We should occasionally take time to appreciate and salute the political commentators and columnists who continue to struggle through their pen to make Pakistan what it was meant to be: a democratic, pluralistic and modern Muslim state at peace with itself and its neighbors.
In this spirit, I want to honor these courageous columnists and writers who continue working towards this goal, despite hurdles in their way. In my opinion – supported by many other friends who I talked to on this issue – these men and women are doing a great service to the true cause and ideals of Pakistan. The list is drawn from those who write regularly in Pakistani English newspapers/magazines. A quote from a recent article is provided for each columnist to exemplify their work.
1. Ardeshir Cowasjee (Dawn)
“On the 59th anniversary of Independence we continue to be ruled by a vast government made up of members of dubious political parties all of whom claim to have” (of grandeur, no doubt, and of nothing else).”
2. Ghazi Salahuddin (The News)
“One great tragedy in our lives is that these people who may recognise the folly of the government’s action keep quiet because they want to retain their positions in the power structure. Such moral bankruptcy is the cancer of our political governance.”
3. Khalid Hasan (Daily Times)
(Also see earlier ATP Post here)
“Jefferson’s ghost must have risen from his grave in rural Virginia when Ghumman (a Pakistani minister visiting the US) declaimed that since democracy was the root of all evils, he would rather have a ‘dictator.’ He also informed his flabbergasted audience that ‘democracy has not worked in Pakistan and it has failed over and over again.’ The Minister is also either poor at counting or his history is about as strong as my quantum physics, because he went on to say that in the last two and a half centuries, nobody had dared to go into Pakistan’s tribal territories as Gen Musharraf had. ‘We now have a leader who wants to establish Rule of Law in that area.'”
“If what is happening in Waziristan is Rule of Law, then I am migrating to Darfur.”
4. Khaled Ahmed (Daily Times)
(Also see earlier ATP Post here)
“As realpolitik, Pakistan followed the best course in Cold War even though the Pacts were unpopular. When the Soviet Union collapsed, India was found holding the Friendship treaties with no benefit and Pakistan’s strategy was proved successful. Pakistan had taken the US for a ride, equipped its army on false pretenses, and fought unsuccessful wars with India for which America was not to blame. Now economic historians think Ayub’s was the best period in our history. A similar verdict is in store for Musharraf when he is gone. We keep on rejecting our history and the strategies of realistic survival followed by our leaders, some of them un-elected. Denial of what others see as good for us links up with a self-flagellating collective psyche. This is death-wish, pure and simple.”
5. Naseem Zehra (The News)
(On Baluchistan): “Indeed what the government must not do is go on the military and political offensive to neutralise the brewing crisis. Threats, warnings, ultimatums and maximalist positions will only worsen the situation. It could push either side ‘against the wall’ decreasing possibility of an amicable settlement of genuine grievances. We could then be headed towards greater difficulties, dovetailing into other unresolved challenges of politics, security and democracy.”
6. Amir Mir (Newsline and Outlook)
(On refusing to take ‘APNS best journalist award’ from Gen. Musharraf’s hands): “It isn’t that I detest Musharraf beyond forgiveness; it’s just that I love my principles more. I don’t know what Musharraf loves. But it isn’t the Constitution.”
7. Ahmed Rashid (Guardian and Nation)
“Al Qaeda’s money, inspiration and organizational abilities have helped turn Pakistan’s Pashtun belt into the extremist base it is today, but U.S. and Pakistani policies have helped more.”
8. Prof. Khawaja Masud (The News)
“We must continue to march intoxicated with the Quaid – shy and splendid idealism – till we realise the dream of Pakistan as visualised by Quaid-e-Azam i.e. democracy, social justice, tolerance, open mind and heart.”
9. Amina Jilani (Nation)
“The majority of our tried, tested and failed politicians, for the larger part of their political lives and when they are not haymaking, are mired in inertia.”
10. Ayaz Amir (Dawn)
“Hezbollah has no F-16s but it is running rings around one of the best armies in the world. We can have 500 F-16s in our air force but given the crisis of resolve we face, we will remain a country ready to jump at the sound of a single phone call.”
Hasan Abbas is author of Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism, a keen purveyor of political news and commentary of Pakistan, and maintains the blog Watandost: Inside News about Pakistan, where this post first appeared.
BTW, I did not see Rahimullah Yusufzai here – for issues related to NWFP/Afghanistan.
On prices, my understanding is that English papers sell for around Rs. 12-15 as Sridhar mentions. Urdu papers for around Rs. 6-9. This is a factor of circulation (i.e., economies fo scale) and also of teh fact that newsprint is still largely improted and therefore expensive. My assumption would be that lower prices in India are also largely a result of similar factors.
The issue of urdu columnists was raised and discussed when the post first appeared (above) so I will not repeat that. Of course, the language divide is very real in Pakistan and I would Khalid Ahmed’s columns in The Daily Times for the implications of this divide…. or, for a lighter take, Owais Mughal’s series on ‘Hot from the Urdu Press.’
Circulation numbers in Pakistan – as in many other developing countries – are (or used to be) a matter of great economic value. Largely becasue payments for government ads were directly proportional to your professed circulation. Hence, the incentive to exagerate.
Plus, between the 60s to the 80s there was also the ‘paper scam’ where newsprint was imported and subsidized and doled out depending on circulation. This led to ‘paper papers’.. i.e., newspapers that claimed large (false) circulations, printed a few copies every day, and then sold the excess newsprint which they had recieved on subsidy in the blackmarket. Many of us probably grew up going to school with notecopies made of this blackmarketed paper. At one point, for example, Faisalabad boasted of nearly 30 newspapers… most of whcih most people never saw but which contributed both to ‘lafafa journalism’ and to getting cheap notecopies in the hands of school children. This scam got largely erased in the 1990s when the restrictions on newsprint manufacture and import were lifted in a set of budget steps first during the first BB term and then during the first NS term.
Back in teh 1990s I had done a detailed study of this and published a detailed paper on circulations. That work is too old to me meaningful now (since circualtions have probably increased) but the general rule of urdu papers circulating at an order of magnitude higher than English papers is correct. Moreover, Urdu papers get read even more becasue many end up at ‘public’ spaces such as naai shops, restaurants (Pinglish=hotel), etc. and get read multiple time and over many days.
How about some of the younger writers? I like Shakir Lakhani’s “Hit and Run” in The News. Shandana Minhas, again in The News, is quite good; articulate, sharp and witty. Afiya Zia, Masooda Bano and Khusro Mumtaz are ok too. Some of The Friday Times gang is quite good, particularly Umbreen Baig Mirza. She writes interesting columns on the mundane and the not-so-mundane, like the “moorha”, chamakpati on trucks and buses, snake charmers, the acchar making industry of Karachi etc etc.
We are listing top ten columnist and we have mentioned only those who write columns in English.
Either the title of the post is wrong and should have been top ten English columnists or it has been assumed that Urdu columnists are not at par with English columnists.
I read most of these columnists. Each has an inimitable style of analysis yet like their readership, they are far from the masses.
To relate to masses, to really have an idea of how the masses think or what the masses read, one should read the Urdu columnists. Though I would not suggest reading Hasan Nisar unless you are a cynical interested in ramblings of an evergreen angry young man.