I dont care what our mindless media and totally idiot anchorpersons and columnists are telling us...The paksitani media has long ceased to be relevant...They are only concerned with their TRPs and viewership. For this they are willing to fall to any depth, I also dont care whether Salman Taseer was a martyer (shaheed) or Mumtaz Qadri is a religious hero (Ghazi)...We, the masses in Pakistan have long ceased to be relevant as well..We can kill and get killed as well at anytime by anyone for any cause. The law should mind its own business as law is also not relevant. Only god knows what is relevant anymore in Pakistan.
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However, whether we like it or not, we live in a world populated by another 6 billion people apart from us 180 million Pakistanis. If we have to live as a nation, we have to listen to what world is saying about us. We can become fool enough and say that we don't give a damn abouit what world is saying but I won't be advising that. Rhetoric should be kept aside from reason if we even want to save Pakitsan let alone make it a progressive country.
I have not seen so much coverage about Pakistan since Kargil in 1999. At that time as well, we were hoodwinked by zealots in the name of Glory of Islam and were made to lose so many brave muslim soldiers and officers alongwith our national pride. At the loss, the Islamic zealots went cosyly along their path, telling us that it was all our fault as we were not "pure enough" Muslims. Same is happening now and we are being taunted for not being enough "Muslim" for now showering praises upon the "Great" Mumtaz Qadri. I would like to relive much of the glory (a lot of which is also fabricated anyway) but I shall more prefer to relive it with reason, logic and with a sense of bonding with other 6 billion people and nations of this world.
Anyways, coming to the point, I have been reading all the major opinion makers of Pakistan as well as International. Even during Kargil, I never witnessed so much distance of opinion between both extremes. I was also shocked at the level of sloganizing and hollow emotionalism being propagatyed among Pakistani masses on one hand and systematic research oriented gloom and despair being spread about Pakistan internationally. In short, the world has almost unanimously written our nation OFF this time and with a lot of opinion and reason. We can keep on sloganizing it and I guess some may already be preaching to kill everyone in the world except those who buy their ideology. The scenario is frightening and becomes even more when I see that even educated ones are letting cheap emotionalism ride their sense of reason and logic. I have compiled a total of almost 900 articles in the past three days from various mainstream international media outlets and not a single one was sympathetic towards Pakistan and Pakistanis. More important are comments made by common man (you may witness a lot of Muslims among comments totally giving up hope on Pakistan). Here a small representative list of most influemtial articles that apperaed in past three days...I hope that our educated lot doesn't dismiss these opinions as another western or zionist conspiracy (the way our educated folks have behaved lately...my wish seems too much of wishful thinking even to me)...
1. Associated Press: Pakistanis mourn a once tolerant, relaxed nation
2. Council of Foreign Relations: Interview with Stephen P Cohen, Pakistan's Road to Disintegration
3. CNN: Pakistan heading in the wrong direction by Fareed Zikriya
4. The Christian Science Monitor: How Pakistan views the assassination of Salman Taseer
5. Voice of America: Pakistan Governor’s Assassination Underscores Societal Chasm by Gary Thomas
6. The Newyork Review of Books: Pakistan: When The State Loses Control by Christian Caryl
7. Associated Press: Pakistani governor buried under tightened security
8.Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Assassination deepens divide in Pakistan by Carlotta Gall of The Newyork Times
9. National Times: Extremists push Pakistan to the precipice
I could have easily put another 90 contributions appearing in various newspapers and magazines but I know that my nation doesn't actually read. So this is just a short compilation. The system no matter how weak, feeble and distorted is still a system. If a nation feels frustrated by a system, it struggles to improve the system. We on the other hand are a nations that has resorted to do exactly what is damaging us...Ignoring the law and assuming the role of interpreter, enforcer and executioner ourselves in the name of religious honor and distorting facts for our own petty interests in the name of same religion. What can be worse than such a state of affairs for a nation? Should not we start making a conscious effort for a rational nation building instead of cheap and emotional sloganeering?
