Sadiq Saleem: Lagay Raho, Media Bhai

This article by Sadiq Saleem appeared in The News on November 4, 2009

On Monday, November 2, thirty-five innocent Pakistanis lost their lives to a terrorist attack. These were ordinary people, standing in line at a bank to receive their monthly salary. They must have gone there with plans of spending that money on their parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters. But for the Pakistani media, especially the TV anchors who have now become the arbiters of what is important and what is not, the death of these poor people was not important. With their usual cast of characters from —Jamaat-e-Islami to Imran Khan to the two Muslim Leagues— the electronic media that day was exclusively focused on the so-called NRO issue.

 

Although the PPP has defused the matter by withdrawing the ordinance from Parliament, there is something artificial about the manner in which the matter of the NRO was made the primary focus of national discussion. The NRO issue took over from debate over the Kerry Lugar Bill, which also died its natural death. Those in the media who considered the Kerry-Lugar Bill a matter of national sovereignty have not even asked the PML-N or PML-Q to bring their own resolutions in the National Assembly on the matter.

 

What is the Real Civil War in Pakistan?

By Waqar Kazmi
This article appeared in NewPakistan on October 4, 2009

Now that Pakistan’s military under civilian leadership has started
taking on the Jihadi-Taliban enterprise its apologists are crying
foul. It is easier to turn the people of Pakistan against the US than
in favor of Taliban after all the Taliban did in Swat and Malakand.

So the Shireen Mazari- Ahmed Qureshi Jihadi Support Network keeps
coming up with new excuses. The Truth is, and every true Pakistani
nationalist knows it, that Pakistan has to fight the Jihadis to save
Pakistan. This is a fight for Pakistan’s soul. The US role in this
fight is incidental.

Irfan Hussain: Distortions and Delusions

By Irfan Hussain
This article appeared in Dawn on October 3, 2009

National Geographic aired a programme about the 9/11 conspiracies the
other evening. While it did not cover any new ground, it did
painstakingly demolish many of the idiotic theories that have been
doing the rounds for the last eight years.

What struck me most about the TV documentary was the ease with which a
rumour can be spread compared with the time and expertise it takes to
expose it as a lie. Literally millions continue to believe that the
Twin Towers were actually brought down by thousands of explosive
charges planted inside the building and not by the airliners that
crashed into them. It took a crew of experts who brought down a
building to demonstrate how ridiculous the conspiracy theory really
is.

More on the Inter-Risk Story

An excellent post on the Inter-Risk controversy from New-Pakistan.com:

There has been much chatter recently about security companies in Pakistan and whether that is a threat. This despite a complete lack of explanation for what the threat is, or any evidence that a threat exists at all. The latest story comes from a raid on the offices of Inter-Risk, a Pakistani security company that was hired to protect American officials with the US Embassy. This is more than just a storm in a teacup, though, it is a dangerous distraction from the real threats to Pakistan.

On Monday, Dawn published an editorial that quite nicely addresses the misinformation about Inter-Risk most heard among the chatter. First, there seem to be some undefined conspiracies about why Embassies are using private security companies in the first place. This is simply ridiculous. Almost all Embassies use private security companies of one sort or another, and it is no secret that American officials are at particular risk.

The media has been up in arms and spreading conspiracy theories about US Marines protecting the Embassy (even though that is common practice throughout the world). So what is left? Leave the Embassy with no security at all? I am positive that Baitullah Mehsud would have loved for Embassy officials to have no protection, but what peace loving Pakistani would support that? Besides, with Inter-Risk we are talking about a Pakistani security company. Now the media is spreading false rumours about our own security companies? Dawn makes the point perfectly:

Pakistan’s Pseudo Patriots Shown in True Light

By K.M. Rizvi
This article was posted on RationalPakistan on September 20, 2009

For the last two weeks there have been numerous stories floating around about the U.S. private military contractor Blackwater operating inside Pakistan. Websites led by pseudo-Patriots and Conspiracy Theorists like Shireen Mazari and Ahmed Quraishi have pushed these theories. They have claimed knowledge on the basis of their “close ties to the military-intelligence establishment.

Rational Pakistan and many other like-minded websites have on the other hand been trying to present the truth to Pakistanis –Blackwater is not operating inside Pakistan.

Today we feel vindicated by the following story in the Daily Times

Pakistan’s Conspiracy Theorists: Nationalists or Instability Creators

By Yahya Hussainy

English essayist and poet Samuel Johnson once said, Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel. By that well-known definition what should one think of the fact that ever since the civilian government came to power in Pakistan there has been a rise in the number of Pseudo-Patriots and Conspiracy Theorists?