Moborate

So, most of our readers have probably already heard about the advertisement that the Government of Pakistan took out in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 . According to Dawn , the ad was first offered to the New York Times , which "refused to publish it, forcing Pakistani officials to go to a business newspaper with a specialised but influential readership." Here is the ad (via the LongWarJournal): Pakistan's 9/11 ad in the WSJ Irrespective of the merits of the advertisement - and there are many who have questioned its design and message - one of the intriguing questions that arise is why the New York Times refused to publish it. A half-page ad is, after all, darn good revenue especially in these recessionary times. According to the WSJ's own blog , which shrugged off the ad's chances of changing the anti-Pakistan narrative in the American media: "The [New York] Times asked for “more clarity in the ad about who was placing it,” ...

The recent spate of violence, mayhem and bloodletting in Karachi has drawn a number of responses, ranging from the outraged to the resigned, the depressed and confused . And all of them are understandable on their own terms. It would be fair to say, however, that in a city as teeming, complex and diverse, there is no single truth about the causes for the flare-up that trumps all others. Every actor in this sordid saga can (and does) point to the actions of other actors as an excuse for their own villainy. 'The burnt out ends of smoky days' (Photo source: Times of Karachi) If the MQM operates like a mafia, there is also no denying the underworld nexus that parties like the PPP and ANP are using to carve out their own slice of turf in the city. If Karachi's law enforcement is inefficient, corrupt and politicized, it is not an aberration from the rest of Pakistan where the writ of the state has been steadily eroded. If politicians are venal and self-serving about their po...

Most Pakistanis with an interest in the foreign press have heard of The Guardian but not The Telegraph . The Telegraph , a British publication informally known as the Torygraph to those who find still find British politics interesting, for example British people, American neocons and possibly Elmo from Sesame Street because that’s just the sort of Muppet he is, is the UK’s highest selling broadsheet. In politically correct terms that means it is the ‘house newspaper of the Conservative Party’. In other words it is the print refuge of choice for (mostly) white people who have issues with multiculturalism, single parents and a world that just does not understand how much (mostly) white people who may or may not have been conceived within the bounds of the blessed British isles have contributed to civilization itself dammit . UK PM David Cameron: "building the negative narrative" apparently (Photo: PA/The Telegraph) This Weltanschauung is aptly illustrated by two commentators w...

I had hoped to put up this image which one of our Twitter friends (don't remember which one) had pointed us to, after a Pakistan win in yesterday's semi-final. But I think it's more appropriate than ever now. ( Incidentally, I do not know who made it but if the designer is reading this and would like credit, let us know and we will credit you. ) Afridi: The Renaissance Man (Design: Komail Naqvi) So, yes, India played far better than us on the day and deserved to win the match. But as, thankfully, most people in Pakistan have recalled, nobody, including myself, gave the Pakistan team much chance of even getting this far before the World Cup began. And for this, Shahid Afridi , the captain, and the team deserves our respect. Generally, despite the one major blip against New Zealand (for which we'll forever be grateful to Kamran Akmal ), Pakistan played far beyond expectations and seemed, after a long, long, time, to be a united team. Of course, it hurts to lose, especiall...

It's usually at times like these that I heave a sigh of relief that one does not have easy access to Indian news television channels in Pakistan. Because, really, I think adding them to the mix of frequent absurdity that Pakistan's news channels are capable of would be just too much to bear. Have a gander at the following two clips. The first is from India TV   which claims it has "earned a repute [sic] of credible reporting, courage, espousal of public interest and its [sic] unmatched delivery which is of a [sic] great value to all stakeholders." I truly do not know where to begin on this one. I suppose if one put intellectual absurdity mixed with an utter lack of knowledge and cricketing ignorance into a blender, added a cup of whacked out sensationalism with generous doses of bhang , you could, ostensibly arrive at something tasting like this 'report.' The second clip is from a channel called CNEB , which, believe it or not, is short for Complete News and ...

Just in case you thought the Pakistani electronic media was unique in its bittter, on-screen, infighting , you might want to check out yesterday's flap between Fox News and CNN over reporting from Libya . Here's what Fox News said about an officially-sponsored trip to view the damage to one of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi 's compounds, caused by the US/UK Tomahawk missile attacks. Having not actually got the footage that other news outlets managed to get, they accused the other journalists of allowing themselves to be used as "human shields" by the Libyan regime to prevent more attacks. Here's how CNN correspondent Nic Robertson responded to those claims on Wolf Blitzer 's programme: Personally, I find Robertson's indignation that Western journalists could sometimes lie, have personal agendas, cover up for their professional failures and promote propagandistic drivel a bit... how shall I put it delicately?... naive. And to top it all off, we'...

Continuing moronic statements by trolls on this blog and some no doubt military establishment-goaded television anchorpersons have forced me to address - hopefully for the last time - certain basic issues to do with the whole ' Raymond Davis ' saga. Unfortunately, such is the deterioration of our national discourse and perhaps of our educational system that not only are people often unable to grasp simple arguments but are willing, immediately and without understanding the nuances of the points being made, to ascribe ulterior motives to anyone presenting facts that go against popular opinion. So for the sake of clarity, I will attempt to make my points as questions and answers in bullet form (no pun intended). Roughly the same questions have come up repeatedly in earlier comments. The man known as Raymond Davis in custody 1. Do I 'support' 'Raymond Davis'? No. I hold no brief for him or others like him. Nor do I wish to see 'security contractors' / yahoo...

Since we Pakistanis often suffer simultaneously from the twin demons of megalomania and paranoia - verily we are better than everyone else and that is why everyone is out to get us - we often also look at history through a rather selective and distorted lens. Unfortunately, none typify this mindset more than the doyens and doyennes of the Pakistani electronic media, in whom a curious mix of hyper-patriotism, half-baked information, sincere ignorance and arrogant bluster seems generally to hold sway. Take the issue of the day on Pakistani media: whether the American known by his apparent pseudonym " Raymond Davis" - who shot dead two men in Lahore - can be tried by Pakistani courts or whether the US government has any right to claim diplomatic immunity for him. I am not going to offer my own opinion on this because, for better or worse, this is an issue for the US and Pakistani states to sort out. (I should, however, point out that, personally speaking, I do not think armed A...

Can we just express how refreshing it was to watch  Najam Sethi 's first appearance on  Geo  tonight? In the middle of the hyperventilating cacophony surrounding the  shooting to death of two men in Lahore by a contractor of the US embassy  (and the death of a third in a hit and run accident apparently at the hands of an American consulate vehicle), Sethi began his new programme  Aapas Ki Baat  with the warning that he wanted to put emotionalism aside and analyse the incident only in terms of the facts. That in itself is an all too rare approach on our television screens these days. But what followed was close to a masterclass for other television anchors on how to impart clear, precise information with a logical, rather than emotional, analysis. Not only did Sethi cite the actual clauses of the  Vienna Convention  on diplomatic immunity (which Pakistan has ratified) that have been furiously talked about but never actually specifically refere...

Isn't is quite remarkable that almost none of the major newspapers in Pakistan thought that the 'leader of the Muslim Ummah' King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia , and the 'brotherly Muslim countries' of UAE and Qatar egging on the United States to bomb their supposed sibling in faith, the Islamic Republic of Iran - as revealed by Wikileaks - was worthy of any major headline? Without fail, all of them buried that bit in the secondary 'catch-lines', if at all, with possibly only the Express Tribune  and Nawai Waqt attaching it some real significance. Most focused on Abdullah's views on Asif Ali Zardari , while Dawn  and the Urdu Express decided that the American plan to take enriched uranium fuel out of Pakistan was the most newsworthy. Here's how some of the main newspapers' front pages looked today: Dawn : Jang: The News: The Nation: Nawai Waqt: Express: Express Tribune: Pakistan Today: (Apologies for not having The Daily Times up here but t...

Okay, are we missing something here? Are Pakistanis fooling themselves or is it the Americans who are playing to their domestic gallery? Check out the contrasting tone and content of how the currently on-going US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue meetings in Washington were reported by the American establishmentarian  Foreign Policy magazine blog yesterday and Pakistani papers today... First the FP blog piece : In surprise appearance, Obama delivers tough love message to visiting Pakistani officials Posted By Josh Rogin   Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 4:42 PM "Dozens of U.S. and Pakistani officials are meeting this week at the State Department in 13 different working groups spanning all elements of the U.S.-Pakistan strategic dialogue, but the real action is in a few, select side meetings, where participants tell The Cable that the Obama team is taking a markedly tougher tone with the Pakistanis than before. One key meeting Wednesday afternoon was between National Security A...