Despite the explosion of social media and YouTube channels, television remains the dominant medium in Pakistan. And here lies the irony. Switch it on at any hour, and it is the same loop: a relentless stream of court cases, accusations, denials, glares, and statements. Who said what to whom, who is up, who is down. The faces and voices shift from channel to channel, but the obsession does not.

Meanwhile, Pakistan quietly grows. Thousands are added each day. No countdowns. No flashing tickers. No “breaking news.” No prime-time debates. The demographic time bomb ticks away in the background while anchors argue about bail hearings and legal technicalities that change nothing for the lives of ordinary people. Verbal sparring among politicians dominates screens—endlessly recyclable, endlessly dramatic. Unemployment, jobs, education, and healthcare—these take work. Data, context, tough questions, scrutiny of policy, performance, and accountability. And so they are sidelined, pushed off-screen by noise that is cheaper, louder, and easier to sell.

Civil–military relations hold a similarly privileged position. Every hint, every whisper, every rumour is dissected with obsessive attention. Knowledge of power corridors confers prestige. The education system, weak and unequal, quietly condemns generations to diminished lives, does not. A classroom crumbling under........

© The Friday Times