Getting to know Pakistan

When you run into someone you know well, in a cafe or a grocery store or wherever, your conversation usually starts before even a word has been uttered. It is the eye contact that sends and receives an unspoken message. A feeling of despondency and defeat is instantly shared.

And when you begin to talk, after some form of cursory greetings, it is generally a confession of not being able to understand the prevailing state of affairs. Consequently, you are baffled about what can happen in the near future.

It is a bit different when you discuss politics, with your personal, partisan preferences. But so much is happening beyond our political squabbles that does not draw our serious attention. It has been my contention that the crisis of Pakistan is not so much economic or political as it is moral and intellectual.

There are bound to be many reasons why our people, by and large, are so anxious and angry and confused about a situation they do not comprehend. Will it help if an organized attempt is made at the national level to objectively examine the underlying forces that have driven our social and political disorders? Can an informed debate be conducted to chart a way out of this stultifying muddle?

I am making this assertion because I feel that the overall discourse in the media and in the shadows of social media is devoid of any social research and participation of relevant social scientists and scholars. In the same vein, I believe that the discussion that is aired by our news channels in the guise of talk shows is contributing to this atmosphere of depression and emotional disquiet.

As a journalist, I am fully aware of the limitations that are imposed on the mainstream media in the context of what is not allowed to be covered. There is so much that cannot be reported or discussed. I have often talked about the ‘ruling ideas’ that have led us into this wilderness.

However, this suppression cannot be an excuse for the poor quality of debate that our news channels churn out, day in and day out. An almost nauseating aspect of this is that you see the same panelists again and again and they make the same statements again and again because they belong to a party or they are partisan in their views. It seems comical that one panelist is featured in more than one talk show on the same day, sometimes in talk shows that are shown simultaneously – and are supposed to be live.

There is so much more that could be said about how the news channels chew the cud and remain largely obsessed with politics. Besides, the journalistic, academic and intellectual level of the conversation remains inadequate. As a result, the viewers are not sufficiently enlightened about any particular issue that relates to their daily lives and interests.

Unfortunately, concerned and literate citizens do not have other sources to enhance their knowledge and understanding of current affairs. The print media is in dire straits. Pakistan figures near the bottom of almost every international assessment in the domain of social and human development. Our reading habits are shockingly poor, one manifestation of which is the state of our libraries. Our universities are not doing the kind of research and critical analyses of domestic issues that is expected of them.

Coming back to what I stated at the outset, making sense of what is happening to us is becoming more and more difficult. It should, essentially, be the task of our rulers to study and decipher our fundamental problems. But the ideas they subscribe to and the policies they pursue may have become a barrier to any critical thinking.

Is this not a suicidal tendency on the part of the ruling elite that it does not know why and how we have arrived at this critical juncture?

I realize that my observations would appear to be a bit abstract. So, let me try to be specific. Every week, when I look around to select a peg for my column, a number of headlines attract my attention. In fact, every day there are incidents and accidents that deserve to be fully explored. But every exploration would leave us with questions that remain unanswered.

For instance, here are two subjects that emerged in this week’s headlines. Members of a religious political party have attempted to incite their followers against the chief justice of the country. This relates to a verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Now, this kind of extremism has flourished in the country for a long time and one knows that it has been promoted or, at least, ignored by the rulers.

Now, of course, statements are being issued that the state will not allow anyone to incite violence. As one big headline proclaimed: “threats to top judge to be met by ‘full force of law’”. Ah, but do we not know the history of how these primitive passions have come to govern our society? Where has the ‘full force of law’ been hiding so far?

I wonder if the rulers really want to understand this issue and want to confront a problem that has a bearing on the very survival of this country. But this will depend on the rulers’ understanding of how a civilized society functions and prospers.

The second topic I could have selected for my column is, metaphorically, another elephant in the room. It relates to our human development or, in a wider sense, our human condition. The Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis was informed that 50 per cent of the crime rate among the UAE labour force is reportedly attributed to Pakistanis. Not only that, the UAE authorities had expressed concern about the inappropriate behaviour of some Pakistanis, such as making videos of women in Dubai without their permission.

Finally, I conclude with a question for our rulers: Do you know what is happening to Pakistan? Is it something we should worry about?

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com