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| Pakistan's conspiracy theories stifle debate | |
| (2 days later) | |
| Many Pakistanis blame others for the country's problems | Many Pakistanis blame others for the country's problems |
| Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid reports on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories. | Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid reports on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories. |
| Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan. | Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan. |
| You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants. | You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants. |
| Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province. | Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province. |
| The principal obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked Send your views on this column | The principal obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked Send your views on this column |
| The answer is nowhere. | The answer is nowhere. |
| One notable channel which also owns newspapers has taken it upon itself to topple the elected government. | One notable channel which also owns newspapers has taken it upon itself to topple the elected government. |
| Another insists that it will never air anything that is sympathetic to India, while all of them bring on pundits - often retired hardline diplomats, bureaucrats or retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers who sport Taliban-style beards and give viewers loud, angry crash courses in anti-Westernism and anti-Indianism, thereby reinforcing views already held by many. | Another insists that it will never air anything that is sympathetic to India, while all of them bring on pundits - often retired hardline diplomats, bureaucrats or retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers who sport Taliban-style beards and give viewers loud, angry crash courses in anti-Westernism and anti-Indianism, thereby reinforcing views already held by many. |
| Collapse of confidence | Collapse of confidence |
| Pakistan is going through a multi-dimensional series of crises and a collapse of public confidence in the state. | Pakistan is going through a multi-dimensional series of crises and a collapse of public confidence in the state. |
| Suicide bombers strike almost daily and the economic meltdown just seems to get worse. | Suicide bombers strike almost daily and the economic meltdown just seems to get worse. |
| But this is rarely apparent in the media, bar a handful of liberal commentators who try and give a more balanced and intellectual understanding by pulling all the problems together. | But this is rarely apparent in the media, bar a handful of liberal commentators who try and give a more balanced and intellectual understanding by pulling all the problems together. |
| The media debate 'misses real Pakistani life' | The media debate 'misses real Pakistani life' |
| The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has brought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel. | The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has brought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel. |
| On any given issue the public barely learns anything new nor is it presented with all sides of the argument. | On any given issue the public barely learns anything new nor is it presented with all sides of the argument. |
| Every talk show host seems to have his own agenda and his guests reflect that agenda rather than offer alternative policies. | Every talk show host seems to have his own agenda and his guests reflect that agenda rather than offer alternative policies. |
| Recently, one senior retired army officer claimed that Hakimullah Mehsud - the leader of the Pakistani Taliban which is fighting the army in South Waziristan and has killed hundreds in daily suicide bombings in the past five weeks - had been whisked to safety in a US helicopter to the American-run Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. | Recently, one senior retired army officer claimed that Hakimullah Mehsud - the leader of the Pakistani Taliban which is fighting the army in South Waziristan and has killed hundreds in daily suicide bombings in the past five weeks - had been whisked to safety in a US helicopter to the American-run Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. |
| In other words the Pakistani Taliban are American stooges, even as the same pundits admit that US-fired drone missiles are targeting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan. | In other words the Pakistani Taliban are American stooges, even as the same pundits admit that US-fired drone missiles are targeting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan. |
| These are just the kind of blatantly contradictory and nut-case conspiracy theories that get enormous traction on TV channels and in the media - especially when voiced by such senior former officials. | These are just the kind of blatantly contradictory and nut-case conspiracy theories that get enormous traction on TV channels and in the media - especially when voiced by such senior former officials. |
| The explosion in civil society and pro-democracy movements that brought the former military regime of President Pervez Musharraf to its knees over two years has become divided, dissipated and confused about its aims and intentions. | The explosion in civil society and pro-democracy movements that brought the former military regime of President Pervez Musharraf to its knees over two years has become divided, dissipated and confused about its aims and intentions. |
| Troops and militants are fighting in South Waziristan | Troops and militants are fighting in South Waziristan |
| Even when such activists do appear on TV, their voices are drowned out by the conspiracy theorists who insist that every one of Pakistan's ills are there because of interference by the US, India, Israel and Afghanistan. | Even when such activists do appear on TV, their voices are drowned out by the conspiracy theorists who insist that every one of Pakistan's ills are there because of interference by the US, India, Israel and Afghanistan. |
| The army has not helped by constantly insisting that the vicious Pakistani Taliban campaign to topple the state and install an Islamic emirate is not a local campaign waged by dozens of extremist groups, some of whom were trained by the military in the 1990s, but the result of foreign conspiracies. | The army has not helped by constantly insisting that the vicious Pakistani Taliban campaign to topple the state and install an Islamic emirate is not a local campaign waged by dozens of extremist groups, some of whom were trained by the military in the 1990s, but the result of foreign conspiracies. |
| Economic crisis | Economic crisis |
| Such statements by the military hardly do justice to the hundreds of young soldiers who are laying down their lives to fight the Taliban extremists. | Such statements by the military hardly do justice to the hundreds of young soldiers who are laying down their lives to fight the Taliban extremists. |
| Nor has the elected government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) tried to alter the balance, as it is mired in ineffective governance and widespread corruption while failing to tackle the economic recession, that is admittedly partly beyond its control. | Nor has the elected government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) tried to alter the balance, as it is mired in ineffective governance and widespread corruption while failing to tackle the economic recession, that is admittedly partly beyond its control. |
| Moreover the PPP has no talking pundits, sympathetic talk show hosts or a half decent media management campaign to refute the lies and innuendo that much of the media is now spewing out. | Moreover the PPP has no talking pundits, sympathetic talk show hosts or a half decent media management campaign to refute the lies and innuendo that much of the media is now spewing out. |
| At present, the principal obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked, although there is no apparent constitutional course available to get rid of him except for a military coup, which is unlikely. | At present, the principal obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked, although there is no apparent constitutional course available to get rid of him except for a military coup, which is unlikely. |
| The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media - with underlying pressure from the army - is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari's tenure untenable. | The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media - with underlying pressure from the army - is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari's tenure untenable. |
| Pakistan is caught in a spiral of violence | Pakistan is caught in a spiral of violence |
| Nobody discusses the failure of the education system that is now turning out hundreds of suicide bombers, rather than doctors and engineers. | Nobody discusses the failure of the education system that is now turning out hundreds of suicide bombers, rather than doctors and engineers. |
| Or the collapsing and corrupt national health system that forces the poorest to seek expensive private medical treatment, or the explosion in crime or suicides by failed farmers and workers who have lost their jobs. | Or the collapsing and corrupt national health system that forces the poorest to seek expensive private medical treatment, or the explosion in crime or suicides by failed farmers and workers who have lost their jobs. |
| Pakistan cannot tackle its real problems unless the country's leaders - military and civilian - first admit that much of the present crisis is a result of long-standing mistakes, the lack of democracy, the failure to strengthen civic institutions and the lack of investment in public services like education, even as there continues to be a massive investment in nuclear weapons and the military. | Pakistan cannot tackle its real problems unless the country's leaders - military and civilian - first admit that much of the present crisis is a result of long-standing mistakes, the lack of democracy, the failure to strengthen civic institutions and the lack of investment in public services like education, even as there continues to be a massive investment in nuclear weapons and the military. |
| Pakistan's crisis must first be acknowledged by officialdom and the media before solutions can be found. | Pakistan's crisis must first be acknowledged by officialdom and the media before solutions can be found. |
| The alternative is a continuation of the present paralysis where people are left confused, demoralised and angry. | The alternative is a continuation of the present paralysis where people are left confused, demoralised and angry. |
| Ahmed Rashid is the author of the best-selling book Taliban and, most recently, of Descent into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. | Ahmed Rashid is the author of the best-selling book Taliban and, most recently, of Descent into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia. |
| If you have a comment on this article, please use the form below. Here is a selection of your comments sent so far. | |
| Ahmed Rashid may be right in saying that conspiracy theories abound in Pakistan. I would however request him to explain a few observations. First, how do these Pakistani Taliban manage to deploy anti-aircraft and other heavy weapons and pay $40 per day to their soldiers if they have no external government or external secret agency support? Secondly, why are they targeting specific political parties while other right-wing and religious extremist parties hold rallies freely? Surely somebody is supporting them. Will Mr Rashid kindly comment? Farrukh Chowdry, Adelaide, Australia | |
| It's refreshing to know there are still intellectuals in modern Pakistan who know the truth and have the daring to speak it out loud. On the other hand, it's such a shame that Pakistanis have been fed a diet of lies that no wonder they are so puzzled and confused about whom to trust. I don't think that it would be any exaggeration to say that the Pakistani establishment has not only been inspired by Josef Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, but also have managed to outdo him. Now we can say that "government could fool all the people all the time". Anupam Gupta, Newcastle, UK | |
| I find this article fascinating. But I will raise one point here. I have been a close observer of Indian news channels in the past and have seen similar accounts. My understanding is that Pakistan is now becoming a nation which has really started to think, and this has happened after the explosion of TV channels. Though I agree that some channels are playing a negative role from government point of view but in the end it does represent the views of Pakistani people. I see positive coming out of this complete mess. It has been a few years since Pakistani media got real freedom and they have a lot to learn. And they acknowledge this fact. Let's make this world a happy place for our generations to come. Umar Butt, Lahore, Pakistan | |
| Finally one article that narrates the problem with Pakistani people. Whenever I'm browsing through the channels on Sky and come across a Pakistani channel, I'm most certain to see a debate or discussion on Islam or a discussion on the American and Indian-sponsored Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani people clearly live in a state of denial. And the statements from their foreign secretary or ministers blaming US and India for the country's misfortune just add up to this sorry state of affairs. If ever there is a single clue to Indian government sponsoring Pakistani Taliban, the Indian government may be forced to resign the very next day. It's hard to imagine Pakistan was once a part of greater India. If anyone has to study the effects of democracy and secularism on a nation, look no further than 65 years of history of India and Pakistan. One started out as a confused republic with no clear demarcation between state and religion, the other with a stable, impartial constitution and the difference it made in 65 years is for all to see. Harsha, London | |
| The author seems quite ill informed and biased. His lack of intellectual honesty shows through in many of his comments, specially his reference to a "retired senior army officer" claiming that Hakimullah Mehsood has been whisked to safety by the Americans. This "officer" is none other than General Mirza Aslam Beg, the Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army from 1988 to 1992. He enjoys considerable prestige and is acknowledged to have reliable contacts in the army and elsewhere. His claim is that the US has been playing a double game against Pakistan which, I think, is apparent from the chain of events over the past few years and the mass of evidence unearthed by the Pakistan army this year. | |
| That Pakistan is entitled to pursue policies that are in its own interests is a sentiment that is beyond the comprehension of people like Ahmed Rashid. The US is pursuing its own interests in Central Asia - what is good for it is not necessarily good for Pakistan. And vice versa. Of the key personalities in Pakistan who have a hand on the reins of power, only General Kayani seems to understand this. But his freedom of action appears to be limited. Sakib Ahmad, UK | |
| Good to see Ahmed Rashid finally extending his criticism from Pakistan army-only to highly immature Pakistani television media and leadership-deficient, non-serious, and incapable civil government. If the civil government shows strong leadership and capability, the Army will never dare to interfere. Zafar, Sydney, Australia | |
| He doesn't even have a clue on what he is talking about. For the first time in Pakistan's history, media is free and people have the right to make their own views about what is going on. Anyways, these are just my views and I am not surprised how he became the author of the best-seller book. I am also not surprised why you guys choose to publish this article. Akram, NYC, USA | |
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