Owais Mughal and Jauhar Ismail
The division of opinion between the column writers of Urdu and English press in Pakistan has been quite stark in the past few years. May be we are generalizing the above statement too much but some degree of truth is not hidden from any regular reader of both Urdu and English print media. In the last few days, we have seen a significant increase in the number of Urdu columnists who admit that they can’t deny the ugly reality that Pakistan has become the hub of bad guys and we need to act now for the sake of our own future. Some examples of this new shift is evident from today’s (12/21) Jang columns:
(1) Sadiq Saleem’s “mohazib dunya ka hissa baniye”,
(2) Rauf Klasra’s “jang se bachna hi bahaadri hoti hai” and
(3) Jeevan Khan’s “qaumi salamti ke taqaazay”.
NoPCThoughts
Gordon Brown left out how many plots Pakistan has helped disrupt in the UK, that were hatched by UK-based extremists.
Pakistan itself is battling and insurgency and building up its forces. It does not need lectures from outsides whose views are based on media reports.
When a man like the British PM Gordon Brown, who will do anything to get the Pakistani vote in the UK, tells you that “Three quarters of all the plots against the UK uncovered by the security services had links back to Pakistan”, then you all, Urdu or English commentator, have to realise that things have gone horribly wrong in the “land of the pure”.
To the outside world, Pakistan just appears to be a land in denial of both, the part it plays in incubating radical islamic terrorism (often on behalf of the Saudi’s who act as planners and paymasters), and the slow, but seemingly unstoppable collapse of central authority in many of your border regions.
Can you imagine any other country where the central writ is so weak (other than Afghanistan), carrying on as though all is well?
I suggest that, like an addict, until you can stand up in front of others and admit you have a problem that you can’t control, then you can’t do anything about it.
Pakistan has to accept that not everyone is conspiring against you, and that many are pointing out the problem in the hope that you finally realise that you are on the edge of disaster.
sir g who cares for these ppl, and of course for us? but only for US ;)
>> speaking of urdu columnists specifically,
>> klasra is an exception”
Unfortunately in this specific article Klasra’s statements about initiation of military operations in Afghanistan, and subsequently in Iraq, are at odds with reality. No Afghans were involved in world trade center tragedy and Iraq did not have any WMD’s or had anything to do with attacks in New York. About Afghan government’s conduct at that time one should read what Milt Bearden – a CIA Field Officer for Afghanistan, posted in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989 – has to say before making such definitive comments. Plans to attack and occupy Iraq had been discussed for a long time and regardless of what Saddam did or did not do would have been put into practice using one excuse or another. Klasra’s statements about the positions and conduct of the Chinese government are also rather inaccurate. The reality is far more nuanced and complex. One wishes that he had based his otherwise sensible conclusions on firmer grounds.
There is a problem with the media on both sides. They should realize their job is to report the news not influence it. This is a sensitive time and we need to give time and acknowlodgement to the respective governments to sort it out. Jingoistic war cries, naive denials and juicy conspiracy theories do not make matters any easy.