Shujaat Hamza

ISLAMABAD:  Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain has said the United States did not take Pakistan into confidence before leaving Afghanistan adding this decision has created mess in our neighbourhood.

He further said digital media is the future of new era and the government is working on a plan to present Pakistan’s narrative to the world effectively through this technology.

Briefing the media about Digital Media Wing in Islamabad on Sunday, he said Digital Media Wing has published a report with glimpse of the hybrid war facing Pakistan. The minister said the Fifth-Generation War and Hybrid War are not a philosophy but a reality. He said to address the challenge of fake news and sectarian and hateful content we are setting up the Pakistan Media Development Authority.

The Minister said a big network, being operated by India to promote sectarianism in Pakistan, is spreading baseless news against Pakistan. The Minister said millions of users of social media are using different social media platforms in Pakistan and the future of advertising is digital ads.

He said it is important to bring digital advertisement under regulation as Google and Facebook are getting seven billion rupees from Pakistan in terms of advertisement. Fawad Chaudhry said there are 114 satellite TV channels, 183 million mobile users, 98 million subscribers of 3G and 4G internet services and 101 million subscribers of broadband services. He said country has 258 FM Radio channels and hundreds of millions of users in different social media sites.