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.
To be honest, I think he will be a fun guest. He seems to like these appearances and is quite kool in them. He has lots of confidence and can hold his own. I just hope he does realize that it is a comedy show.
We will discuss the numbers some other time. But now for yours, mine and the rest of country’s sake, I hope the child inside you is “right”.
PatExpat,
Your points are well-taken. However, my response is embedded in your lines..”Who do you think will win hands down if elections are held today. Benazir without a doubt..”
Would she be acceptable to you?
People who vote in Pakistan have short memory and they are indeed, as you eluded to the fact, illiterate. Yet it is still amazing to see people like sheikh rasheed or makhdoom amin faheem (two very different examples from two, in every sense, very different parts of the country) get elected election after election. I agree the present setup is replete with corrupt people but really what alternatives do we have? Please give me a name? (May be Imran but can he really win an election in present day pakistan?)
I also accept the fact this leaves a door open for an other Zia which is scary.. May be we got lucky this time (in RELATIVE terms). I try to forget about the chaudris and shortcut aziz and other one time wonders and seek solace in the numbers.. Exports, Foreign Exchange, Economic Growth, all compared to 99 and the fact that the country is now included on the last page of the economist magazine.. etc. I know all this has a lot to do with the international circumstances but still one gets the feeling that may be there is hope.. which wasn’t even there in the 90s.. Using your hypothesis, I say, what if the next PM is “not” corrupt and it all changes for the better from then on. The child in me says yes that’s a possibility..
Adnan Ahmad:
Thank you for the corrections (in more than one way). Only if I knew how to use spell check.
Adnan Ahmed: So everytime a corrupt politician becomes a premier, the military should step in to rid him or her of their democratically earned position.
We have given Musharraf more time than any of the democratically elected government has ever had in the more than half a century of Pakistan’s checkered political history. Who do you think will win hands down if election are held today.
Benazir without a doubt. If Musharraf has been so good for the rest of the country (not counting us – the few educated elite who read and write on blogs) why is the rest of country not seeing this. Are they blind not to see the development going around them, not reaping the fruits that his dictatorship brought them compared to the previous democratically elected governments. I mean to a poor guy who actually votes unlike the drawing room discussions holding the rest of us, things should have really improved.
So lets say we hold elections after another 6 years, assuming Musharraf holds and gets his cronies elected in the next government (I am sure you would agree that most of the politicians in PML(Q) or should we call it PML(Musharraf) are as corrupt as the remaining lot) who in turn elect him as a president for next 5 years. After that lets suppose he makes way for a democratically elected PM. What if the next PM is corrupt again. Would you want the army to step in again? Who knows that unlike the secular minded Musharraf, the next one turns out to be Mard-e-Haq, Ziaul Haq; would he be acceptable to you?
So please give people a chance to democratically elect governments, once, twice or thrice and become wise themselves. Military intervention has never made people wiser anywhere not it will make them wiser this time.
Who are we that make up less than 10% of population to impose our beliefs on the 90% of the remaining population?