Working for Khyber TV here in UAE that represents my country Pakistan is the reason I get to see emotional roller coaster on the faces who visits our Dubai studios. What are these emotions about? Well I often relate to these sentiments myself as being an expat we all stand together when it comes to missing home. The urge of meeting people from the same soil where one was born and raised and the strong bond that attracts the blood in our veins; all of this and much more is fulfilled that’s when a Pakistani is visiting the AVT Khyber Dubai office. “It feels like home ……….” is the sentence I have heard several times from almost every participant who gets a chance to use AVT Khyber platform for their voice to be heard throughout the world even when they are standing outside their country territory as foreigners.
What Khyber TV Means to Expats?
“Munga pa KHYBER TV mayyan yu ………. (We Love Khyber TV)” said by one of the regular caller in Khyber Middle East Live transmission who is a Pathan from Pakistan residing in Dubai. For him the only source that makes him feel connected to his soil is to watch his country’s TV channel in the medium of language he speaks at home with his children “Pashto”. The happiness that we can sense in the voice of several callers we receive everyday are mostly the community who are trying their level best to make ends meet back home by working unstoppable; for them Khyber TV channels are not just TV transmissions for their leisure time but it’s a window where they peep into their homes in Pakistan and express their heart out, feeling complete authority over words they use as it’s in their own national and regional languages.
Several regional dialects from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hazara, Azad Kashmir, Mansehra, Gilgit, Quetta, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu are the beauties that lifts our viewer’s patriotic emotions living in foreign countries so much that they send their word of appreciation to us in every way they get a chance. We get to receive calls from Europe, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Honking, Canada and all the regions of Khaleej territory where Pakistanis look forward for their turn to participate in the live transmissions we broadcast from Dubai Studios. I have witnessed moments in which the audience of Khyber TV owned the channel as their own family member when we aired live transmissions for them on occasions like Ramadan, Eid and even the independence day of our beloved country Pakistan. Here, I must say that apart from daily life an expat misses home more when such occasions are happening; we as channel representing the country abroad becomes the only source for the people to feel the essence of spending family time in which we play the role of a bridge between them and their loved ones who are living far from them.
Ambassadors of Khyber TV Screens
Looking at Khyber TV initiatives from viewer’s perspective is a treat to watch but then there is another side of being recognized as face of Khyber TV screen “OUR ANCHORS”. Every face that appears on Khyber TV screen gets the warm welcome from the Pakistanis living abroad and they own them as their family members. I have been told stories by our anchors that they were recognized by fans and they never hesitate to tell us in public what AVT channels (Khyber TV, Kay2 TV, Khyber News and Khyber Middle East) screen means to them. Representing this channel is something that makes you feel proud and connected to your roots amongst the strange crowd that every expat feels when they are living abroad. Wearing the channel logo makes us see the eyes of our people looking at our representatives with hope and pride that there is a platform on which they can make their voice audible. Our channel has huge history of raising issues that were neglected and taking them to the concerned authorities through the faces that have an impact when it comes to society.
We never neglected the responsibility of becoming our people’s channel so whenever and wherever we were called we answered with all our efforts resulting our expats to have confidence on us. In abroad we stand together as one nation regardless of which part we belong in Pakistan. Our anchors and team members makes sure that every Pakistani’s story is said and heard to their brothers back home where they must know how well they have represented as an ambassador.
Khyber Middle East TV “Pride of the Expats”
27-09-2019 The date that completely changed the meaning of representing expats of Pakistan as a separate broadcasting channel. This was the epic idea by the man himself Mr. Kamran Hamid Raja (OUR MASHAR) to give the command of this new member born under the AVT Channels entity to Mr. Jawad Hamid Raja who could see his vision of making the medium approachable to people and have made sure that none of the stone remains unturned in order to find creative and hardworking Pakistanis who have not just seen struggle and brutal times while reaching their goals but have missed the precious moments with their loved ones. Jawad Hamid Raja knew that with the support of his Team leader Mr. Zamarud Buneri he will make this channel a platform for the stories that should get aired for the whole world to know how talented our nation is.
“Shagou kai Lalouna” (Pearls in the Sand), “Jwand Da Musafirou” (Life of an expat), “Middle East Forum” and “Middle East Time” were the programs that are exclusively dedicated to portray the success stories of Pakistanis found in the crowd of other nationalities. To make the beautiful connection of our expats with the traditional music of Pakistan especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa we made it possible to get the talented singers and musicians to broadcast live music for our viewers through the screen of Khyber Middle East TV. “Tang Takor”, “Marhaba Bekum”, “Khabaray Aou Sandaray”, “Da Naghmou Shor”, “Zouq e Ahang”, “Da tik tak Sho”, “Sandaray bil Arabia”, “Da Musafirou Khwakha” are the projects we have been airing successfully to meet the musical and live interactive requirements of our viewers via calls and social media messages. We even felt the responsibility of considering awareness and addressing the health issues of our people residing away from their homeland not knowing the proper language to convey their matters. “Daru Durmal” a project that was utterly designed to connect medical experts to the patients via calls in live transmissions from Dubai studios; the beauty of these programs is the mode of communication used which represents the majority of expats “Pushto”. The dedication behind such efforts was to become strength of our people and the results speaks for itself; we are now the most watchable and the most trusted Pakistani channel broadcasting Channel from UAE.
The TV Channel of Diversity
Khyber Middle East TV even became the platform to display the talents across other nationalities that includes Afghani, Arabic, Moroccan, Iranian, Indian and what we found after working with them is that when you are an expat you will relate to each other’s stories very conveniently. Sharing the same process of struggle when you are new to a country, fears and hesitations to adjust in a new society, pain of getting separated from family back there and determination of becoming the best version of yourself; these are few similarities I have perceived so far when it comes to share your journey with your co-expats.
Food is a major factor that represents any tradition of a country; we as a channel have always kept it on priority to give coverage to all those food chains that represents a culture of a country. Occasions like Ramadan is a beauty of such country like UAE where people from several nationalities are seen to sit under the same roof to break their fast and share the blessings. Khyber Middle East TV screens are always decorated with such varieties where the only strong bond that can be figured out between people is Humanity. When I see our channel’s screens rushed with the callers speaking different languages there I can sense the power of trust that people have led on us and an essence of responsibility that is appreciated by almost every viewer we come across.
Each day is a new day at work for me where the moment I step into Khyber Middle East TV studios creative ideas and innovative projection is something I could smell in the air starting from studio room to the MCR and from GM’s to COO’s office. It’s always the same questions that my team answers in their own different but beautiful ways that “What more should be done to become people’s platform? “How to become more approachable to the voices that are unheard? What can be done more to make our expats FEEL AT HOME? ………..
So, the story doesn’t end over here; it has actually just started. We have a long way to go; because the far we go the more connected we feel to our nation as
WE ARE THE CHANNEL BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE.
