KARACHI: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) held a consultation with various members of the media regarding the reporting of issues of minorities and marginalised communities here on Wednesday.

While explaining the HRCP’s aim for holding the consultation, its regional coordinator Kaleem Durrani said that they wanted to work at sensitising the media towards inclusive reporting of marginalised communities. “They receive very little attention, but journalists can highlight their issues. So we wanted to sit with newsmen to build a consensus,” he said.

“Marginalised communities also include religious minorities. Their marginalisation is segregating our society. And that is why we want to guide you on how to tackle reporting on minority groups. It needs to be done in a way that won’t target them or push them against a wall. It needs to be done in a way that makes them feel comfortable and a part of the same society,” he added.

Dawn ‘s reporter Naeem Sahoutra said it was normal here to cover minorities in the media only when there was some kind of negative news about them or if they had been mistreated. “Then all that the media is interested in are the statements issued by NGOs or protests held in the wake of any untoward incident,” he said.

“Still there are so many positives that can also be written or reported here. For instance, the majority of Muslims would like to know more about their culture, their festivals. There are also so many minority communities in different cities of Pakistan who have contributed so much for the prosperity of their cities. Their valuable contributions need to be written about so that they also could feel acknowledged while getting a sense of belonging,” he pointed out.

“Otherwise, things such as religious extremism is pushing these communities into isolation. Many don’t even feel comfortable opening up to the media,” he added.

Bureau Chief of Hum News Syed Arfeen said that people also needed to step back and see if the reporter even wanted to do reports about minority communities. “I say this because many times the reporters can be biased too. We have seen reporters comment on the placards at Aurat March. It is one thing to disagree with what you see and another to be biased and insulting,” he said.

“Then it is also not easy to do stories about minority groups as you run into so many barriers. Marginalised communities also need to be forthcoming and meet the journalists halfway. They should motivate their media wings to reach out to the media,” he suggested.

Environmental journalist Amar Guriro said that people knew of ethnic or religious minorities, but recently there was another kind of vulnerable community known as the ‘climate induced migrated people’. “They can be displaced due to climate changes such as dry spells or flooding, etc. And they don’t have the skills to live in an urban centre. They have difficulty adjusting here. This also needs to be highlighted in the media,” he said, adding that the climate migrants had no money and no home and were thus worse off than the religious or ethnic minorities as they settled in slums or near stormw ater drains.

senior court reporter Asghar Omar pointed out that one could find marginalised people even among Muslims. “There are the Shias and the Deobandis also. And many of these people prefer leading a quiet and peaceful existence. They will not prefer getting attention,” he said.

“Sometimes when I get a story about injustice to a religious minority, I deliberately hide the fact that the person belongs to a religious minority as then I feel the authorities in charge of getting him or her relief might look the other way or try to sweep the issue under the rug,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2022