The New Nation - Internet Edition

Amanullah Khan

The theme of the forum aptly underlines the crucial role of the media in promoting South Asian Cooperation which holds the key to the socio economic development of the region, home to over a quarter of the world population occupying a relatively small land mass. The nations forming South Asia have a common historical root, a shared vision and more or less identical cultural heritages and fought shoulder to shoulder a common enemy, the colonial masters who presided over their destiny before they won independence. It is an irony that despite all the similarities and bonds, these countries should remain deeply divided and suspicious of each other's motives and intentions, while they are locked in a struggle to attain economic prosperity for their massive populations. South Asian nations have since long been able to free themselves from the yoke of the British Raj through the credo of non-violence and passive resistance. They now face a new kind of common enemy in the form of poverty, hunger, disease, conflicts and other ills that continue to threaten their stability and security. The media represent the most effective and potent weapon with which to fight poverty and all other scourges blighting South Asia today.

Unfortunately notwithstanding all the efforts made so far, progress in terms of South Asian Cooperation has rather been slow and there has not been much of a difference to the lives of the ordinary citizens of South Asia. The full potential of the media to spread the message of peace and harmony, deal with the common set of problems and advance the cause of regional cooperation remains to be tapped.

It is also not unusual for the media to be accused of playing a negative role in South Asian relations driving a wedge between the neighbours in the region instead of striving to smoothen the rough edges in their dealings. AMIC with all the resources at its disposal and a network of leading South Asia media players joining hands with it can act as an anchor in creating an environment and evolving a code of conduct for the media to enable them to live up to the people's expectations as an unifying and cementing force by disseminating information that are in the best interests of the region as a whole. South Asia is so inextricably intertwined and inter-dependent that it can hardly emerge as an economic power and a major political actor on the world stage without the existence of close ties within the region. This is the crucial message that needs to be driven home by the media.

It is indeed an encouraging sign that AMIC has set out as one of its principal objectives to foster South Asian cooperation by harnessing the media. It is to this end that AMIC has launched the first SAMF an annual event, from Bangladesh, the birth place of SAARC as an important regional bloc, that will act as a clearing house of ideas for media academics and practitioners interacting with each other and build a strong platform from which to set rolling the media initiatives and actions designed to ensure the overall development of South Asian nations in order to fulfill the aspirations and hopes for a better life of about 1500 million people inhabiting the region.

The annual forum will seek to establish a dialogue between the media institutions and professionals from across South Asia with a view to identifying the ways in which the media in the region can become a real force in deepening the South Asian regional cooperation. In addition, the forum will also strive to identify mechanisms and processes that will help develop the media in the region through greater media exchanges, capacity building and experience and knowledge sharing. AMIC and its partners believe that South Asia media is capable of playing a pivotal role in setting in motion the confidence building measures among the nations in South Asia to dispel the deep-seated mutual suspicion and mistrust, the first step toward forging any sustained relations among them.

Once the seemingly impregnable wall of hatred and misgivings that separate the nations in South Asia crumbles down under the weight of change of attitudes and mindset brought about by the media connectivity that has paradoxically been something of a disconnect, a bridge of goodwill and trustworthiness can be built and the entire gamut of relations and linkages will fall into place and be set on course.

Media's principal task is to connect and bring people closer together in unison and not to set them apart or set one against the other. Nowhere is this more true, relevant and meaningful than in the case of relationships that subsist among South Asian nations.

(The article is based on the address given by the author at a seminar in Dhaka to launch AMIC's First South Asia Media Forum on 2 May 2008. The author is the Chairman of UNB and AMIC Representative in Bangladesh)