The Pakistani Media: Reporting News or Making News?

Another typical week in the saga of Pakistan. Twenty percent of the country still underwater. Drone attacks on new levels. NATO helicopters crossing border and attacking within Pakistan. The Chief Justice on the warpath for a quasi-constitutional judicial coup against the elected government. Rumors of military itchiness. Nawaz once again plotting opportunistically. Final preparations for the next round of the Strategic Dialogue in Washington between Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Quereshi. One would think that there would be an enormous amount of material for the Pakistani press to be legitimately covering, investigating and reporting on. But hold the presses. This is Pakistan, the home of 50 FOX cable 24/7 stations whose blood sport is trying to bring down elected governments.

The Pakistani rabid media is guilty of something much more serious than bad journalism. Their misreporting, their distortions, their unattributed, unsourced tirades about governmental instability are infectious, and could very well become self-fulfilling prophesies. As the nihilistic narrative goes viral, western media picks up the theme and starts to run with it. When Pakistan’s FOX cable rampages morph into New York Times and Washington Post headlines, not only is the government of Pakistan destabilized, but the future of democracy in the country becomes problematic and with it any chance for the Pakistani to break into a new socio-economic environment where there is hope for their children’s future. The anti-government blood-sport may be good fun for the chattering classes of the Punjabi elite, but for Pakistan’s position in the community of nations, it is deadly serious. And for victims of this summer’s monsoons, this distraction is nothing short of tragic.

Pakistan has many problems, most build up after decades of governmental inaction, economic mismanagement, military coups and terrorist insurgencies. Any government now in power would be under enormous stress from the complexities and the enormities of the current multifaceted challenges. But to use this as an excuse to destroy Pakistani democracy, to destabilize the democratically elected government and to functionally empower terrorists, is shameful.

Maybe it’s at last time for patriotism to replace opportunism for the Pakistani media, for the Pakistani military, for the Pakistani political opposition, and for the chattering Establishment class that thrived under dictatorship. The infection has spread from the cables, to the salons and has made its way across the Ocean to the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon. It threatens not only bilateral relations with the United States. It fundamentally threatens Pakistan’s existence.

As Pakistan Drowns, the Establishment’s Business as Usual

From reading the Pakistani press, or watching its rambunctious cable television networks, one would never guess that the country has absorbed the worst natural disaster in its recorded history. One-fifth of the country was submerged; 1,800 people were killed; over twenty million people have lost everything they own and are struggling to survive in mud and ruins — with little water, food, proper sanitation, shelter or medicine. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said it was a greater tragedy than the 2004 earthquakes, the 2005 Tsunami and the 2009 Haitian earthquake combined, calling the Pakistani floods “a global disaster, a global challenge, one of the greatest tests of global solidarity in our times.” Yet the entrenched political Establishment of Pakistan — an odd potpourri of the rich military supported Lahore business class, elements of intelligence agencies, a self-promoting politicized Supreme Court and ultra-conservative religious political parties — have a very different list of priorities on their political agenda than mere flood refugee relief.

Watching Pakistani television is like watching fifty Fox News television stations, but much less restrained, more like staged professional wrestling than objective journalism. In the “anything goes”, government-trashing, US-baiting, conspiracy-obsessed barrage of ignorant talking heads that dominate the Pakistani media, one senses that the Establishment, through its new rabid cable mouthpieces, is once again determined to undermine the still fragile democratic infrastructure of the country, destroy the domestic and international credibility of the elected government, and all but forfeit Pakistani’s place in the community of nations to a pariah state.

When you turn on Pakistani television, or hear the edicts of the politicized Supreme Court, or the anti-government, anti-American rantings of the right-wing political opposition, one hears nothing of relevance to the lives of average Pakistanis, and certainly nothing that will address the crisis in the lives of the flood refugees. There is no talk of economic development or international investment. There is never a mention of opening up world markets to Pakistani imports. One never hears a word about increasing Pakistani agricultural and dairy production and getting protein into the stomachs of our children in public schools.

No, to the pro-military rule Establishment and to those they fund on national television, it would seem that the main problem facing Pakistan is not rebuilding its destroyed infrastructure and finding housing and employment for eight million homeless people, but rather reopening stale twenty-year-old charges of corruption against people now in government who have been elected with the fresh mandate of a newly democratized electorate. These old charges were brought by forces that used this issue for decades to thwart the democratic process.

The fact is that there have not been any new corruption charges brought against this government in its two-and-half years in power, none directed against the Prime Minister or the President. Yet personal hatred of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and its chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari, removes from the public discourse any sense of cooperation and unity. The Establishment is too busy trying to destroy the government than to help it build a new Pakistan. As the rest of the world acknowledges that the reason that only 1,800 Pakistanis were killed in the greatest natural calamity in its history was the quick attention and mobilization of the Pakistani government to evacuate huge masses of people before the flood waters descended (a sharp contrast to the refusal of New Orleans officials to evacuate the city and thus cost thousands of unnecessary American casualties five years ago), the Establishment assumes as its highest priority is ridiculing Zardari for traveling internationally to mobilize world government action and public opinion to assist Pakistan in its moment of crisis.

Maybe Zardari’s trip to beseech French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron was not great politics, but in terms of its results it certainly was good policy. But the Pakistani Establishment will not give the devil his due, and continues its rampage, in the midst of this horrific human tragedy, to undermine and sabotage the government.

It is a sad spectacle, but predictable in terms of Pakistan’s sixty year history. One need not wonder why Pakistan today is increasingly thought of as anarchistic. One need only watch the self-destruction and national abuse blasting 24 hours a day from the Court House to the cable station, to understand that patriotism seems to be a word that the Pakistani Establishment just can’t spell.

IA Rahman: Quaid’s view of minorities

This article appeared in Dawn on August 14, 2010

Quite a few groups and individuals wish to resurrect what they describe as Jinnah’s Pakistan. The argument in support of the effort is that decades of disregard for the Quaid-i-Azam’s vision of Pakistan has landed the country into one crisis after another and its future cannot be guaranteed without a return to its foundational premises.

Although the Quaid’s views on Pakistan’s ideal (he usually avoided the expression ‘ideology’) have not escaped controversy, there is substantial agreement among historians and analysts that he stood for a constitution framed by none else than the representatives of the people, a system of government that he described as people’s democracy, and full citizenship rights for the minorities.

Farukh Khan Pitafi – What Shoe throwing wont help

This blog post appeared on The Express Tribune blog on August 10, 2010

Tired due to the prolonged special transmission on flood relief, I was trying to unwind in my office when a senior colleague came dancing to my chamber. “What is the good news?” I asked him thinking of some big accomplishment in relief efforts. “Someone has thrown a shoe at Zardari!” he exclaimed in joy.

I was simply shocked. Here was a career journalist, otherwise supposed to be neutral, and tasked with overall responsibility of the office, absolutely radiant with joy, over an incident of national humiliation if not petty worth. I immediately switched my television on to learn more. The media was ecstatic. Most of the channels had forgotten the floods and relief efforts and were obsessed with the apocryphal piece of gossip which lacked even a shred of credible evidence. I surmised that the Islamic republic is back at what it does best: scapegoating.

Dawn Edit: At Loggerheads

This Editorial was published in Dawn on January 24, 2010

Relations between the judiciary and the executive are deteriorating, if a certain section of the media and the political class is to be believed. The first alleged source of tension: the government is not acting on the Supreme Court’s directives in the NRO judgment.

But is the government really in violation of the NRO judgment already? Does the Supreme Court have to first decide what it is going to do with the review petition filed against the NRO judgment before the government is required to act? These are technical questions of law, whereas thus far the criticism directed at the government appears to be anything but technical. We must await clarification about the true legal position before any comment on the government’s obligations is in order.

 

Independent: Military Rule: Defying Democracy in Pakistan

This article by Omar Warraich appeared in The Independent on January 22, 2010

When General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was elevated to the most powerful job in Pakistan, many hoped that he would efface the shame of eight years of military rule under his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf.

Keen to rebuild the army’s much-damaged domestic image, Gen Kayani pulled all serving officers out of civilian institutions within weeks. The 2008 general elections also slipped by with no obvious military interference, a veritable rarity.

The army chief has also won plaudits for the military’s impressive displays of resolve against Taliban mi

Dawn Editorial: The Way Forward

This article appeared in Dawn on January 1, 2010

Yousuf Raza Gilani promised on Wednesday that the 1973 constitution will be restored to its original form. While the statement of intent is commendable, we urge the prime minister to support his words with action on the ground at the earliest opportunity. Let’s face it, the PPP-led government has lost face on numerous occasions since it came to power early last year.

First there was the inordinate delay in the restoration of the higher judiciary. Also, question marks still linger over whether this democratically elected government is sincere in doing away with the 17th Amendment and returning to a genuine parliamentary system of governance. It has troubled many that the president, Asif Ali Zardari, has been exercising a form of authority in which the powers of the head of state and head of government appear to be conflated. That is not in keeping with the norms of parliamentary democracy and this impression must be dispelled sooner than later.

IA Rehman: Pause sirs and consider

This article appeared in Dawn on December 25, 2009

The fact that in its response to the Supreme Court judgment of Dec 16 the nation is divided cannot be denied, and prudence demands that the causes of this division should not be brushed aside without careful scrutiny.

A large section of society believes that Pakistan has become a corruption-free entity and a judicially controlled democracy while a none-too-small section feels deeply hurt. Much can be said for and against both sides.

 

Asma Jahangir: Another Aspect of the Judgment

This article appeared in Dawn on December 19, 2009

The NRO case, Dr Mubashar Hasan and others versus the federation, has once again stirred a hornet’s nest.

There is thunderous applause for bringing the accused plunderers and criminals to justice and widespread speculation on the resignation of the president. Very little analysis is being done on the overall effect of the judgment itself.

While, the NRO can never be defended even on the plea of keeping the system intact, the Supreme Court judgment has wider political implications. It may not, in the long run, uproot corruption from Pakistan but will make the apex court highly controversial.

 

Sadiq Saleem on US-India Relations and Pakistan

I dont know how many of you know of or read the OpEd pieces written by my fellow Canadian-American, Sadiq Saleem, but I am an avid follower because I feel he always raises pertinent issues.

Here is his latest piece in The News of November 24, 2009 which I took from his website.  

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official visit to the United States should have been the major story in Pakistan’s media. But our right-wing anchors and columnists and “get-Zardari” editors are far more focused on the domestic power struggles to realize that the nightmare of Pakistan’s strategic encirclement may already be on the brink of becoming reality.

 

The less attention Pakistanis pay to fighting terrorism and figuring out a way of dealing with the world, the more likely it is that India — the country with which Pakistan has fought four wars in 62 years — will continue to gain ground. India already has better relations with the governments of Afghanistan and Iran, our western neighbours. The more we demonstrate hatred towards the United States, the more we contribute to making the India-US relationship into an anti-Pakistan alliance, which need not be. We could complain and get angry with the US, as the Jamaatis and the Ghairat lobby advocate, or we could analyse the rising Indian influence and figure out ways of combating it.