the role of a frontline state just to fight the war against terrorism (WoT) alongside the war allies. Generally mass media have the potential to influence public opinion and help reshape the states’ policies on different issues. Likewise, mass media of Pakistan also took an active part in the war either by going alongside the then dictatorial government or against it. This research is based on examining the way the Urdu language elite press, the most popular mass media of Pakistan, covered the dictatorial regime of President General Pervez Musharraf with regard to its policy on the issue of ‘WoT’. Main purpose of this study is to know the nature of relationship between the Urdu-language elite press and the dictatorial government of Gen Musharraf in Pakistan with regard to their policy positions on ‘WoT’ from 2001 to 2008. Three newspapers including daily Jang, daily Nawa-I-Waqt, and daily Pakistan, considered to be representatives of the Urdu-language elite press of Pakistan, were selected for this study. The method used to measure the phenomenon is called framing where contents of the selected dailies were measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. Data were collected through systematic sampling method, while coding sheet was used as a tool for data collection. Unsigned main editorials of the selected newspapers were analyzed to examine the nature of relationship existed between the two entities i.e. The Urdu-language elite press, and the dictatorial government of Gen Pervez Musharraf, on the issue of ‘WoT’ in Pakistan. The results revealed that the selected elite newspapers, in general, remained critical to the dictatorial regime on the issue of ‘WoT’. The findings also revealed that daily Nawa-I-Waqt remained highly critical to the government as compared to its other contemporaries i.e. Daily Jang, and daily Pakistan. It was also revealed that the Urdu-language elite press while framing the ‘War on Terror’ remained somewhat supportive and rarely neutral to the dictatorial regime on it policy on ‘WoT’.

Factors Affecting Utilization of Antenatal and Postnatal Services in Punjab, Pakistan

Antenatal and Postnatal services are one of the most important maternal healthcare services for the prevention of impairments and disabilities resulting from childbirth. The present study has been designed to probe into the factors and believes behind utilization of antenatal and postnatal services. The study was conducted In the Punjab, the largest and most populated, province of Pakistan. The study was intended to gain immediate knowledge and information on attitudes and trends regarding utilization of antenatal and postnatal services in the Punjab Province. Three districts i.e. Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan were selected through simple random sampling techniques. Out of the selected three districts two tehsils were selected from each district through random sampling technique. From each tehsil two union councils were selected and from each union council two villages were selected through random selection method. From each selected village 25 respondents were selected through purposive sampling technique; who fall under the specific criteria i.e. the mothers aged from 15-49 years having their last baby more than 6 months and less than five years old. Size of sample (600) was fixed using equal allocation method. A well-structured interview schedule about antenatal and postnatal services was designed for this purpose. The data thus, collected were fed to computer for analysis. Univeriate, bivariate and multivariate statistical methods were used for data analysis. It was found that a huge majority of the respondents had knowledge about the antenatal (97.3 percent) and postnatal (97 percent) care services and their source of information were LHWs and TBAs. A huge majority of the respondents (87.2 percent) reported that medical health facilities were available in their area. A substantial proportion of the respondents went to antenatal services due to illness, to check the well being of the fetus and immunization of themselves. More than a half of them visited antenatal care center because of complications during child birth. A majority of the respondents (72.5 percent) reported that they called a midwife at home for any service, 48.3 percent of the respondents delivered their baby at home, while 45.0 percent of them delivered their baby at a hospital in the sampled area. Education level of mothers and their husbands, family income, awareness and availability of antenatal services have positive and significant association with the utilization of antenatal services, whereas, influence of culture, cost of antenatal services, distance from health facility, age of the respondents and total live births had negative association with the utilization of antenatal services. Similarly education level of the respondents and their husbands, family income and availability of postnatal services have positive and significant association with the utilization of postnatal services. Influence of culture, distance of health care facilities and cost of postnatal services have negative and significant association with the utilization of postnatal services. A comprehensive training program should be designed at government level to train LHWs and TBAs to improve their knowledge and practice because a huge majority of rural women rely on them for information about antenatal and postnatal services.