The Dawn

American and European media services interview Pakistani leaders very aggressively. Unanswered questions are asked again and again. The US, British or French point of view is put forward very intensely. Pakistani leaders are asked why they don’t conform to American policies–which are presumed to be correct and accurate. 

When American leaders come to Pakistan, the general news media is not given access to them. Aggressive journalism is not allowed. Pakistanis are caught up in the hospitality issue, where frank discussions between the press and the foreign leaders are prohibited and discouraged. The Pakistani press is muted, and docile with the foreigners. The foreign leaders face softballs and accolades. Only US friendly newspapers are very given access to American visitors. Visiting US and European leaders are usually sequestered into the “Foreign Press Club” which discuss internal US and European policies. The Foreign press (BBC, VOA, ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS) monopolize the time of the foreign leaders while in Pakistan. It is the height of inane behavior that an American Secretary of State answers questions on Judge Sotomayer while on Pakistani soil.

This (keeping the visiting foreigners in a bubble–away from questions) needs to change dramatically.

Foreign leaders and their representatives when visiting Pakistan should face the free Pakistani press. After all, the press is the fourthpillar of state, and Pakistan has more than 80 TV channels with a vibrant media. Pakistanis are very aware of world events, and are tied into to the happenings in Chechniya, Ughuiristan, Falesteen, Iran, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Ms. Clinton and other foreign dignitaries should taste the fruits of democracy in Islamabad. The Pakistan media should be allowed to question the foreign leaders—indeed interrogate them (just like the American press interrogates Pakistan leaders). Why the double standards?

Many foreign leaders are massaged by the handpicked Pakistani journalists who are simply sellouts. Ahmed Rashid, and Irfan Hussain type of columnists are given a prominent place on the front pages of the toadeating, obsequious and compliant English media. Ms. Clinton and other foreign dignitaries thus see a very different Pakistan than the one portrayed by the subserviant wheedling, toadying newspapers like Dawn.com.

Americans facing the “No holds barred” Pakistani would help the Pakistani media to shatter the “drawing room” (living room) notions that exist in the thinktanks and the knowledge bases of the so called South Asia Experts. All foreign visitors should face the Pakistani press, specially the so called “Urdu Media” which will challenge the notions that exist in the core of the Democratic Party. Ms. Clinton has referred to this as the “paranoia” about India. This notion has to be challenged and dispelled. Pakistanis know who their friends are. Lectures from Washington will not change the enemies. It just makes mattes worse, and creates Anti-Americanism. When the visiting leaders force Pakistani leaders to use American jargon, the local leaders loose their credibility and thier popularity ratings fall precipitiously.

Ms. Clinton, Mr. Hoolbrooke, Admiral Mullen, and the half a dozen special envoys should face the real questions from Pakistanis. The Pakistani press and media should seek answers to the questions about Bharati activities in Balauchistan. Mr. Holbrooke should be shown the pictures of Uncircumcised Indian agents in Swat. Ms. Clinton when she comes to Pakistan should face the question of the Su fighters placed on the advanced airforce bases. Admiral Mullen should be asked why hundreds of thousands of Bharati troops are concentrated on  the Pakistan border. Ms. Clinton should be given the statistics of the cu-secs of water that has been held back by Bharat’s Baghaliar Dam.

All American corporate executives go through sensitivity training about gender, sexual harassment, and racial tolerance. If employees do not conform to the secularist and neutrality of corporate America, they are are discarded expeditiously. Those who do not learn, are forced by lawsuits.

American politicians have somehow escaped the sensitivity training which is mandated by corporate America. Their hubris and arrogance is matched only by inability to grasp the nationalism and geography of the countries that they are visiting. Most American are usually extremely weak in world history and geography. The CIA fact book and the Foreign Service crash courses are also offered by the products of the system that thinks that the world revolves around the US and Europe. These Copernicus dinosaurs teach history from the Western perspective where the world map shows America in the center of the world, and the Canadian islands larger than most Southern countries. This US centric view perpetuated by bad cartography, and poorly created maps (which show “Northern” countries larger than Southern ones) create a horrid view of the world. Therefore US politicians usually come across as the epitome of “The Ugly American”.

Filed under: Pakistan , meida, Pakistan, UK, US