Tuesday, November 13, 2007

This not going to be popular

ok... so I'm back... because after a long time I feel I have something to say. I am disappointed in how everyone has been getting on the bandwagon to bash Mush. But when exactly did the present judiciary become such heroes? hello.... does anyone remember that this is the same Chaudhry Iftikhar who took his oath under the PCO back in 02? or was it 01? the point is he took it...why was it ok then and not ok now???????

The media?? well lets take an honest look at some of what Geo (fox of Pakistan) have been putting out there.... one would think the country was burning down at the way the country is being presented. Naturally the rest of the world will panic.

and right now we're just seeing both sides of the table react to each other..... the govt perhaps is overreacting...the politicians and media inciting the people...which causes more reactions and its all snowballing.... the mullahs don't need to do a thing...they can just sit back...watch us destabilize ourselves... and being the most organised group in the country... calmly come and take over when the you know what hits the fan.

The students are being excited and its great to see them excited and be involved... but can we not lead them on this panic streak. We as a nation are so used to pulling everyone down... Mush been there too long...lets pull him down now... how about leading the country with him.?

Benazir is ok to come back??? have we forgotten what she and her husband did??? but its ok because she is a woman and doesn't wear a uniform??

lets focus instead on education. a friend of mine made a very good point....no one... no one...talks and does anything about education in this country which is ironic considering it is the one basic aspect that needs to seriously be looked at. Here is another interesting fact... this govt has given more autonomy to the education dept than any other govt has. Civil society has not stepped up and taken responsibility. We are more interested in politics, and the judiciary. We are responsible for where our country is headed just as much as the leaders military or otherwise. True the govt has a responsibility as well but then step up and hold them accountable to it.

Imran Khan is running around giving interviews in secret while Jemima has seized the opportunity to cash in on the press moment and that's ok? Don't get me wrong... I adore Imran Khan as the cricketer and I think he has done fab work for the cancer hospital...as a politician..nah....no faith in him there.

Just my opinion. Its very easy to get caught up in the moment of demonstrations against what are our rights...and yes they are ... and yes we should have them. But along with those rights come responsibility and we need to own up to them. I think at this point we need to back our President and fight extremism with him.... and yes the uniform will come in handy at this point whether we like it or not....its not the only way... talks need to happen too..I agree....

And i certainly don't think we should object when foreign reporters in my country are thrown out , who know nothing or care nothing about the realities and are only mirroring what the west is propogating because it is politically correct in the rest of the world... come and hurl insults at my President.. who by the way... represents you... and me....

United we stand...divided we fall..... lets all get on the same page ... we can have opposing views but we don't have to tear the country apart to have ourselves heard. Everyone is taking the "my way or the highway "stand..... what good does that do anyone? least of all Pakistan?

Unknown at 7:57 PM

5comments

5 Comments

at 4:58 PM  Anonymous said...

You took the words right out of my.... well, thoughts!!

People seem to have lost their memories, so caught up are they in trying to jump on the newest bandwagon, or pretending to not see what they should.

The media needs to PROMOTE this country, but yet some of them behave like rebellious teenagers whose parents are away for the weekend. They should be grateful they're at least allowed to show off their snazzy jeans instead of being filmed from the waist up only. Have they forgotten those days already?

And why are people offended because a few foreign reporters have been deported? Geez guys... Pakistani's who've lived abroad have been deported for less than that... who made a big noise about it then? No one.

And don't even get me started on those street chanters.... who for the sake of publicity call themselves... "Lawyers".

This country is going to hell in a hand basket, and no one seems to care.

Great blog post Ayesha!!
Anne

 

at 12:00 PM  Omar said...

Hey Ayesha, your blog is a good read, i like how you're making your points without being oppressive.

It is difficult for me to accept that the press should accept some responsibility for the emergency being imposed. To me, that is the equivalent of saying that a girl should not dress a certain way if she does not want to be harassed.

Yes, I agree that GEO has been irresponsible and to a certain extent have sensationalized the news. But you have to realize that there is a greater good that is involved here.

You mention education and its importance, well the media may not be education, but it is definitely information. Common people who usually had nothing to vote on except from what their local parties were telling them now suddenly have access to images and discussion. For once they actually have an opinion. The scenes from May 12th were shocking and gory, but I think both you and I will agree that they were necessary in exposing the causes and very real destruction that people like you and me are far removed from.

It doesn't matter what peoples opinion is, as long as they have one. That is the greatest achievement of media, which is to promote political discourse.

I believe that Musharraf is a good leader and someone who brought about real change to this country, the hallmark of which was free speech. But to take it back and arrest thousands of people is not fighting extremism, it is promoting it. I believe that extremism can be fought without the measures he has taken. I wholly support a crackdown on militants. But I cannot support a suppression of real civil liberties.

Losing our right to express our views may not affect you or me. But it affects the families of thousands of people I know. My friends father was recently arrested and is being held in an unknown location. They are not taking advantage of a situation or pretending to be martyrs. They are real people who have real fear and anger because their only crime was to be associated with an opposition party.

Musharraf does not represent me, because he does not represent what I believe is right. Leaders make unpopular decisions, but leaders do not attack their own people.

It was not that long ago that Musharraf had the full support of the nation. He could still have that. But he needs to withdraw his assault on our liberties because they are important and they are principals on which countries are founded upon.


Phew! OK i'm done!
-Omar Bilal Akhtar

 

at 1:12 PM  Unknown said...

hey Omar...

Again I agree to a certain extent...the job of a journalist is to cover the facts... but having said that I think also we have (as a nation) a tendency to be judgemental and take sides. I know it is very hard to be unbiased but to try and present both cases to the public so the public can make up their own minds is also part of our jobs.

Locking people up ... students... this is complete stupidity. But i can't help but wonder if its a case of the police becoming over efficient and paranoid... and now everyone is just reacting to each other worsening the situation. At the end of the day...Mush is a fauji and thinks like a fauji.. he needs to also learn to think Politics and cleverness and taking civil society with him... I am certainly not excusing certain things he has recently done as they are completely unnecessary...but someone needs to say..hang on boys... take a deep breath... lets stop beating up on each other and see what it is we want to accomplish and work together to do it... speaking of which Dawn is finally on air again on world call...which means some document has obviously been signed to that degree... now to work together and take us forward...

 

at 10:36 PM  Niazi said...

Been going through your blog with some interest. Finally someone from the media who is not taking a “holier than thou” approach towards the present clampdown on the media!

I believe that the media in Pakistan has by and large resorted to sensationalism/ yellow journalism rather than trying to exercise its constitutional (inalienable?) right to freedom of expression in a responsible manner. First of all a few points about the media that need to be stated. The media is not reporting news for philanthropic reasons. They are a business entity that wants to have a great bottom-line. That is something that you already know but people by and large tend to forget (or sadly as in Pakistan not even recognize it) that. Secondly when the media states something is not the same as a private individual expressing his opinion on a matter. The media has a major role as an influencer of public opinion. Given that the state tv channels have low credibility, private media in Pakistan had an even greater role as an influencer of public opinion.

Now the question is: Did the media really act responsibly? Lets look at the Lal Masjid Saga. I was flabbergasted by the coverage that was carried out by the media, specially channels like Geo and Aaj. The impression that one got by the end of the whole episode was that the people at Lal Masjid were poor defenseless people who had been herded into a compound and shot dead. Conveniently forgotten was the fact that these were people who had committed various criminal acts including kidnapping, blackmailing, land grabbing, vandalism, arson and murder. (If you notice I have not mentioned inciting hatred or terrorism in the list above. This is so that the whole Lal Masjid saga be seen for what it was, rather than a part of the” war on terror”). The government was vilified every step of the way, specially for carrying out the final assault. I ask you: What else could the government have done? The Lal Masjid mullahs played on the strong emotional strings of religion and women. The government was forced to initially carry out a policy of appeasement to counter this. When it finally did use force it was when a ranger was killed in cold blood by the Lal Masjid people. Even then the government showed admirable restraint. If the final assault had been carried out on the first day the 1400 odd people, who surrendered, would have perished.

Instead of highlighting these points the media acted as collaborators of the Lal Masjid mullahs. So instead of subjecting Rashid Ghazi to an intense interrogation and castigating him for creating the sitution, the media instead turned around and started asking questions like “Why did the government have to set up check posts around the Lal Masjid?” and making statements like “These are our brothers”. Hell, arent criminal rotting in jails our brothers? Should we set them all free? and as far as the question i quoted, as an example, the simple answer is that the government is delegated the responsibility for maintaining Law and order in the social contract between the government and people, embodied by the constitution. It has the right to take all preventive and reactive measures to maintain that.

I have a more serious concern on my mind though. Was this coverage an overzealous attempt by the media to appropriate for itself a role as an arbitrator? Or was it a calculated action carried out in order to significantly increase their bottom line? If it was the latter then in my opinion none of these channels should ever be allowed to broadcast again. What i would like to know is how much incremental money did the media make during the whole Lal masjid saga using means like increased revenue from advertisements and people calling in/sending sms’s.

Keep up the good work!
Niazi

 

at 10:48 PM  Niazi said...

There are a couple of thoughts that I wanted to bounce off you. One was the role of editorial writers, (distinct from mainstream media), who write about the ills faced by society and how to rectify them. Don't you think that the solutions so presented are hopelessly idealistic? I mean, it would be great if they were to be implemented but from what i see/feel it is the people themselves who are the biggest obstacles to such changes. Can people be seen as a monolithic entity? We speak of "vested interests" but where do the vested interests start from?
Lets take politicians as an example. The popular perspective propagated is that politicians are unethical creatures who misuse the people's trust in order to enrich themselves. Is that really true? And which people do we refer to? From what i see politicians have to pander to a wide range of interests in their constituencies. After all who would vote for a politician who cannot get stuff done. And there we have the basic reason why politicians prefer to be in government rather than outside it. What can they do for voters if they do not have access to resources? Thus we see patronage politics as the norm rather than the exception. Can we blame politicians for cultivating corruption? They are only responding to the wishes of the people who elected them. Everyone wants a slice of the pie.. hence the ranting to change governments every few years. After all if a new government were to come in, it would be beholden to a new set of constituents and would favor them.

Hence: in democracy what is right is what is said by the majority: irrespective of whether it is ethically right or not :)

There is a book that i would like to recommend to you: Norm Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" in which he talks about the role played by the media, the interface between media, government and corporations and the politics of abbreviation. I am quite sure that you would have read the book already but in case you have not, I would strongly recommend it to you.

Cheers
Niazi

 

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