The gory scenes from Thursday, August 22, 2008 twin attacks at the gates of Pakistan Ordnance Factory Wah, which left more than a 100 dead and double that number injured, numbed the entire nation. The amplified frequency of suicide attacks by now should have brought in a sense of banality among the people, however, what was more shocking and traumatic was the appearance of a spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on a number of TV Channels, claiming responsibility for the Wah atrocity and threatening to carry out further suicide attacks if an army offensive against militants is not stopped. His comment that, "Our bombers carried out today's attack. It is in reaction to military operations in Swat and Bajaur. Similar attacks will be carried out in other cities of Pakistan including Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The Wah factory is a killer factory where arms are being produced to kill our women and children", created a sense of anger and angst. Here was a home-grown cleric, not Al-Qaeda or foreign terrorist, who without any sense of remorse or penitence at the tremendous loss of lives and limbs; was threatening more dastardly acts of violence. The TTP spokesperson was clearly taunting the government and peace-loving people with an attitude of bravado and boast. The media in this case must be faulted. In my Op-Ed titled Conflict reporting, which was presented on the same space in the aftermath of the "Lal Masjid fiasco", the same aspect had been highlighted that: "The role of the media becomes critical, because allegiance, emotions and even loyalties were divided. This is where the media was tested and found wanting, perhaps because of lack of experience. By permitting media space to the TTP spokesperson, two reactions emerge. Viewers like me are seething with anger, while some are being forced to change their opinion. The leader of Jamt-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has asked the government to "pull out troops" from the tribal areas, while a number of print media personnel and some news analysts on the electronic media, instead of commenting on the tackling of miscreants by resorting to use of force, echo TTP's version that "the suicide attacks are a result of the Bajaur attack by security forces." A society already divided on sectarian and ethnic lines, is now being further segregated along fundamentalism vs moderate splits; with a section of media acting as catalysts. People with a religious bent of mind already perceive the war against terror as a conspiracy against Islam by the west. Blustering messages by the terrorist leaders tends to create sympathy for them, converting sympathy into support and at times transformation into suicide bombers since it is construed as a war between good and evil with the villains being portrayed as heroes. It is essential that rather than PEMRA or the Information Ministry dictating terms, saner elements in the media put their heads together to evolve a code of conduct that does not "glorify the terrorists". Tapes received from Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders threatening the government or the military, may prove tempting to broadcast, but if the media is united and cohesive, they will resolve to ignore them. Similarly terrorists claiming responsibility for suicide attacks or acts of sabotage and brutality should be denied direct access to the powerful electronic media, depriving them of the attention they seek. A lesson can be learnt from the Na Trioblid (The Troubles), a period of three decades of conflict involving the Irish Roman Catholic guerrillas clashing with the principally Protestant British Army for the reunification of Northern Ireland with Ireland involving acts of terrorism, ethnic strife, guerrilla and civil war till peace resulted through the Belfast Agreement of April 10, 1998. During this period, bloody violence erupted, letter-bombs, sabotage and massive bomb attacks, which resulted in tremendous loss of lives. The remarkable aspect of the bloody episode is that the British media reported the incidents with due diligence but never provided media access to the terrorists claiming responsibility. It is now for our media to weigh a few seconds of advantage over their competitors by portraying terrorists on their screen versus denying them that access which may glorify them. The writer is a political and defence analyst