Shah
27th October 2009, 23:48
Excellent article in Dawn
http://blog.dawn.com:91/dblog/2009/10/27/paging-the-president/
Schools in Karachi have been closed down before – or evacuated mid-session – after a hoax call threatening a bomb blast. Schools have also been closed down when heavy rains have left institutions flooded and streets inaccessible. Various strikes have caused schools to remain shut for a day every now and then. But sealing the schools for an indefinite amount of time across the country due to a ‘security risk’ isn’t a very common occurrence.
This may not be your typical war, but it is a battle, and it’s killing dozens every day. Everyone knows the basics – the Army is fighting the Taliban and ‘no place is safe.’ Granted the media is doing a good job, covering the Army offensive and also giving the weapon-clad militants their much-desired time on screen, but it still feels as if something is missing. Something beginning with the letter ‘P’! Yes, I am talking about the president (and just because the letter ‘P’ applies to him as well, I’m going to throw our prime minister into this complaint too).
We see them on our screens, we read their statements, and we hear snippets of their ‘sovereignty’ rhetoric, but they aren’t really talking to us are they? If this were a full-out, large-scale war, we might have known what to do, but this isn’t. Text messages warn us to cancel our shopping plans, schools tell us to turn classwork into homework and sit at home, while paranoid peers dampen our social plans with an ‘Are you crazy? Haalath kharab hain!’ exasperation. Spotting Rangers and police mobiles out on the busy streets and even tucked away inside peaceful suburban residential areas only makes the mind wander more. Where are those seemingly ubiquitous militants? What are they going to strike next and what are we supposed to do?
Although few express any faith in our leadership, the fact remains that these are the people who constantly claim that the Pakistani public is the true victim of this war. If that is the case, then the average Pakistani needs to be brought into the fold - we need to be told what the threat is, what our government is doing to protect us, and what the long-term vision for this country is. Barriers and security checks will not address all our burning questions, but direct answers can.
I think the country may have had enough of Rehman Malik’s agitated statements on television and may need the president or prime minister to put on a black sherwani, sit down next to our national flag, and address the nation. We know there are security threats, but for how long will we have to continue receiving our basic precautionary information over mass text messages and in drawing room discussions?
Shyema Sajjad is the Desk Editor of Dawn.com.
http://blog.dawn.com:91/dblog/2009/10/27/paging-the-president/
Schools in Karachi have been closed down before – or evacuated mid-session – after a hoax call threatening a bomb blast. Schools have also been closed down when heavy rains have left institutions flooded and streets inaccessible. Various strikes have caused schools to remain shut for a day every now and then. But sealing the schools for an indefinite amount of time across the country due to a ‘security risk’ isn’t a very common occurrence.
This may not be your typical war, but it is a battle, and it’s killing dozens every day. Everyone knows the basics – the Army is fighting the Taliban and ‘no place is safe.’ Granted the media is doing a good job, covering the Army offensive and also giving the weapon-clad militants their much-desired time on screen, but it still feels as if something is missing. Something beginning with the letter ‘P’! Yes, I am talking about the president (and just because the letter ‘P’ applies to him as well, I’m going to throw our prime minister into this complaint too).
We see them on our screens, we read their statements, and we hear snippets of their ‘sovereignty’ rhetoric, but they aren’t really talking to us are they? If this were a full-out, large-scale war, we might have known what to do, but this isn’t. Text messages warn us to cancel our shopping plans, schools tell us to turn classwork into homework and sit at home, while paranoid peers dampen our social plans with an ‘Are you crazy? Haalath kharab hain!’ exasperation. Spotting Rangers and police mobiles out on the busy streets and even tucked away inside peaceful suburban residential areas only makes the mind wander more. Where are those seemingly ubiquitous militants? What are they going to strike next and what are we supposed to do?
Although few express any faith in our leadership, the fact remains that these are the people who constantly claim that the Pakistani public is the true victim of this war. If that is the case, then the average Pakistani needs to be brought into the fold - we need to be told what the threat is, what our government is doing to protect us, and what the long-term vision for this country is. Barriers and security checks will not address all our burning questions, but direct answers can.
I think the country may have had enough of Rehman Malik’s agitated statements on television and may need the president or prime minister to put on a black sherwani, sit down next to our national flag, and address the nation. We know there are security threats, but for how long will we have to continue receiving our basic precautionary information over mass text messages and in drawing room discussions?
Shyema Sajjad is the Desk Editor of Dawn.com.