Pakistan army enlists drama to rally public

Pinned down by gunfire, Naeem Asghar kisses a grenade for luck. The Pakistani soldier is outnumbered, but staggers to his feet to mount a one-man charge. A shot rings out and he falls with a silent cry, still clutching the grenade. Credits roll.

The dramatised version of Mr Asghar’s final moments is one of the more memorable scenes in a slick new television show aimed at rallying public support for the Pakistan army’s campaign against the Taliban.

Titled Beyond the Call of Duty: Invincible Spirits, Immortal Souls, the series takes the military’s long-running propaganda war with Islamist militants into new territory with 11 episodes billed as true stories of valour.

“There’s an officer who leaves his wife in the labour room. She delivers the child, the officer kisses the child, names him then leaves for the war and comes back in a coffin,” said Colonel Syed Mujtaba Tirmizi, executive producer. “There’s not an iota of fiction in it.”

The programme, in which real soldiers serve as extras, is making its debut at a sensitive time. The army is chafing at US pressure to launch an offensive in North Waziristan, which Washington sees as pivotal to its campaign in Afghanistan.

The assassination of Salman Taseer, a prominent liberal politician, by one of his bodyguards this month has raised fears over the degree of extremist sentiment within the security forces. Suspicions linger among diplomats that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies continue to back Afghan insurgents.

The military has long produced films lionising heroes of wars with India, but its decision to hire a public relations company to portray its present-day struggle reflects a sense among officers that recent sacrifices have gone unrecognised.

After years of appeasing the Taliban in north-west Pakistan, the military launched its biggest offensive in 2009, starting in the Swat Valley before advancing into South Waziristan and other parts of the tribal areas.

The army says Mr Asghar, a volunteer from peasant stock, was one of more than 2,670 men killed battling militants since 2001. Approximately 1,460 US troops have died in Afghanistan. Pakistan says it has more than 140,000 soldiers from its half-million strong army committed to the campaign.

The stories, which air on state television on Fridays, aim to tug viewers’ heart strings in a conflict where people have often been caught between the military’s scorched-earth tactics and insurgents. Characters include a widow who lost her policeman husband and son to Taliban attacks, a reluctant teenage suicide bomber and a girl who escaped after being gang-raped and forced to marry an elderly Afghan warlord. Programmers have scheduled a pause in February to ensure audiences are not distracted by the cricket World Cup.

In spite of the rapid growth of Pakistan’s privately owned media, criticism of the military is largely off limits and the shows do not broach allegations of human rights abuses.

General Ashfaq Kayani, Pakistan’s army chief, ordered an inquiry in October after video footage appeared to show uniformed men executing civilians, lending credibility to reports of extra-judicial killings during operations. Human rights groups believe security agencies have been involved in the disappearances of hundreds of people in the western province of Baluchistan.

Officers hope the drama will show the military’s gentler side. “People think the army goes and kills everybody. It’s not that easy. We can’t start killing and bombing our own people,” said Brigadier Syed Azmat Ali. “When this programme goes out you will see half of Pakistan crying.”