Indias cultural onslaught

Yasmin Marwat
Sukwinder Singh, a well known Indian singer is going to sing the song Aey mere watan (India)
k logo, zara aankh mein bhar lo pani on August 15 (the Independence Day of India) in a Star
Plus programme Voice of India. Hundreds of audience hoisting Indian flag in their hands are
seen dancing as the background is visualized by showing pictures of Dhyan Chand, Milkha
Singh, Prakash Padekone, T Usha, Indian hockey team, Major Raywardnan Singh, Geet Sethi,
Kapil Dev, and Mahindra Amarath, the heroes well know in their specific fields. Indian soldiers
fighting against Pakistan and Indian cricket team enjoying victory against Pakistan are part of the
footage. An 11-year old Ali is sitting in front of the TV, tapping on the song with same
enthusiasm. The song changes and the singer starts Chak De India and because of the pop-up
nature of the song, the little boy starts singing the same song with more patriotic zeal. This is
what our traditional rival wishes to. India is much stronger than Pakistan: militarily, politically
and economically. It had got many solid opportunities like Mumbai attacks, in the last two
decades to attack Pakistan. But it wants to harm Pakistan without any cost and media propaganda
is the best choice for this. Since 1947, India never accepted Pakistan as an independent state and
tried twice to maintain the status of Akhand Bharat by merging Pakistan into India once again.
Militarily India never succeeded in its aim but it has already launched cultural offensive against
Pakistan through its media and diplomacy. It has made an ideological attack on Pakistan and has
culturally cloned us. By showing attractive dramas with adorable way of life, it is using such a
tool which does not require any pressure or force. Through affective Media propaganda India is
indoctrinating us and our carelessness is our hard luck. Cartoons which are source of
entertainment for children have become culturally influenced Jay Hanuman Cartoons. Media
which carries the status of biggest weapon of mass destruction is highly active and India is
making an effective use of it against Pakistan. Through movies it has opened a new field of battle
against Pakistan. It is trying to show that all Muslims and especially Pakistanis are terrorists and
cause of tension in the world. They are shown as praying before doing anything bad. In the
movie Kurban Saif Ali Khan, as an Ehsan Khan and all other terrorists are shown to be
Muslims whereas the wife of Ehsan who is very innocent and about to expose the activities of
her husband is Avantiqa, a Hindu lady. The terrorists in their movies carry one common thing, a
Muslim name. Their movies are quite anti-Muslims whose only message is to tell the world that
nobody who is a Muslim should be ignored. If you are a Muslim then you must be a
fundamentalist. They must be inquired because even a professor is involved in the terrorist plan.
Star Plus dramas are destroying our family system. Watching Star Plus drama, the Bahu wearing
sari with Indian jewelleries is upset for Ragini, having hatred for her Saas. The sari wearing by
Indian ladies in their dramas has made self brand in Pakistan. The clothes which were selling by

the name of Gull Ahmad, Vaneeza, etc. are replaced by the names as Sadna, Ragini, Tulsi and
many more. Jewelleries are sold by the name of Star Plus jewelleries whereas because of good
and continuous marketing on various channels, Indian products are getting priority. Children are
adopting Hindi language in their daily conversation and the school girls are impressed by the
Indian dramas. Bhai (brother) which youngsters use for their elders in daily life is becoming a
joke because of the Indian dramas and movies which are using this word Bhai for a criminal. The
singing program Do Qaumo ki Aik Awaz released on Star Plus is another contradiction to our
ideology and carries the only message that Indians and Pakistanis belong to same culture, same
background, one family and one nation. One should ask India that if they want to promote peace
and stability through entertainment and joint collaboration then why they rejected Pakistani
players in IPL by saying that there is no room for Pakistanis. The tragedy is that this propaganda
is targeting those youngsters who are going through mind building process and whose minds are
easier to control. But the problem is not with India. Whatever they are doing is their national
interest. The problem is with the Pakistan who is just going on to infuse it. In this era of modern
technology it will be difficult for the government to control it because if the government bans the
Indian channels even then people have the opportunity of Internets. So in order to formulate an
affective counter strategy, the government and the citizens must work together. Government
should make sure to promote its own cultures by releasing its own dramas based on our own
culture and people should make sure the Indian culture free environment. Because this is the era
of Media destruction and media has taken the shape of biggest weapon of mass destruction.