social media – My Bit for Change

Our nation is obsessed with ‘gates’, be it Watergate or Bill Gates; (though the latter is considered a plural by many). Thus, it has become customary to associate the word gate with every scandal, whether it is Memo-gate, Mehran-gate, Veena-gate or the latest Bahria-gate; the word ‘gate’ is there as a symbolic representation.

Do these gates open a gateway to somewhere? What is the impact of all these scandals on a commoner’s life in the country? Take Memogate, for instance. A lot of hype was created about it but with the passage of time, the dust settled down. In the end, it was considered as a political gimmick to divert the attention from critical issues. Many talk shows were conducted and costly airtime was used for discussions on every aspect of the memo. Even if memogate was critical and a matter of life and death for the country, what was the outcome of the whole hue n cry? Similar questions can be raised about other scandals in which nothing tangible is infront of the nation which can be called a ‘result’.

Now, consider the recent hype about Bahria Gate. Malik Riaz did a press conference while holding Quran in his hand. He raised some serious questions regarding judiciary and the Chief Justice. It became a breaking news immediately and all channels started running marathon transmissions discussing the pros n cons of every uttered word and gesture of Malik Riaz’s presser. Social Media didn’t stay behind. #BahriaGate started trending on twitter. Everyone with or without an opinion participated. In fact, even I personally tweeted a lot. It was immediately the talk of the town. Malik Riaz tried to prove that he had interaction with the Chief Justice. It turned out that during lawyers movement the interaction was there and Malik Riaz tried to bargain on behalf of the rulers and CJ never agreed on NRO and meeting Zardari and hence no deal was reached.

Apparently, this scandal is perfectly timed to divert the attention of people from the corruption of current government and issues like poverty, inflation, energy crisis, lawlessness and target killings. Media has created a hype and serious issues of daily life have gone on the back burner.

But in hindsight, when I reflect now I feel that this issue is indeed important. This single scandal shows the reality of our society and unveils the nature of our social fabric. Virtually everything and everyone was bought and confessed about. For me, ‘confessing a crime with pride’ is a bigger issue. Malik Riaz openly admitted that he bribed and offered favours. His intentions cannot be judged, but his actions surely tell that he wanted to influence the judicial system.

Bahria Gate should not be looked upon as ‘just another corruption scandal’. It shows that how a person earned fortunes and on his way up the ladder, he tried to purchase everything that came along. He had contacts with major political personalities, military junta, media tycoons and famous anchors. He had a say in crucial political affairs. He utilized all these deliberately established contacts for his purposes. In some cases, he gave a lot of charity to the poor and deprived people. Thus he used all means to establish his significance. This mentality is not rare. When I joined my first job, a senior told me to ‘oblige’ everyone by giving favours. He told me that’s how I could make my roots stronger in the organization. This culture of influencing others and then taking undue favours is ruining the very essence of our society. So very few were able to resist the fortunes offered by Malik Riaz and in the process Bahria town developed into an empire estate which had its own rules of the game.

Another important aspect of this scandal is the role of journalists. They are fighting each other and exposing themselves on this issue. Their fight has revealed a lot about the unscrupulous internal affairs of media. It also shows how people from media are manipulated. Malik Riaz is investing a lot in mainstream media by ads which clearly influences the opinion of media.

One significant thing is the deplorable trend of holding Quran during press conferences. Altaf Hussain and Zulfiqar Mirza did the same before and now Malik Riaz repeated it once again. Seriously, it shows ill mentality of our so called ‘leaders’. The sanctity of the Quran should be maintained and it should not be used in ‘political mimicry’.

This scandal should be taken to the logical and fair conclusion. All the holy cows should be unveiled and slaughtered once and for all. Only then it can bring long lasting peace in the lives of ordinary citizens. It can decide our future if we punish all the culprits and prove that our nation is not for sale. However, if the history of previous ‘gates’ repeats itself then our society will loose its belief on justice. It will bring more downfall for the morality in our society which is already touching its lows. This scam is a test for our nation and I believe that if we successfully cross this bridge, we will come out as a better nation inshaALLAH.

Are you really laughing when you are writing LOL and do you really mean it when you show love/hate expressions on social media networks? Are the emotions expressed on social media real or fake? These questions pop up on a daily basis asking about the credibility of this virtual world. The answer is not simple; the feelings expressed can be genuine, forged or a mixture of both.

Virtual world has given us a chance to modify our image; it gives us an opportunity to portray ourselves the way we want to. This image is based on what we actually want to be. It normally reflects the aspirations and desires. It certainly may be not be a real picture, but it is a desirable picture for us. Thus, it is difficult to judge the validity of that picture portrayed on the social media.

There is more to social media then merely a pretty self-picture. Virtual world has given us an opportunity to express our opinions. The opinions which were hidden deep inside our hearts and minds can be expressed more freely now. We want to tell the world what we believe and this results in more difference of opinion. An opinionated society is an appreciable quality but certainly it has led to more disintegration of the society as we haven’t yet learnt how to sacrifice our opinion and unite on a common ground. It has created polarization in the society and everyone is stuck strictly on one extreme or another; thanks to the ‘’freedom of speech’’. Additionally, social media has given us the access to people across the globe and psychographics have certainly become more important than demographics.

In this scenario, it has become very easy to manipulate the situation. Sentimental news can break up across the borders within no time and everybody on the social media will be talking about it. A recent case of Shamsul Anwar is an eye opener. His story (fabricated) was published in a trusted daily newspaper with high sensuality elements in it, targeting the soft hearted people across the country and the news became viral. The authenticity of the news item was not questioned in itself because of the brand names associated with it, the heart wrenching plight of the ‘poor defender of the nation’ paying a ‘high price’ and the ‘deadlines of the abductors’ mentioned in this article. On humanitarian grounds, the people like Marvi Sirmed, Ansar Burney, Awab Alvi and My Bit for Change joined hands for the cause, regardless of their political opinions. Here are some tweets regarding this issue:

‘’marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
Good progress on #JusticeForShamsulAnwar. Political, military authorities on board. We are now waiting for the abductors’ call @AnsarBurney

marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
#JusticeForShamsulAnwar Dear all, please use your influence and contacts to help him bit.ly/xxveY8 Buy time, collect money. Whatever

marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
#JusticeForShamsulAnwar @AnsarBurney is on it. might be traveling to Isd for this. Hope he can help set up an emergency fund too

MyBitforChange My Bit for Change
“RT@AshAijaz: @AnsarBurney May Allah give you courage and accept your efforts. Thank you so much! #JusticeForShamsulAnwar”

AshAijaz Aisha Aijaz
Thinking of Madina Anwar and her distressed family. May Allah protect you and you return safe dear. #JusticeForShamsulAnwar
10 Jan
Retweeted by MyBitforChange

But, unfortunately (or fortunately) the whole case turned out to be a fraud. Now this situation can be looked upon at two different angles. On one side, it’s the problem of social media that anything can become viral without any authenticity or validity associated with it. But on the other hand, it also shows the power of social media to unite the people of different ideologies on a single cause.

Another dimension to this whole episode is that people give more attention to sensuality. It’s a sad reality, my own blog right next to the shamsul anwar’s story, which was about a genuine school system for the poor kids but attracted very few people. It shows the mentality of our society, we focus less on positive things and negative things pop up out of proportion. The baseless story caught hearts of people because it was written in a very sentimental manner. Everybody wanted to contribute to the cause and thus the story became viral. The freedom of expression and opinion provided by the social media was utilized to its fullest. But I see a ray of hope in all this. If such sentiments can be shown for a fake story, a real problem will attract more people I believe and it surely has, in the past. I believe the emotions expressed on the virtual world were real, though they were exploited badly.

The newspaper and the journalist owe an explanation to the Nation on this issue; but simultaneously we should not feel let down. Rather it was an indication that this nation can become united on humanitarian grounds and dig its pockets in need without a second thought. The spark is already there, it needs to be ignited only. And yes, for all those who sent their monies out should be reminded, their rewards with God are safe according to their intentions.