Fareed's Take: Pakistan's chance to become a normal country

[53fd]

Who gives a crap about Fareed Zakaria, he doesn't even make sense most of the time.

 

[REEVER]

Oh god, Fareed Zakaria is stupid. Why CNN put this idiot 24/7 instead white men?

CNN is an American company the American experience is rich and full of many viewpoints

CNN has an Indian in fareed a black don lemon and a white Cooper they use to have a Hispanic but he was racist so they fired him

Msnbc has a Pakistani Martin bushir on at 2 he use to be in abc ( American broadcast company )

Western media is very fair.

 

[SMC]

Did the thought ever occur to you that the second clip you saw was filmed before the first one?

You do realize that AC 360 is always aired live, no? There was a 'live' sign as well when it was being aired.

 

[53fd]

CNN is an American company the American experience is rich and full of many viewpoints

CNN has an Indian in fareed a black don lemon and a white Cooper they use to have a Hispanic but he was racist so they fired him

Msnbc has a Pakistani Martin bushir on at 2 he use to be in abc ( American broadcast company )

Western media is very fair.

You must be joking, right?

 

[saleen_s7]

CNN is an American company the American experience is rich and full of many viewpoints

CNN has an Indian in fareed a black don lemon and a white Cooper they use to have a Hispanic but he was racist so they fired him

Msnbc has a Pakistani Martin bushir on at 2 he use to be in abc ( American broadcast company )

Western media is very fair.

the irony in that statement is just overwhelming.

 

[REEVER]

the irony in that statement is just overwhelming.

Compair it to muslem news it is

 

[S-2]

"the irony in that statement is just overwhelming..."

Yet there you are, a bengali living in England among Afghans, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Africans, West Indian and Europeans much less their sub-ethnicities. Somehow room enough for all and, evidently, all choosing to be there...and co-exist.

Must be that lock-step media keeping them in place.

Who would you live among in Bangladesh? Bengalis. 98% Bengali.

Reever's statement is not the only thing possibly ironic.

 

[saleen_s7]

"the irony in that statement is just overwhelming..."

Yet there you are, a bengali living in England among Afghans, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Africans, West Indian and Europeans much less their sub-ethnicities. Somehow room enough for all and, evidently, all choosing to be there...and co-exist.

Must be that lock-step media keeping them in place.

Who would you live among in Bangladesh? Bengalis. 98% Bengali.

Reever's statement is not the only thing possibly ironic.

Thank your for the racist remarks although I'm not sure what that had to do with anything Let me guess your favourite news station: fox news. Americans in general are very gullible, they can literally be talked into anything, and talked out of everything. The intellectual level of general Americans are staggeringly low, and this is dangerous for the rest of the world because America is currently the super power. While entire world was against Bush, Americans somehow voted him in, not once, but twice. If your media was as you claim "fair", this wouldn't have happened even in a million years. Stupid people with nuclear bombs remind me of that old statement "an intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend".
And just because I am from "somewhere else" does not mean I cannot criticise the things i find hypocritical or unjust. At least unlike some countries, I don't go into other countries using force and coercion.

 

[Roybot]

Just curious, is there any news channel/network you skeptics consider reliable/unbiased?

 

[zombieland]

This biased Bhartee with eye marks from Alcoholism under his eyes along with his poison mixed blah-blah against Paistan needs to be checked. CNN and Time will have to make a choice, be banned and blocked in Pakstan or stop Pakistan-bashing by using poisonou snakes like Zakarai.

Why are you all such a frustrated lot??????

Do you think CNN or BBC cares if they are blocked out from here. How many people here watch CNN or BCC. Or rather let me put my question this way... How many in my country are learned enough to understand what they (BBC / CNN) say in their channels.

Stop cribbing about a TV presenter and ponder on issues which has brought our country to this level.

 

[great]

Fareed is highly respected News editor and Journalist in US. He has a great pull in Arab world. He interviewed almost all of the Arab leaders. Everyone wants to get on his show to air their opinions. Obama too gets advise from him. But I can see he is a bit biased against Pakistan.

 

[53fd]

Fareed is highly respected News editor and Journalist in US. He has a great pull in Arab world. He interviewed almost all of the Arab leaders. Everyone wants to get on his show to air their opinions. Obama too gets advise from him. But I can see he is a bit biased against Pakistan.

He doesn't have insight of the Arab world either, the only time I've seen him speak is pretty much always about Pakistan. And we all know how he does in that department. CNN is a joke of a channel anyways.

 

[great]

He doesn't have insight of the Arab world either, the only time I've seen him speak is pretty much always about Pakistan. And we all know how he does in that department. CNN is a joke of a channel anyways.

I can give you links to ten's of such videos.

From Manmohan to Musharaff I saw whole host of leaders on his show.

 

[53fd]

I can give you links to ten's of such videos.

I meant that he doesn't have real insight about the Arab world, because to my knowledge, he has never lived there, he can't speak Arabic, & that's the huge drawback he has. Being an anchor for a crappy channel is not equivalent to being a real intellect that has had done real research on something.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

When this was posted on FP magazines's Best defence blog, even the American ex-army, navy members laughed at the essay.

You were there when the US ex army and navy chaps were laughing?

Share some comments of theirs please.

I have seen this on CNN and I get the impression he is intending on talking directly at the Pakistani public. The most disgusting and bigoted piece of media to date. Who the f**k are you to decide what is normal. And what is normal?

CNN should be banned in Pakistan.period.

He is no one to decide.

It is his anguish that speaks.

Fareed Zakaria is a cunning, dishonest, hate-filled, lying piece of trash. I've seen him lie, or twist facts, or hide facts (that would not work with what he's trying to say) live on CNN. This guy should really have zero credibility.

Just as an example, two years ago, he interviewed Musharraf and asked questions about what was being done with the aid, what about Quetta shura, etc, and Musharraf answered those questions very well. Then about a week later, on Anderson Cooper 360, he said he doesn't know what's being done with the aid, nothing about Quetta Shura, etc -- he said no word of Musharraf told him in the interview.

Right then I knew this guy is a lier and can't be trusted. What a clown.

Maybe Zakaria knew more about it and realised that Musharraf was pandering falsehood through his teeth, which to the uninitiated appeared ever so truthful.

Musharraf is no angel. He is the only who handed over the terrorists, when caught on Pakistani soil, as demanded by the US. The terrorists should have been tried by a Pakistani court and not sent to the US as per the usual norms.

So, Musharraf is no paragon of virtues.

Now, tell me what difference is Zakaria from these:

COMMENT: The Republic of Konfuzistan —Razi Azmi

Having missed nearly every opportunity to progress, having shot themselves in the foot at every step and squandered massive quantities of aid, Pakistanis have created a make-believe world far removed from reality

Pakistanis are confused like no other nation on earth. Christina Lamb had remarked many years ago in her book, Waiting for Allah, that Pakistan is a country searching for a nation. It is not only striving to find its raison d’être and its purpose, it is even grappling with the issue of its geographical location — South Asia or the Middle East.

There is strategic confusion and there is tactical muddle. We do not know what it is that we want and we do not know how to get there. Yet we seem to be sure what everyone else wants from us and from those we call our ‘brothers’.

It is an article of faith with Pakistanis that the US, India and Israel are conspiring to eliminate Pakistan’s ‘nuclear assets’. Few doubt that the US invaded Iraq for its oil and now the west wants Libya’s oil too. Many believe that Washington overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to prevent the establishment of a model Islamic state, which would have been the envy of the world.

The world is against us twice over, first as Muslims and then as Pakistanis! Our only true friends are the Chinese Communists, whose avowed atheism does not bother us in the least. Even our adoration for Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of Islam and home to Makkah and Medina is somewhat tempered by disgust at the Saudi regime’s close alliance with the US.

There is a near consensus in Pakistan that the American claim to have killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 is a total lie. There are three schools of thought regarding the al Qaeda chief: (i) Osama is still alive; (ii) he died long ago, only God knows where, when and how, and (iii) he was killed by the Americans some time ago, somewhere, and they were not making it known (and preserving his body) to justify the occupation of Afghanistan and drone attacks in Pakistan.

The Americans claim to have killed Osama now in order to (a) help Obama win his re-election; (b) obtain justification for an honourable exit from Afghanistan (and Pakistan), and (c) create a pretext to strike at Pakistan’s nuclear assets. It gets a bit confusing that Washington has not produced his dead body or even pictures of it!

The Abbottabad raid itself and the ‘false’ accusations against Pakistan for hiding the US’s ‘enemy number one’ confirm that it was a test run for Kahuta! Next target Kahuta, followed by Beijing. China is not only Pakistan’s only reliable friend, but also an emerging superpower, which, if allowed to progress in peace, could soon teach the US a lesson. Those Americans will stop at nothing, or so goes the lament.

Overtaken by such paranoia, Pakistanis are convinced that the west is plotting to make a ‘failed state’ out of Pakistan, which its hard-working and God-fearing citizens could turn into a prosperous and strong country and the envy of the world.

Our nuclear ‘bums’ (bombs), our mighty ‘Qaraqorum’ (Karakorum), our delicious ‘chaunsa’ mangoes, juicy ‘kinoo’ oranges, our ‘bahadur afwaaj’ (brave armies) and Wadi-e-Swat — the ‘Switzerland of the East’ — what a beautiful and powerful country together they would make, but for the ‘sazishain’ (conspiracies) of our enemies — the Amreeki (American), Bharti (Indian) and Yahudi (Jewish)!

It is true that Pakistan could be a great country, for it has great natural assets, not the least being its hardworking and enterprising people. But having missed nearly every opportunity to progress, having shot themselves in the foot at every step and squandered massive quantities of aid, they have created a make-believe world far removed from reality. Here, blaming others and manufacturing conspiracy theories passes for serious discussion and analysis not only on buses, trains and in teashops, but also on television channels and college classrooms.

In truth, however, rather than conspiring to make Pakistan a failed state, the west in general and the US in particular are doing everything to prevent it from failing, for the consequences of its collapse will be dire for the region and the world. The US alone has provided $ 20 billion to Pakistan since 9/11.

Cumulatively and historically, Pakistan might well have become the second largest recipient of foreign aid per capita in the world (after Israel). Foreign aid has made many Pakistanis rich beyond belief and has also supported one of the largest military establishments in the world, neither of which was the goal of the donor countries.

Pakistani civil and military leaders, TV anchors and legions of political analysts like to repeat ad nauseam that more than 30,000 Pakistanis have been killed since 9/11 fighting “the US’s war on terror”. In truth, however, the vast majority of them have died as a consequence of religious and sectarian warfare between Sunnis and Shias, and, amongst Sunnis, between Salafis (Deobandis and Wahabis) and Barelvis (Ahle Sunnat).

Then there have been the occasional pogroms against Christians and Ahmedis. In an ironical twist of history, Hindus probably now feel safer than any other religious group in Pakistan.

Every Pakistani will agree that the enforcement of shariah is their ultimate desire. But they cannot tell you what they mean by shariah and which shariah-based state model they would choose from those on offer, namely, Saudi, Afghani (Taliban) and Iranian.

It is safe to say that 70 percent of the population, and a much higher proportion in the big cities, will reject all the above models and support a government based on a liberal, democratic system with adult franchise and an elected parliament. As long as the government tackles corruption vigorously and provides jobs for them, education for their children and security for all, they will not mind if it only pays lip service to shariah.

We hear Pakistanis blaming jahil maulvis (illiterate clergy) for our confusion, yet they not only flock behind those maulvis on a daily basis but also consult them on matters spiritual and temporal. Enlightened scholars of Islam like Javed Ghamdi have few takers and have to flee the country.

We see our countrymen denounce corrupt politicians for destroying the country, yet they cast their votes for them in one election after another. Honest politicians attract few votes.

Verily, we live in a state of confusion in the Republic of Konfuzistan!

The writer can be reached at raziazmi@hotmail.comhttp://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\05\16\story_16-5-2011_pg3_4

or

It is not the time to live in a make-believe world far removed from reality as the Daily Times commentator is correctly stating.

It is time to be introspective, take a hold of the chaos and put Pakistan back on its feet and on the correct road to success, which it richly deserves, but is being denied by make belief fantasies of euphoric but false and non existent grandeur.