Please Be Serious & Take Responsibility

In an excellent piece in Daily Times, the writer deplored the conspiracy theorists in Pakistan claiming that the US is working on re-drawing the map of Asia, and there is no room for Pakistan in this ‘new map’. The writer correctly pointed out that this type of hysterical notions have been claiming that Pakistan is about to go under for about 50 years, but Pakistan is still where it was yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. So, the question that comes to my mind is simple: why can’t these nut jobs stop crying wolf when they have been proven wrong for decades. Specifically, we have not seen any interest by the US to‘re-draw’ the map in this part of the world, despite awful conditions on the ground, especially in Pakistan for the United States of America. Yet, there are people who continue to advance these strange notions. So, the question is this: when, if ever will these conspiracy theorists stop hyperventilating about America’s desire, or more precisely, rest of the world’s desire to wipe out Pakistan from world’s map? The answer is never. There is a surprisingly large, or should I say alarmingly significant number of people who seriously believe that Pakistan is considered a threat by un-Islamic (Satan loving!) nations around the globe and they are working day and night (or have been working for 6 decades) to destroy Pakistan.

Talk about nutty ideas!

One reason for this laughable notion to stay alive and well is the role of Pakistan’s journalists, especially working in the Urdu language papers. These journalists, almost without exception are illiterate, non-analytical right wing religious zealots. Unlike rest of the world, there is no criterion for people to get hired in print media in Pakistan, and this open gate policy has allowed all sorts of weirdoes to become journalists. Once again, unlike rest of the world, there is no way to determine whether what we read in the press in Pakistan is an opinion or news. The role of unqualified editors is also of great significant because these so-called editors shared the feelings of these right wing hard liners working in Urdu press, and since both journalists and editors hated progress and modernity, they became vicious enemies of the West, but their favorite target has been the United States. So, for as long as I can remember, the print media in Pakistan with the exception of an English Daily from Karachi has been beating the drums of hate and whenever something failed in Pakistan because of Pakistan’s own short comings, entire blame was put on America, and be done with it. So, this constant hate mongering has started to pay off now and people across Pakistan have seriously started to believe that America is a monster that is bent on destroying everything. Obviously, this perception is wrong, but this doesn’t stop Pakistanis from huffing and puffing about Washington day and night without any regard for what Pakistanis themselves did wrong or their elected or unelected leaders did wrong. For majority of the Pakistanis, lead by the so-called journalists, it has become a usual routine – blame America for every failure, period.

Unfortunately for Pakistanis, the advent of electronic media compounded the problem. Instead of being objective and honest about their analysis, the same breed of uneducated, untrained, and unsophisticated people became television anchors. Mind you, not all anchors are bad, but the majority is just awful. So, here is how it goes in Pakistan these days. People get hateful right wing anti west propaganda through vernacular press in the morning, which is repeated by the so-called anchors on television across Pakistan in the evening. As a result, Pakistanis are losing the ability to be objective in their analysis. Worse, people Pakistan have started to blame ‘foreign hand’ for their own failures. And this cycle of living in denial and shifting the blame has become permanent. Add to this problem is noise that failed leaders are making about ‘evil America’ day and night using the most powerful platform in the country, electronic media. Yes, the same anchors who love to criticize the US for everything wrong in the country lovingly invite those who have been rejected by the electorate, but who leave no stone unturned in blaming the United States for all the problems in Pakistan. Therefore, it is not entirely wrong to suggest that the rise of private television channels have been destructive for Pakistan instead of being helpful!

At a time when with every passing day, the country is sinking deeper and deeper in debt, inflation, unemployment, terrorism, it is just stunning to witness the masses still obsessed with dealing a blow to CIA, instead of saving their own neck by saving the country and my fear is that sooner or later, it is going to be too late for anyone to fix the problems hurting Pakistan. The Taliban are becoming aggressive, their funding is unstoppable given their activities, the business and investment climate is just horrible, electricity failures for hours across Pakistan, the growing water between different provinces, the ethnic and religious divide, and the overall social, political and economical decline in Pakistan is apparently not enough for Pakistanis to come together. Instead, they live in a fantasy world of conspiracies, defeating ‘foreign powers’ and shifting the blame instead of taking responsibility. This attitude will not help anyone. If Pakistanis are serious about their saving their country, they must unite to over come the colossal challenges that lay ahead. Otherwise, God forbid, there won’t be anything to fight or die for!

Bilal Qureshi

Washington, DC