Dear Mr. Talat Hussain of Aaj TV,

Once again I would like to congratulate you on your 27-04-2007 night's programme in which you brought in the views of various other thinkers, commentators and public opinion presenters on present day situation, some call it as the "defining moment" (let's hope so!!) to us.

This was the need of the hour, rather need of the nation, and was very long overdue for this nation. This nation had the requirement to know the academic and theoretical side of the state elements, state organs and statecrafts. But the nation could not get the same because, as one participant in programme in question very rightly said that, there was a gulf between "hukumat" and "hikmat". The gulf was always, and ever, there so the government and government controlled any media never find it right to open up the means to develop the civic and political sense of the public and give them the knowledge of statehood and statecraft.

This brings me to the question: what role did the intelligentsia played to mould the Pakistani nation into a civil society and prepare the nation for rule of law and system? (A side comment: a nation of vast majority of people emotionally following Quran and Sunnah, where set rules, regulations, certain patterns and systems are required to be valued and should not be any personality worshiped, don't have the mind to follow the bare minimum state rules and laws, is a thing beyond my comprehension!)  There may be counter-question: in an enslaved and subjugated society, under the iron hand of dictatorship, how can the intelligentsia play its due rule to teach and guide the society? I am sorry, sir, I do not agree with this question.

I do not also agree with the contention that, the media had glorious past of struggle against the dictatorship, and struggle for freedom of press and expression. This might be the case in some distant lands, but not in Pakistan, where some poor soul fought on principle, and fought on the basis of conviction and suffered, but not the media as a whole. Among many undoings and wrongdoings of the media of Pakistan, the most luminous one was that, it did not work concertedly and devotedly for change; rather it glorified the status quo, and changed itself with the change in the air, of course with the very few exceptions. With the changing colour of the prominent press, public could guess that, the strong edifice of the ruling clique has not remained that strong and is going to be downed any sooner. But at the same time, I do agree and believe that, the freedom of media today is not a gracious gift from the government, but has been paved by a few devoted ones, and is given by the globalism in world today.

After getting the much desired freedom, the free media do not also play any enviable role until the present crisis when the lawyers' fraternity has taken the mantle to lead. The present crisis, of course through the media by default, has proven beyond doubt that, in Pakistan there is no dearth of thinkers, intellectuals and mental guides, apart from the generals and brigadiers etc. But media never brought the thinktanks on to the screen to discuss and deliberate on all the present day issues, who could have discussed the things from academic and theoretic perspective, thereby increasing the knowledge of general public on the issues of national interests. Even in so-called free environment, the media never tried to develop public opinion and consensus of the people. It rather preferred to hold "noora kushti" or "tag team wrestling championship" to increase viewership by attracting people of all the camps. In the end, general public remained as confused and as ill-educated in statecrafts as ever.

I don't think after so many "˜free' discussions, in past so many years, people have developed any clear knowledge of what is the status of a president in a British/Indian type of parliamentary form of government, why Pakistan should or should not have a presidential form of government when a strong president is most welcomed but a strong prime minister is haunted and hunted, why nothing could be politicised while everything effecting the nation, even the economy, is a political issue, why the members of the so-called civilian government, having membership of a so-called political party can sarmonise against "politicising" of political issues etc etc.

Anyway, nothing is ever too late. You have started a good, rather very best, practice of discussing particular issues with men of letter and intellect, instead of creating a contentious situation among the stakeholders of opposing camps, which I think would be very helpful to give the public, particularly the students of the situations, a very good opportunity to learn and to be educated. This could have been done earlier, even much earlier, during the days of despotic rules, as in my opinion, the educational and academic process, without confronting the rulers of the day, could not have attracted the wrath of the governments.

I would also request you to discuss (regularly) the role, or the failure, of the Pakistani intelligentsia in developing a civic society, in inculcating sense of civilian prominence in the nation. This might be a bitter pill, but this would be a good thing in this very opportune moment, like the role of judiciary in "¦ Pakistan's civilian identity, to also establish the role of intelligentsia in failures of Pakistan.

As you might have received many other feedbacks, this programme I am referring to has been liked by many others. You might have been assured that, these types "intellectualise" programmes also sell. So, keep this up. In fact, the other media also do very good if they follow the same example.

Thanking you,

Syed Sayef Hussain