Adil Najam
This video needs no explanation. It says so much more than what it says. It deserves a lot of thought. And, for those of us not from Baluchistan, a head hung in shame.
I saw it first in a post on the blog Cafe Pyala, which got it exactly right:
Many of us have often had a laugh about Americans’ woeful knowledge about the rest of the world.
Well, what would you say to this? A BBC Urdu correspondent roamed the streets of Punjab’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, Lahore, to ask random people on the street how much they knew of Balochistan. His report is compiled under the heading “Punjab Balochistan Ko Kitna Jaanta Hai?” (How well does Punjab know Balochistan?). Keep in mind that Lahore is not a rural backwater where media is not easily accessible, that Punjab’s population comprises some 60 percent of the Pakistan’s population and that in the last three years, the issue of Balochistan has probably been one of the most talked about issues in domestic politics. Think for a moment what it says about our educational system, our media, our democracy, our policy-making, our national integration and yes, our majoritarian chauvinism.
If this does not actually shock you, you’re made of sterner stuff than I am.
As I said, this video needs no explanation. It says so much more than what it says. It speaks to the facts that we too often do not speak of. It reminds us of the killings, the disappearances, the murders that we wish to wish away. It deserves a lot of thought. And, for those of us not from Baluchistan, a head hung in shame.
Please don’t compare beggar-state Pakisan to USA ok ?
Who can check them? — by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011 36\story_6-3-2011_pg3_2
Isn’t it a pity that channels like BBC come to expose our weaknesses (true issues), while our own media is drunk to the wine of sensation and political machinations!
I suggest some solutions: 1
1. Promoting citizen journalism in Balochistan, by training the youth in blogging and website development/management
2. Declare 2012 as the “Year of Balochistan” and use schools, colleges and universities, to spread more information about Balochistan
3. Create Balochistan Information Societies at union council levels, comprising of elders/educated youth who know more about Balochistan and rest of Pakistan
4. Our singers should come up with songs and anthems to popularize heritage, history and geography of Balochistan
5. PTV has a channel dedicated to Balochistan but its viewership in the cities is too low. Other channels need to come up with special and interesting programs on Balochistan to break the ceilings of ignorance
These steps need to be taken up on war footings, if we are to move towards reducing the gap between people
As pointed out above, this is just ‘average Desi intelligence’. Heck, living in a southern state of America I often find people who have not been beyond any neighboring counties and don’t know the capitals of neighboring states. Forget knowing about Canada or Mexico!
Is that kind of ignorance excusable? Certainly not, especially in educated people. But I see no reason to do more self-flagellation by Pakistanis. There are plenty others. I am still doing that for S. Taseer and minister Bhatti’s murders.
However…. a pertinent and dangerous point in the video above is target killing of Punjabis inside Baluchistan. Thanks to another idiotic military dictator General Musharraf– who not only was indirectly responsible for Akbar Bugti’s death but also called the death ‘good’ the day after the death of Bugti–Baluchis are probably alienated for good. And they see Punjab and Punjabis as their prime enemies. That is, of course, wrong.
May Pakistan be saved from these so-called ‘saviors’ dressed in khakis.
I think the problem of alienation in Balochistan is very real and very serious. But I also think this video is misleading. In some ways it trivializes the problem as if it is only about not visiting Baochistan. The problem si much deeper and more serious. Maybe even the most serious problem of all of Pakistan’s problems.