Adil Najam
UPDATE: Watch video clip from President Musharraf on ‘Daily Show’ here.
Most readers of this blog would already know that Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s President and Chief of Army Staff, will be in the United States in the second half of this month; i.e., soon. The key stops in the trip will be a speech at the United Nations General Assembly (Sep. 21), the launch of his autobiography (Sep. 25), a meeting with US President George Bush (Sep. 21 and later), and possibly another with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (Sep. 21 or 22). There will, of course, also be various community and think tank stops across the country.
Also see ATP poll on ‘Grading Gen. Musharraf’s Performance’. Updated story on his media engagements and book tour, here.
However, the stop I am looking most forward to is his appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (See here) – the late night ‘fake news’ comedy show on the cable TV channel Comedy Central, on September 26. It should be an interview to remember and I am not planning to miss it (actually, I try never to miss The Daily Show anyhow; see video clip below).
For those who are unfamiliar with the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning show (either because they do not live in the US or because they like to go to bed early) I can only say that it is a television news phenomenon like no other. Its fans call it the most (brutally) honest news show in America. Celebrities, and particularly politicians from all sides, see it as a must-do stop. And particularly in election season they fall over each other to get booked on it. All of this despite the fact that it is, by its own admission, a ‘fake’ news show, which takes great pleasure not only in making fun of politicians but also of ‘real’ news shows. The shows website describes it as being “even better than being informed… One anchor, five correspondents, zero credibility!”
Gen. Musharraf is quite savvy in dealing with the international media and his matter-of-fact way of speaking comes across well. He will, no doubt, make an interesting guest. But he may well meet his match in the blunt questioning in Jon Stewart.
Stewart is not known for polite questioning. Here, for example, is him interviewing former (and possibly future) US Presidential candidate and one of the most influential Republicans, Senator John McCain (can also be seen here):
The show is, in fact, irreverent to all sides. This is quite evident from this second video clip which relates to President Bush’s visit to India and Pakistan earlier this year (see related ATP Posts here and here). [For volatile South Asian emotions, please realize that this is a late-night comedy show, and the ‘expert’ being interviewed is a fake expert, making fun of self-styled ‘experts’ as much as anything else] (can also be seen here).
So, as you can imagine, it should be an interesting interview to watch; September 26.
The date, by the way, is not coincidental. It is the day after Gen. Musharraf’s autobiography – In the Line of Fire – will be launched. This highlights the importance of the show, as well as of this appearance. The publisher (Simon and Schuster) is keeping a very tight lid on the contents of the book until its launch and, surprisingly, not much of what is in the book has yet leaked out. So, we will have to wait till later for a review of its contents; meanwhile, see related op-ed by Hussain Haqqani, here.
Nice post; It will be interesting listening to Musharraf’s “let me tell you sir” rejoinders. He better come prepared because otherwise he’ll get trampled over or the segment will just be boring.
alvipervaiz,
Correction. Haqqani has an M.S. in journalism from Karachi university and is not a PhD (not that it would make a difference). His claim to fame started with Jamaat Islami’s student wing which was (and to a large extent still is) quite powerful in Pakistan in the 70s/early 80s with roots going down to the primary school level.
I have no meat for dictatorship but I think your stated second fact makes the first one more desirable because the “free flowing democracy” that he curbed had two very incompetent leaders and there was no respite in sight. Yes, the search for a better leader continues!
jon stewart is really hillarious his show on bushs visit to subcontinent was pretty good. He proposed his own solution for palestine/israel conflict. He totally massacred the two hosts of CNNs CrossFire and told them “Stop It. Stop hurting America” After two/four weeks CNN cancelled the show it is belived it was because of Jon Stewart. You can watch his CNN crossfire appearance on youtube.com
Top leaders in Pakistan often evoke and stir strong emotions witin the citizens. They are mostly seen as ‘total bad’ or ‘total good’. The Hussain Haqqani link provided here is a good example of such emotions. It is obvious that Dr. Haqqani does not belong to the ‘military party’. The fact is that Musharraf is a military dictator who has curbed the free flow of democracy. Another fact is that he is more compitent and less corrupt that his two predicessors. Could you imagin Nawaz Sharif on The Daily Show!. The search for the perfect leader shall continue.
PatExpat, the piece from the Onion that you mention is a really funny one. We had featured it here on ATP early on. See here.