TV Coverage
and the Unfolding Drama
By Wasim Zaidi
Los Angeles, CA
I have watched the heart-wrenching drama being
played out in our motherland and I am sorry to
say that GEO TV has not lived up to the journalism
ethics.
This whole situation is being blown out of proportion
by the media. Emergency rule is nothing new to
Pakistan. My family in Karachi and Lahore says
not much has changed for the ordinary person since
the emergency rule was imposed.
The media keeps on referring to Benazir Bhutto
as the opposition leader. With due respect Mrs.
Benazir Zardari is not the leader of the opposition,
she is not even an elected member of the Assembly.
She, her family and her father who was hanged
for murder, are all opportunists, wanting to bring
democracy when they do not even hold party elections.
The chief justice was behaving very indifferently
for the good of the country. The decision on the
presidency has been lingering on for a few months.
First the SC allows the election go through and
then doesn’t allow the results to be announced.
Madness.
The media in Pakistan has no respect for the law
or the rulers. I have never seen the broadcasting
media (such as GEO and ARY) in any country abuse
the head of the country as they do in Pakistan.
I was surprised to hear Imran Khan saying on a
Pakistani TV channel GEO earlier today that he
plans to encourage students to leave their colleges
and universities to join hands and come out on
the streets. I would like to warn Mr. Khan that
we will not forgive him if our sons and daughters
are killed/shot at by the police/army as we have
not raised them to serve him, or Nawaz Sharif
or Benazir Bhutto. Please don’t try to add
fuel to the fire.
The country has gone to the dogs. Religious extremists
are out of control. The judges are quite corrupt.
Politicians are either convicted felons or have
current court cases going on against them. In
this situation, clamoring for a democracy is foolish.
At this time, maybe an emergency rule can cleanse
the country. Nothing else has worked. Unfortunately
Pakistan is among nations whose people react by
emotions rather than sound reasoning. A baton
might be the best thing to knock sense into my
country.
To successfully combat and defeat terrorism and
extremism, a country must be able to fight those
twin evils head on without having their hands
tied by legal technicalities which are hindering
the best efforts of the security forces to root
out and eliminate terrorist cells.
It is ironic that Pakistan’s lawyers and
judges are making such a noise about ‘freedom’,
‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’.
These are the same people who introduced the death
penalty for blasphemy - condemned by the United
Nations as a violation of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. People are calling President
Musharaf ‘American or Britain’s pet
‘. They need to bear in mind the fact that
our country made economic growth under his leadership.
How come people have forgotten Sharif’s
and Benazir’s time when there were no jobs.
People are asking from Musharaf that why he didn’t
let Sharif come back and how come Benazir is back.
Has anybody asked Sharif why he ran away in the
first place, why Benazir put her self in the so-called
self-exile situation? Well I don’t think
I need to explain why those greedy politicians
ran away and why they are back to take part in
elections.
You should listen several times to Musharaf’s
speech. He can see the circling wolves, and prefers
not to allow idealists to destroy the State by
lack of pragmatic reality, and that’s not
dictatorship, that’s paternalism. Benazir
Bhutto has not got clean hands either, yet he’s
not refusing to work with her, he’s not
gagging her, he still offers some hope, but within
bounds. The biggest question remains the disciplining
of the Frontier tribes, who would tear the heart
out of the country now.
This is the best thing that has happened under
the circumstances. The West and the rest of the
world should stop condemning and should try to
understand the situation in Pakistan with fanatics
running wild and not to view this single dimensionally
with the Judiciary’s reduced power. Give
the situation a few days - it’ll be business
as usual!
Let’s be realistic, Pakistan is not ready
to be a democracy. I personally believe that this
was the only option open to Musharraf.
I expect GEO to be selective in brainwashing our
youth. I would urge the media to report responsibly
by not giving too much weight to comments made
by corrupt and disgraced former leaders of Pakistan.
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