JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the war in Ukraine escalates, international journalists who’ve lived in warzones are giving unique perspective.
A group of writers, reporters and editors from Pakistan is in Jacksonville right now through a government program with the U.S. Department of State and the nonprofit GlobalJax. They met with local reporters to talk about democracy and investigative journalism.
Among the topics on their minds is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops advance on key cities.
“Yes, there’s big concern about Ukraine,” said Muhammad Irfan, an executive producer at the large Pakistani news channel Geo News.
Pakistan is no stranger to fighting, from conflicts with India, Afghanistan and Iran to the U.S.-led War on Terror.
“For 15 years every day, we had bomb,” he said, talking about the War on Terror. “We lost around 80,000 Pakistanis killed in that war. 5,000 of our security guys were killed.”
They agree on this: War is horrible.
While opinions from the general Pakistani public are more split on the invasion than those of Americans, they believe the war must end. They’re keeping a keen eye on the conflict and what happens next.
“I hope the world finds a good solution to what’s happening in Ukraine, and wars are always negotiated on tables,” he noted. “So I think the world must do something quickly and put an end to it.”
The visiting writers, reporters and editors said they’re learning a lot about democracy through GlobalJax and Americans are fortunate to live in a relatively safe and protected country.
“The idea is they come and they learn about how they do things too and everyone is supposed to be better off and more effective and understanding after it’s done,” said Andrea Myers, the executive director of GlobalJax.