Indian media whether private or state owned is known for its hate speech and venomous propaganda targeted towards Pakistan. Perhaps in India such content is in demand and brings high ratings. Contrary to this in Pakistan the situation is totally different, our privately owned satellite news as well as entertainment channels follow the policy of “one-sided love affair (یکطرفہ محبت)” with India. The prime example of this “unrequited love affair” is the priority coverage of Bollywood and its artists in our news bulletins.
Geo News is a trendsetter in this regard, which laid the foundation of this policy by taking the initiative of Aman Ki Aasha (also known as Aman Ka Tamasha). Like Geo News, its entertainment channel Geo Tv and Geo Kahani also follows the same policy, by regularly airing Indian content comprising of films, dramas, reality shows, award shows, Hollywood films dubbed in Hindi.
In past Geo Tv has also collaborated with Indian media houses to produce music contest shows with some cliched motives like “peace”, “bridging the gap”, “bringing both countries closer”, “mend relations” to name a few. Such shows are recorded in UAE. The last such show was Surkeshetra. It is really difficult to comment whether such shows really bring both countries together or not, but definitely such shows surely get lot of mainstream media attention. Interestingly contrary to the claims of bringing peace, the publicity campaign of Geo Tv also present such shows as a battle between two countries.
Following its own tradition of this “one-sided love affair“, now Geo Tv is coming with another show named Asia’s Singing Superstar. The show will be hosted by Ahsan Khan and Shafqat Amanat Ali. Shafqat Amanat Ali is already conducting auditions in UAE to select the contestants from India and Pakistan. The show will be aired next year on Geo Tv, har pal haseen hai har pal geo.
Though the name of the show is also a bit misleading hinting it to be an Asian wide show, which off course is wrong as it will only have the participants from two countries of South Asia i.e. India and Pakistan.
Rashid Nazir Ali
