By AHMED QURAISHI
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At around 03:00 AM, Nawaz Sharif was so emotional he was choking on his own spit. Eyes popping out, red face, and the bulging neck and cheeks trembling with uncontrolled anger, the former prime minister screamed Pervez Musharraf should be hanged, or something to that effect.
To hear someone actually say it was unbelievable. So much for the civilized politics of these politicians.
Kindergarten Politics. Please use this term henceforth.
In that moment, I thought the crowd would be standing on the edge of its toes. But when the cameras panned, scores of ordinary PML-N ‘workers’ – poor, tired, with no proper arrangements to wash their faces or attend the nature’s many calls – were found asleep on the ground on thinly spread pieces of clothing. These were the poor ones. The more well off crowd – the lawyers, the NGO ‘aunties’ – were comfortably seated in special enclosures with proper seating arrangement. Many of the lawyers were caught on camera with their heads dangling to the sides or backwards in deep sleep.
Since the event was covered live, there were many such scenes. They slipped through during the live coverage but were never shown again during news bulletins.
The fact is, and apart from some lawyers and some PML-N activists [who are virtual ‘keeps’ in the time-honored Pakistani political practice, a phenomenon worthy of a doctoral thesis] this ‘Long March’ was a classic television news production. It was the work of live TV news crews and generous advertising space on television and several biased newsrooms.
The ‘real’ rallies – like the anti-Iraq war rallies in Washington and London – that don’t require gimmickry. But in the Nawaz-Aitzaz-Iftikhar version, the rally would not have been noticed if not for the generous news television promotion, free ad space [or paid? Would you care to shed light on this, Mr. Sharif], and the massive camerawork on the ground in the Parade Avenue in the hope of showing a ‘sea of people’.
So why are some in the media doing this? Why are they so openly biased? We didn’t see CNN, CNBC, ABC, BBC, etc. in the United States going live for hours and hours with the antiwar rallies in London and Washington? And there certainly was no bias. So why are we seeing this happening in Pakistan?
When investors launched the news television business in Pakistan, they discovered there were no Pakistani television journalists in the country. Zilch. None at all, except for a couple here and there. So they had to create TV journos from scratch, relying on young Pakistani talent, which is creative and passionate. It was a good investment. Problem was, how to do the same in the newsroom? You can’t create experienced journalists with good contacts across the country in a year or two. So the owners of these new channels had to rely on ‘old’ and ‘senior’ Pakistani journalists. Most of these journalists were highly politicized ‘old school hacks’, graduates of the ‘Chi Guevara School of Journalism’, which relies on the twin virtues of blackmail and anarchism to push its objectives. The graduates of this school of journalism were running the newsrooms of most second- and third-tier newspapers in the country, with some of them occasionally rising up to join the newsrooms of the first-tier newspapers, the ‘respectable’ ones. The reputation of these ‘old’ and ‘senior’ journalists is so good that, when I first landed in Islamabad after 9/11 to cover the war in Afghanistan, real estate agents warned me not to use these two words ‘Pakistani journalist’ with my potential landlords. I was offended because I always thought I was in a respectable profession. I was told, ‘No offense, but Pakistani journalists are blackmailers.’
[A ‘senior’ journalist making the rounds on all ‘anti-Musharraf’ talk shows these days had the pleasure of making some 27 foreign trips with the presidential entourage in the past eight years, not to mention the presidential trips in which he added his son’s name. Just thought I share with you a sample of our ‘revolutionary, anti-injustice journalists.]
So the owners staffed their new channels with newly trained young Pakistani TV journalists who are promising and doing a great job. But they were good mostly in the sports and entertainment departments. In the newsroom, the young ones were still under training. The owners needed the old hacks here to run the news operation. That’s how the TV newsrooms across the country were filled with leftist, unionized, old-school journalists who believe – and love – the politics of anarchy, beatings, revolution, etc.
This is why Pakistan is the only country where the promos for TV news talk shows show the anchor walking in a determined march accompanied by a commentary that says, ‘We’ll fight for justice, change the times, stand up for the right, fight the wrong, bring justice, fight darkness, etc.’ which all seems like a manifesto of some leftist political movement than an introduction to a television talk show.
Anyway, back to the ‘Long March’ that fell short.
The best part was Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan’s deceptive line in the end – and he got away with it – when he said there will be no sit-in because of lack of funds. Once again, the politician in Mr. Ahsan fooled everyone. Mr. Ahsan can’t do the sit-in because that will be an open declaration of war with his own party, PPP, and its leader Asif Ali Zardari, and his government. It would also embarrass Mr. Nawaz Sharif, whose brother is not the Punjab chief minister. He can do more mischief with the Punjab government in his hand than taken away from him. So even Mr. Sharif wouldn’t want to go as far as sponsoring a sit-in and confronting Zardari’s government. This is also why we didn’t see the usual street violence, burning of car tires, beating up of police personnel, etc. which is a standard practice of Pakistani political parties in these events. The PPP-government gave a stern warning – in private of course – to Aitzaz Ahsan and Nawaz Sharif that they will not tolerate any anarchy and that both gentlemen will be responsible for any beating and thrashing that their supporters will get at the hands of the police in case of disturbances.
And this is how we are left today with newspaper editorials – written by those same, leftist, old school ‘revolutionary ‘hacks – dreaming about ‘a sea of people overcoming the powers of tyranny and injustice in a tidal wave …’ Sorry I can’t stretch this line since I am not adept at this kind of language’. Journalism and politics all over the world have become more civilized and mature than what these ‘senior’ journalists are imposing on Pakistani newsrooms.
Of course you will not see these revolutionary old hacks allowing their young reporters go around Islamabad and report on how business and economic activity came to a standstill for almost three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – because of the ‘Long March’. The residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad stayed indoors and avoided the markets and public places. All banks, shops and offices in Blue Area, downtown Islamabad, instructed their staff to stay home, just incase the PML-N crowd coming from the outside went on a rampage.
All I can say is that Pakistan is a great nation. These ‘Long Marches’ and the rest of the mess we’re seeing at the top today does not represent our great people. It is sad President Musharraf wasted a great opportunity in the past right years in cleaning up this mess. But all is not lost. He – with the help of countless patriotic Pakistanis – can help in bringing that change.
© 2007-2008. AhmedQuraishi.com.
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Pakistani’s are the great Nation.
Indeed they are.
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