By: Atle Hetland
Islamabad, 29th April, 2019: Propagation of fake news in Pakistan has become a normal phenomenon. Beside number of fake news come in on daily bases through electronic and print media, social media also being used negatively to propagate news without any source that make it fake eventually. To highlight the issue Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) organized an international conference in Islamabad.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Noordeen Shaheid was chief guest at the closing session of the conference. He performed the handing over of shields and certificates to speakers and participants. In his speech, he wished local and foreign participants a safe journey home. A minute of silence was observed in solidarity with the grieving people in Sri Lanka following the recent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.
Professor of history Dr. Ömer Turan from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, said he was pleased to be in Pakistan for the conference and underlined the importance of scientific cooperation on contemporary and other issues, indeed on ‘Fake News and Facts in the Region’, the conference topic. In his paper, he drew attention to war propaganda against the Ottoman Empire during WWI.
“Professor Dr. Saida Bennani from Universitè Hassan II de Casablanca in Morocco presented a great paper on issues of special relevance, notably fake news on Islam”, said Dr. Rukhsana Qamber, who is the President of IRS and was director of the conference. “I am glad she will stay on for a few days and also visit Lahore. I am sure she will be fascinated with Pakistan”, Dr. Qamber said.
“Academic diplomacy is important”, she said. She underlined the importance of academic quality papers and reports so that the researchers can be able to give deeper analysis to media practitioners, so that they in turn can inform the public about the many complicated media issues in our time. Shorter versions of many of the 20 papers presented at the conference will be included in a book to be released later this year.
Several sessions of the conference were attended by diplomats, including representatives from the American Embassy, which provided key financial support to holding the international conference.