Hitchens comments is a gross misrepresentation of pakistani society. The west loves to belittle the subcontinent by extrapolating backward areas to the rest of the countries. Some remote village in nwfp followed sharia hence they want the world to believe lahore and islamabad is run by taliban, this is one of the most ridiculous articles you can read.
It is worrisome when titles of failed state, terror state are floated in the west by writers and pseudo-intellectuals, because what it really implies is people of the subcontinent are incapable of managing their own affairs. Today the some of the western media is pro-india and anti pak, 40 years ago the case was exactly opposite when the west was anti-India and pak was the apple of thier eyes.
We as Indians should not be amused at western media's pak bashing but should stand against it for the very simple reasons that ties us to pakistan instead of separating us from them. We might have differences in political process, relegion and foriegn policy in governments, but if you closely look at the daily life of the people of both countries, it will be very difficult to differentiate between the two, we share same family and moral values. Declaring the state of pakistan as state that want to fight america without any reason or a state that aides fanatics is direct insult to the people of pakistan. We as neighbors might have outstanding disputes but should stand together when some foreign entity tries to malign the region.
