From the Christian Science Monitor:
To the right of Genghis Khan
Pakistan’s ultra-nationalist, far-right Islamist televangelists such as Amir Liaquat Hussain, who hosts the popular “Alim Online” show on Geo Television, Pakistan’s largest private TV network; the fez-sporting ex-jihadi Zaid Hamid who famously coined the term “Hindu Zionist” to describe what he sees as the unholy alliance of Israel and India in their quest to undermine Pakistan; and Hamid Mir, host of “Capital Talk,” who counts among the country’s most respected journalists and who interviewed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her last visit to Pakistan, and is currently in the midst of scandal regarding his alleged ties with the Taliban uncovered in a taped phone recording.
Much of Hamid’s target demographic – young middle-class professionals – grew up after widespread Islamization measures imposed by military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq during the 1980s. Policies include demonizing India and minorities and promoting Islamic government as the only solution to political problems, says Taimur Rahman, a political science lecturer at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. “It’s easy then to relate to what Zaid Hamid says because that’s what they’ve grown up with. It takes more reasoning to challenge that.”
Kamran Zia, a trader in the city of Karachi, says that for him, Zaid Hamid’s show is about “believing in yourself, your culture, your religion and your identity, and not assuming that because something is Western it’s automatically superior.”
Mr. Hamid’s show often references the accomplishments of the Muslim empires that ruled India for close to a thousand years before being supplanted by British rule.
Mr. Zia says when he returned to Pakistan from university in Britain in 2007, “there was a lot of despondency” because of political unrest and a failing economy. “He gave us back that self-belief. It’s good for us.”
Hashim Malik, an officer with Pakistan’s National Bank, adds: “We do have a glorious past and today people look back and only remember the negative things. I like Hamid’s shows because though I do believe in live-and-let-live, we still need to keep ourselves morally intact.”
Despite his substantial following, Hamid’s show was recently cancelled owing to a torrent of opposition of right-wing student groups who felt Hamid has strayed too far in his self-aggrandizement, while allegations resurfaced that Hamid had been a close follower of Yusuf Kazzab, a man who claimed to be Islam’s final Prophet in the late 1990s. He is also being investigated in a murder case, and at present Hamid’s appearances on television are sporadic.
Calls to violence
While Hamid generally reserves his venom for what he perceives as Pakistan’s external enemies, others, like televangelist Amir Liaquat Hussain openly call for violence against Pakistan’s minorities. In a show recorded in 2008, the Karachi based religious-scholar, who held the post of minister of state for religious affairs in the Musharraf regime, said it was incumbent on all true-believers to kill Ahmadis.
Within two days, a prominent Ahmadi doctor and an Ahmadi rice trader were shot dead in Sindh province.
Though Hussain’s membership in the secular MQM political party was terminated, no further action was taken against him or his channel, Geo, owned by Pakistan’s largest media group.
Pakistani media outlets generally refrain from engaging in criticism of each other. But some liberal papers did criticize veteran reporter Hamid Mir – who has interviewed Osama bin Laden three times – when an alleged tape recording linked him to the execution of a Taliban hostage in May.
“We all know that journalists have sometimes to ingratiate themselves with dubious people who can provide them information. But you may want to ask yourself, how much information is Mir’s ‘source’ actually sharing and how much of the conversation is the ‘reporter’ informing his ‘source,’ ” wrote a blogger on Café Pyala, an anonymous media watch blog that helped break the story.
In the tape, Mir brands Khalid Khawaja, a former intelligence agent being held by the Taliban at the time, a “CIA collaborator” as well as an Ahmadi sympathizer. He also advises the Taliban spokesman not to let Khawaja go but instead interrogate him further. Khawaja was executed days later.
Mir hotly denied the allegations and called the tape faked. “They took my voice, sampled it, and manufactured this conspiracy against me,” Mir told the UK’s Guardian newspaper. Khawaja’s son, meanwhile, announced he would take Mir to court.
After an initial storm of publicity, Mir has retained his show and to date no formal investigation has been launched.
Contrary voices silenced
In such an atmosphere, few hold out hope for positive change. There are no liberal personalities of comparable standing to counteract the right-wing voices, says Mr. Zaka, and the liberal press is largely restricted to English-language newspaper, channels, and blogs – all of which reach only highly-educated Pakistanis.
According to Abbas Nasir, editor of Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English daily, Urdu newspapers outsell their English counterparts in Pakistan by approximately a 10:1 ratio.
“The dangerous thing … is that the middle and upper class are [falling] hook, line, and sinker for these conspiracy theories. The fringe argument has become the mainstream,” says Mr Zaka.
23 Comments
Zaid Hamid makes “batshit crazy” seem normal.
It is high time a Memri-style monitoring and translation service was set up to highight the content on Pakistani TV.
Uncle Daud
What a good idea. This is sometimes useful:
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/
For example, this:
“Pakistan’s Islamic Odyssey”, here:
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers39%5Cpaper3884.html
Interesting that Amir Liaquat Hussain’s Geo TV should get a mention, al-Jazeera often rely on this station for their coverage of Pakistani affairs.
Worth a look is the Cafe Pyala blog mentioned in the OP. It can be had at:
http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/
Wow. SAAG suggested on this blog?
Thank you, Abu Faris. Someone like me could never have got away with it.
” Someone like me could never have gotten away with it.”
Why so?
Why so?
Because SAAG is regularly vilified in leftist and Islamist circles as a RSS/Hindutva front.
Oh. Well we won’t have any of that leftist and Islamist vilification here, I’ll have you know.
Here is an example of the kind of stuff you all should be aware of before suggesting or citing SAAG on this blog.
Oooo errrrr, thanks for the heads up, qidniz.
I love this piece of madness from the website you cite:
So, this woman, who happens to be a member of the Congress Party, happened to be elected to office as vice mayor in an election in which a BJP candidate stood and got elected as mayor.
Bloody democracy, eh? The horror!!!
This guy makes Melanie Philips look like Florence from the Magic Roundabout.
To my mind he looks like some sort of Islamist clone of Jacques Cousteau.
Uncle Daud
“It is high time a Memri-style monitoring and translation service was set up to highight the content on Pakistani TV.”
Hahaha -you said it all . Spittoon fans of the hate site MEMRI!!
“This guy makes Melanie Philips look like Florence from the Magic Roundabout.”
That would be Melanie Phillips beloved of Spittoon’s sister site Harrys Place?
This guy still pales into insignificance compared to Spittoon boss Douglas “Conditions must be made harder for Muslims in Europe” Murray
What about Florence of “The Magic Roundabout”?
Brazen hussy just asking for it in that miniskirt and all… and… and… and she hangs around with a dope-fiend rabbit who isn’t even related to her.
*shakes head in despair at the flagrant moral turpitude of Western society*
“Perched atop a mountain of bullshit so high it makes cows everywhere blush for their digestive shortcomings, Zaid Hamid is a legend.”
Pwned! (Source, linked from here.)
“Hahaha -you said it all . Spittoon fans of the hate site MEMRI!!”
Have you been drinking, nephew?
Uncle Daud:
That’s not tariq’s (marwan’s) only howler. Melanie Phillips is definitely not highly regarded over at HP.
test
Pakistan is a fascist state.
Somewhat related;
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/fear-and-silence-760
Fear and silence
A fine piece, yes. But, translate and publish that in the Urdu media, and let’s see how far it goes.