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The Death of Impartial Journalism in Pakistan

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Non-Smoker’s Corner: The Death of Journalism
Saad Saeed
Saad Saeed


I wish we had the luxury of just laughing off these weekly ramblings by Nadeem Farooq Paracha – the 60-year-old-teenager who is still stuck somewhere in the 70s when his hero Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was ruling Pakistan with an iron hand. But when one sees him and other such hacks being routinely quoted by Western media and press as ‘critics of the regime’ and ‘dissenting voices from Pakistan’, one realizes that such fools are not as innocuous as it seems. They must be countered factually. And since we also don’t have the luxury of getting published by Dawn, so we have to counter such shallow propaganda pieces on social media.

On February 7, 2021 Dawn published a piece by Nadeem F. Paracha titled THE DEATH OF INTELLECT where he questioned Imran Khan’s claim of being a ‘self-made’ person and asserted that Imran’s political ideas are a mishmash of Islam and post-Colonial theories. In between, besides making a hilarious claim that Imran’s rivals (Bilawal and Maryam) are more articulate and equally well-educated, he also compared Imran with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and declared the latter a “bonafide intellectual” while reduced the former to just being a ‘populist’

To start with let me confess that I don’t know from where to start. It appears that the 60-years-old teenager is suffering from some nostalgia-induced amnesia. His entire column is so full of contradictions, childish surmises, shallow takes, stinking political biases and outright lies that one just doesn’t know from where to start one’s rebuttal. So, I’ll start from downwards where he quotes an allegation by “The Friday Times”:

“The PM was recently reported (in the January 22 issue of The Friday Times) as discussing with his ministers whether he should mandate the wearing of the dupatta by all women TV anchors.”

Now quoting The Friday Times on matters relating to Imran Khan or his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is like soliciting Islami-Jamat-e-Talaba’s [IJT] opinion on Valentine’s Day Celebrations. For the uninitiated, IJT is the student wing of Jamat-e-Islami which takes a sadistic pleasure in pouncing upon couples on Valentine’s Day. Their gangs descend upon university campus grounds and hunt down young students. Doomed, if you are found with a rose in your bag. For some years, their female wing of has also been celebrating the 14th of February as “Haya Day”.

Similarly, TFT is owned and run by Najam Sethi – someone whose bias and grudge against Imran Khan is no secret. Although a career journalist, he was appointed as care-taker CM of Punjab during 2013 general election that were marred with serious allegations of rigging. After the elections, the winners i.e. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz appointed him as Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board – an appointment which raised eyebrows and was mired with controversy. Recently, he has again hit the headlines for his occupation of some government owned shops. Officials allege that he is illegally occupying the shops while Najam Sethi maintains that he is being politically victimized. So, obviously, he has personal and financial axe to grind against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

But let us dissect this allegation by Nadeem F. Paracha with some background facts. In which meeting did Imran Khan propose or discuss this measure? With whom did he discuss this? Has he ever floated such ideas in public? After all Imran Khan is famous for not shying away from speaking his mind on controversial topics. Nadeem is actually trying to stir up demons of Zia era with the easy binaries of Democracy vs Dictatorship and Censorship vs Freedom of Expression. But Pakistan’s complicated political history defies such linear interpretations or stereotypes. Here professed liberals like Najam Sethi end up cheering bigots like Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman. But more of this later

Imran Khan’s party has always been derided by the religious parties and conservative classes for the overwhelming women participation in their gatherings. In fact, the signature PTI crowd (frquently caricatured by TFT’s cartoonist) comprises of charged young girls and boys who love to dance at party songs. Such scenes ruffle many a conservative-feathers across party-lines but Imran Khan has always prided himself on bringing out young women on streets in political gatherings. Naturally, he is labelled by certain bigots as a Western Agent who is out to promote ‘vulgarity’ in Pakistan’s society.

dharna-2-1.jpg
Women participants in Imran Khan’s rally

dharna-3.jpg

Women workers staging a sit-in against Nawaz Sharif’s government

Interestingly, certain female journalists who share Nadeem F. Paracha’s bias against Imran Khan, meekly wore ‘Dupattas’ while gleefully covering (and in fact supporting) Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman’s sit-in outside Islamabad where had he camped with a few hundred zealots in a bid to oust Imran Khan. Fazal-ur-Rehman is notorious for his extremist views on minorities, women rights and other sects. Recently, his party office-bearers ransacked a historic Hindu Temple in Karak. Yet, when he had descended upon the capital, abusing Imran Khan’s wife, hurling blasphemy allegations against him, terming him ‘Yahoodi Agent’ and an ‘Ahmadi’s Agent’, and whipping up his zealots to a blind fury against Imran Khan, all these women journalists smiled indulgingly while carefully wrapping themselves in Dupattas and shawls – obviously out of their own free will and without being forced by Imran Khan.

ghareeda-farooqi.jpg


More interestingly, Najam Sethi also baptized the temple destroyers of Maulana Fazal as “religiously motivated warriors” in his TFT editorial on October 16, 2020. Why? Because they are all banking upon these blind and bigoted followers of Fazal to storm the capital and force Imran Khan to resign. Strange are the ways of fate where Liberals support and push Mullahs just to satiate their hatred against an elected prime minister whom they dislike.

https://www.thefridaytimes.com/political-economy-woes/

Now, towards ZAB – the “bonafide intellectual” hero of this 60 years old teenager. He compares Imran Khan’s wearing of Shalwar Qameez and his using Urdu language with ZAB’s theatrics. When Imran wears a Shalwar Qameez, it is a “populist antic” whereas it is “rigorous intellectual scheme” which compelled ZAB to pose as a “people’s man”. He further quips that Imran’s views are a “mishmash” of Islamic and post-colonial theories. Now, it would be quite interesting to analyze this “bonafide intellectual”. ZAB rose to prominence in the late 50s when he was “selected” by the first military dictator of Pakistan as a young member of his cabinet.

bhutto.png

The bonafide intellectual starting his rigorous intellectual scheme – by getting inducted into Ayub Khan’s cabinet

Later, he moved closer to the dictator who elevated him to the post of Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Ties became so much cordial that Bhutto started calling him “daddy”. Rigorous Intellectual Scheme. Right? But he was also an ardent follower of Machiavelli and when the time was ripe, he came out full guns blazing against his benefactor i.e. daddy Field Marshal Ayub Khan. In 1969, Ayub stepped down and handed over power to another military dictator Yahya Khan. Yahya Khan abrogated the constitution and imposed Martial Law. Again, rigorous intellectual scheme forced the bonafide intellectual to welcome the martial law.

Loading video


Two years down the road, he came to rule a broken Pakistan after the 1971 war. His role in the entire debacle of East Pakistan was not that of a Democrat, far less of a statesman, but that of a power hungry opportunist who couldn’t wait any longer because “Bhuttos die young”

Thus, started the regime of “people’s man”. A senseless nationalization drive crippled Pakistan’s industrialization and turned thriving industries into loss making State owned enterprises. State censorship peaked and journalists were tortured and thrown behind bars under the notorious ‘Defense of Pakistan Rules’. He banned a major opposition political party i.e. NAP. Being a true fascist, he had his old comrades like J.A.Rahim brutally tortured. Ethnic violence disrupted under his watch in Sindh between Urdu speaking Mohajirs and the Sindhis. He literally abused the Bengalis as “swine” in a speech.

Loading video


His political ideas were a hotchpotch of his feverish mind where Islam mingled with Socialism and landed aristocracy embraced ideas of land-redistribution. He famously prided himself on being a “scion of an aristocratic family”. Yet he was “people’s man” But it is Imran Khan whose ideas are a “mishmash”. Right?

Let us move on to the “equally well-educated and more articulate opponents” – Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Zardari.
Firstly, someone has misled Nadeem F. Paracha. These two pampered brats of corrupt political families are not Imran Khan’s opponents. They are just two privileged and incompetent who can’t sit across third tier leaders from Imran Khan’s party in any debate on any forum (Bilawal Zardari always runs away whenever a young MNA of PTI Murad Saeed takes to the floor in the national assembly).

He compares the privileged political background of these two brats with Imran’s political trajectory and claims that Imran Khan is not as “self-made” as his “anti-intellectual” followers would like people to believe. He says Imran’s family had “roots in country’s military and bureaucracy establishment” and “military establishment” nurtured his political ambitions.
One can just laugh at this.

Did Imran’s family background help him become Cricket’s leading all-rounder in the 80s? Did Pakistani bureaucracy helped him win the World Cup in 1992? Did Establishment helped him raise funds for Pakistan’s first ever cancer hospital where 70% poor patients get free medical treatment? Did he establish the first ever world-class university in one of the poorest regions of Pakistan with the help of Pakistan’s establishment? I mean what kind of joke is this.

I can make it much simpler who is self-made and who owes his existence to his privileged background.
Let us remove Imran’s family background (whatever it is worth) and weigh him on his personal achievements. Where does he stand?

Now, just remove “Bhutto” from Bilawal’s name and “Sharif” Maryam’s name. Where do they stand?Not surprising that both these pampered and ill-mannered brats so jealously guard their surnames and make it a point to mention their family. Recently, the national assembly of Pakistan witnessed a comic scene when some members of Treasury benches called Bilawal “Bilawal Zardari” instead of calling him “Bilawal Bhutto”. His party members were furious and frothed at mouth for calling him “Zardari” instead of “Bhutto” – So much for the “self-made” argument
.

NFP further says that Imran Khan is still more articulate about cricket than about anything related to the country he is supposed to govern. Well, this proves my point that NFP is stuck somewhere in the 70s when Imran was playing cricket and he talked only about cricket.

Before Imran we had “articulate political scientists” like Nawaz Sharif ruling us. He made us proud with his articulateness before POTUS Barrack Obama in the White House. He further made us proud when he waxed eloquent at the WEF in 2015 with his “pardon me” “pardon me”. Before such stellar performances, Imran’s speech at UN session in 2019 (just one example) looks like a childish performance. Right?

Loading video


I wish the PMs before Imran Khan were as ‘inarticulate’ as he is. I wish they could speak as ‘ineloquently’ on Pakistan’s economy, foreign policy, climate change, institutional reforms and regional challenged. But alas. If wishes were horses…

He also attributes Imran’s stardom to his cricket days although it has been almost 3 decades when he bade farewell to the game. In between, there are 30 years of hard political struggle, failures, disappointments, disillusions and hard-work that endeared him to the masses who voted him to power in 2018. But for NFP, it was military establishment which nurtured Imran’s political ambitions. He launched his political party in April 1996 and became PM in July 2018. Read again. 22 years. Does it take 22 years of drubbing at the hands of political mafias if you are being propelled by military? Or you just land up in a military dictator’s cabinet like NFP’s bonafide intellectual? Or like Maryam Nawaz’s father who was directly appointed provincial finance minister by the military governor of Punjab?

Just for further context, the province where inarticulate Imran Khan’s political party is ruling for the last 7 years has universal health coverage, tree forestation campaigns, its metropolitan center has modern transport system. While the province where “well-educated” Bilawal’s party is ruling hasn’t got any emergency rescue service by the government, any modern urban transport system or any health coverage programs. The entire province is lagging behind in HDI. Every other day one reads news of child mortalities from Thar. Recently, a journalist who accused that certain members of Bilawal’s party were threatening him, was found strangled to death.

Bilawal himself routinely browbeats local journalists who dare to ask uneasy questions. He can’t even provide the money trail of sprawling mansions (fortresses) in Lahore and Karachi named “Bilawal House” – These fortresses have been gifted to him by a real estate tycoon Malik Riaz who also remains in the news for all the wrong reasons i.e. land grabbing. But I suppose this is how “rigorous political scheme” works. Below is a link to Dawn’s story titled “Who Owns Lahore’s Bilawal House”


https://www.dawn.com/news/1181048

Maryam: The equally-well educated political opponent. Well, her educational credentials are quite dubious. To put it charitably. There are people who can tell you how she got admissions in prestigious universities without making it to their merit lists in the early 90s when her father was the prime minister. Leave it at that.

She rose to international acclaim during investigation into her father’s financial empire (after Panama leaks) when she submitted a forged document with the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The document was made in a Calibri font which wasn’t commercially available on the date when she had signed the document i.e. 2006.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...ht-down-the-nawaz-sharif-government-1.2065614

She routinely blackmails judges who dare to sit in benches hearing her or her father’s cases. Personal attacks on Imran Khan, his wife and smear campaigns against his charity hospital are Maryam’s forte. Well. Again, I suppose that this what being well-educated and articulate means.

Before concluding, let me bring this on record that Mr. Paracha blocks almost everyone on Twitter who question him or differs with him. Isn’t that ‘anti-intellectualism’? You haven’t got the patience to listen to a differing view and still you have the temerity to write columns on demise of intellectualism in Pakistan. Well, I am not sure about intellectualism but impartial journalism has certainly died in Pakistan.

 
As a smoker I strongly disagree with the column.

It is as biased as when people claim media is free in Pakistan.

Government should employ her resources in a worthwhile exercise than to play sides in media wars in a consumerist society. Afterall there is more fake news unterwegs in Pakistan than actual 'news'. Fact of the matter is that the government relies heavily on a biased media herself to play any role of a protectorate for journalism nor the journalist community.

The journalist out there are getting killed for the news they bring. These glorified jesters of the royal courts are not journalists but opinion makers of the Hyena Order.
 
Non-Smoker’s Corner: The Death of Journalism
Saad Saeed
Saad Saeed


I wish we had the luxury of just laughing off these weekly ramblings by Nadeem Farooq Paracha – the 60-year-old-teenager who is still stuck somewhere in the 70s when his hero Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was ruling Pakistan with an iron hand. But when one sees him and other such hacks being routinely quoted by Western media and press as ‘critics of the regime’ and ‘dissenting voices from Pakistan’, one realizes that such fools are not as innocuous as it seems. They must be countered factually. And since we also don’t have the luxury of getting published by Dawn, so we have to counter such shallow propaganda pieces on social media.

On February 7, 2021 Dawn published a piece by Nadeem F. Paracha titled THE DEATH OF INTELLECT where he questioned Imran Khan’s claim of being a ‘self-made’ person and asserted that Imran’s political ideas are a mishmash of Islam and post-Colonial theories. In between, besides making a hilarious claim that Imran’s rivals (Bilawal and Maryam) are more articulate and equally well-educated, he also compared Imran with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and declared the latter a “bonafide intellectual” while reduced the former to just being a ‘populist’

To start with let me confess that I don’t know from where to start. It appears that the 60-years-old teenager is suffering from some nostalgia-induced amnesia. His entire column is so full of contradictions, childish surmises, shallow takes, stinking political biases and outright lies that one just doesn’t know from where to start one’s rebuttal. So, I’ll start from downwards where he quotes an allegation by “The Friday Times”:

“The PM was recently reported (in the January 22 issue of The Friday Times) as discussing with his ministers whether he should mandate the wearing of the dupatta by all women TV anchors.”

Now quoting The Friday Times on matters relating to Imran Khan or his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is like soliciting Islami-Jamat-e-Talaba’s [IJT] opinion on Valentine’s Day Celebrations. For the uninitiated, IJT is the student wing of Jamat-e-Islami which takes a sadistic pleasure in pouncing upon couples on Valentine’s Day. Their gangs descend upon university campus grounds and hunt down young students. Doomed, if you are found with a rose in your bag. For some years, their female wing of has also been celebrating the 14th of February as “Haya Day”.

Similarly, TFT is owned and run by Najam Sethi – someone whose bias and grudge against Imran Khan is no secret. Although a career journalist, he was appointed as care-taker CM of Punjab during 2013 general election that were marred with serious allegations of rigging. After the elections, the winners i.e. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz appointed him as Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board – an appointment which raised eyebrows and was mired with controversy. Recently, he has again hit the headlines for his occupation of some government owned shops. Officials allege that he is illegally occupying the shops while Najam Sethi maintains that he is being politically victimized. So, obviously, he has personal and financial axe to grind against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

But let us dissect this allegation by Nadeem F. Paracha with some background facts. In which meeting did Imran Khan propose or discuss this measure? With whom did he discuss this? Has he ever floated such ideas in public? After all Imran Khan is famous for not shying away from speaking his mind on controversial topics. Nadeem is actually trying to stir up demons of Zia era with the easy binaries of Democracy vs Dictatorship and Censorship vs Freedom of Expression. But Pakistan’s complicated political history defies such linear interpretations or stereotypes. Here professed liberals like Najam Sethi end up cheering bigots like Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman. But more of this later

Imran Khan’s party has always been derided by the religious parties and conservative classes for the overwhelming women participation in their gatherings. In fact, the signature PTI crowd (frquently caricatured by TFT’s cartoonist) comprises of charged young girls and boys who love to dance at party songs. Such scenes ruffle many a conservative-feathers across party-lines but Imran Khan has always prided himself on bringing out young women on streets in political gatherings. Naturally, he is labelled by certain bigots as a Western Agent who is out to promote ‘vulgarity’ in Pakistan’s society.

dharna-2-1.jpg
Women participants in Imran Khan’s rally

dharna-3.jpg

Women workers staging a sit-in against Nawaz Sharif’s government

Interestingly, certain female journalists who share Nadeem F. Paracha’s bias against Imran Khan, meekly wore ‘Dupattas’ while gleefully covering (and in fact supporting) Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman’s sit-in outside Islamabad where had he camped with a few hundred zealots in a bid to oust Imran Khan. Fazal-ur-Rehman is notorious for his extremist views on minorities, women rights and other sects. Recently, his party office-bearers ransacked a historic Hindu Temple in Karak. Yet, when he had descended upon the capital, abusing Imran Khan’s wife, hurling blasphemy allegations against him, terming him ‘Yahoodi Agent’ and an ‘Ahmadi’s Agent’, and whipping up his zealots to a blind fury against Imran Khan, all these women journalists smiled indulgingly while carefully wrapping themselves in Dupattas and shawls – obviously out of their own free will and without being forced by Imran Khan.

ghareeda-farooqi.jpg


More interestingly, Najam Sethi also baptized the temple destroyers of Maulana Fazal as “religiously motivated warriors” in his TFT editorial on October 16, 2020. Why? Because they are all banking upon these blind and bigoted followers of Fazal to storm the capital and force Imran Khan to resign. Strange are the ways of fate where Liberals support and push Mullahs just to satiate their hatred against an elected prime minister whom they dislike.

https://www.thefridaytimes.com/political-economy-woes/

Now, towards ZAB – the “bonafide intellectual” hero of this 60 years old teenager. He compares Imran Khan’s wearing of Shalwar Qameez and his using Urdu language with ZAB’s theatrics. When Imran wears a Shalwar Qameez, it is a “populist antic” whereas it is “rigorous intellectual scheme” which compelled ZAB to pose as a “people’s man”. He further quips that Imran’s views are a “mishmash” of Islamic and post-colonial theories. Now, it would be quite interesting to analyze this “bonafide intellectual”. ZAB rose to prominence in the late 50s when he was “selected” by the first military dictator of Pakistan as a young member of his cabinet.

bhutto.png

The bonafide intellectual starting his rigorous intellectual scheme – by getting inducted into Ayub Khan’s cabinet

Later, he moved closer to the dictator who elevated him to the post of Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Ties became so much cordial that Bhutto started calling him “daddy”. Rigorous Intellectual Scheme. Right? But he was also an ardent follower of Machiavelli and when the time was ripe, he came out full guns blazing against his benefactor i.e. daddy Field Marshal Ayub Khan. In 1969, Ayub stepped down and handed over power to another military dictator Yahya Khan. Yahya Khan abrogated the constitution and imposed Martial Law. Again, rigorous intellectual scheme forced the bonafide intellectual to welcome the martial law.

Loading video


Two years down the road, he came to rule a broken Pakistan after the 1971 war. His role in the entire debacle of East Pakistan was not that of a Democrat, far less of a statesman, but that of a power hungry opportunist who couldn’t wait any longer because “Bhuttos die young”

Thus, started the regime of “people’s man”. A senseless nationalization drive crippled Pakistan’s industrialization and turned thriving industries into loss making State owned enterprises. State censorship peaked and journalists were tortured and thrown behind bars under the notorious ‘Defense of Pakistan Rules’. He banned a major opposition political party i.e. NAP. Being a true fascist, he had his old comrades like J.A.Rahim brutally tortured. Ethnic violence disrupted under his watch in Sindh between Urdu speaking Mohajirs and the Sindhis. He literally abused the Bengalis as “swine” in a speech.

Loading video


His political ideas were a hotchpotch of his feverish mind where Islam mingled with Socialism and landed aristocracy embraced ideas of land-redistribution. He famously prided himself on being a “scion of an aristocratic family”. Yet he was “people’s man” But it is Imran Khan whose ideas are a “mishmash”. Right?

Let us move on to the “equally well-educated and more articulate opponents” – Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Zardari.
Firstly, someone has misled Nadeem F. Paracha. These two pampered brats of corrupt political families are not Imran Khan’s opponents. They are just two privileged and incompetent who can’t sit across third tier leaders from Imran Khan’s party in any debate on any forum (Bilawal Zardari always runs away whenever a young MNA of PTI Murad Saeed takes to the floor in the national assembly).

He compares the privileged political background of these two brats with Imran’s political trajectory and claims that Imran Khan is not as “self-made” as his “anti-intellectual” followers would like people to believe. He says Imran’s family had “roots in country’s military and bureaucracy establishment” and “military establishment” nurtured his political ambitions.
One can just laugh at this.

Did Imran’s family background help him become Cricket’s leading all-rounder in the 80s? Did Pakistani bureaucracy helped him win the World Cup in 1992? Did Establishment helped him raise funds for Pakistan’s first ever cancer hospital where 70% poor patients get free medical treatment? Did he establish the first ever world-class university in one of the poorest regions of Pakistan with the help of Pakistan’s establishment? I mean what kind of joke is this.

I can make it much simpler who is self-made and who owes his existence to his privileged background.
Let us remove Imran’s family background (whatever it is worth) and weigh him on his personal achievements. Where does he stand?

Now, just remove “Bhutto” from Bilawal’s name and “Sharif” Maryam’s name. Where do they stand?Not surprising that both these pampered and ill-mannered brats so jealously guard their surnames and make it a point to mention their family. Recently, the national assembly of Pakistan witnessed a comic scene when some members of Treasury benches called Bilawal “Bilawal Zardari” instead of calling him “Bilawal Bhutto”. His party members were furious and frothed at mouth for calling him “Zardari” instead of “Bhutto” – So much for the “self-made” argument
.

NFP further says that Imran Khan is still more articulate about cricket than about anything related to the country he is supposed to govern. Well, this proves my point that NFP is stuck somewhere in the 70s when Imran was playing cricket and he talked only about cricket.

Before Imran we had “articulate political scientists” like Nawaz Sharif ruling us. He made us proud with his articulateness before POTUS Barrack Obama in the White House. He further made us proud when he waxed eloquent at the WEF in 2015 with his “pardon me” “pardon me”. Before such stellar performances, Imran’s speech at UN session in 2019 (just one example) looks like a childish performance. Right?

Loading video


I wish the PMs before Imran Khan were as ‘inarticulate’ as he is. I wish they could speak as ‘ineloquently’ on Pakistan’s economy, foreign policy, climate change, institutional reforms and regional challenged. But alas. If wishes were horses…

He also attributes Imran’s stardom to his cricket days although it has been almost 3 decades when he bade farewell to the game. In between, there are 30 years of hard political struggle, failures, disappointments, disillusions and hard-work that endeared him to the masses who voted him to power in 2018. But for NFP, it was military establishment which nurtured Imran’s political ambitions. He launched his political party in April 1996 and became PM in July 2018. Read again. 22 years. Does it take 22 years of drubbing at the hands of political mafias if you are being propelled by military? Or you just land up in a military dictator’s cabinet like NFP’s bonafide intellectual? Or like Maryam Nawaz’s father who was directly appointed provincial finance minister by the military governor of Punjab?

Just for further context, the province where inarticulate Imran Khan’s political party is ruling for the last 7 years has universal health coverage, tree forestation campaigns, its metropolitan center has modern transport system. While the province where “well-educated” Bilawal’s party is ruling hasn’t got any emergency rescue service by the government, any modern urban transport system or any health coverage programs. The entire province is lagging behind in HDI. Every other day one reads news of child mortalities from Thar. Recently, a journalist who accused that certain members of Bilawal’s party were threatening him, was found strangled to death.

Bilawal himself routinely browbeats local journalists who dare to ask uneasy questions. He can’t even provide the money trail of sprawling mansions (fortresses) in Lahore and Karachi named “Bilawal House” – These fortresses have been gifted to him by a real estate tycoon Malik Riaz who also remains in the news for all the wrong reasons i.e. land grabbing. But I suppose this is how “rigorous political scheme” works. Below is a link to Dawn’s story titled “Who Owns Lahore’s Bilawal House”


https://www.dawn.com/news/1181048

Maryam: The equally-well educated political opponent. Well, her educational credentials are quite dubious. To put it charitably. There are people who can tell you how she got admissions in prestigious universities without making it to their merit lists in the early 90s when her father was the prime minister. Leave it at that.

She rose to international acclaim during investigation into her father’s financial empire (after Panama leaks) when she submitted a forged document with the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The document was made in a Calibri font which wasn’t commercially available on the date when she had signed the document i.e. 2006.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...ht-down-the-nawaz-sharif-government-1.2065614

She routinely blackmails judges who dare to sit in benches hearing her or her father’s cases. Personal attacks on Imran Khan, his wife and smear campaigns against his charity hospital are Maryam’s forte. Well. Again, I suppose that this what being well-educated and articulate means.

Before concluding, let me bring this on record that Mr. Paracha blocks almost everyone on Twitter who question him or differs with him. Isn’t that ‘anti-intellectualism’? You haven’t got the patience to listen to a differing view and still you have the temerity to write columns on demise of intellectualism in Pakistan. Well, I am not sure about intellectualism but impartial journalism has certainly died in Pakistan.






Problem with Pakistan is that there is TOO MUCH media freedom to the point where our media is even more open than that of the West. We give TOO MUCH airtime and privileges to Anti-Pakistani groups and individuals.
 

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