Right, but I wasn't questioning the participation of Pakistani guests on your shows, but rather the possibility that lack of awareness in Indian about the extent of diverse and controversial discourse, on various platforms, lends to the opinion that Pakistan only exists because of 'hate India'.
We can look at this possibility in greater detail as we look at the avenues of diverse and controversial discourse in greater detail, as we identify the various platforms that you have named. Which are these platforms? books and articles? the electronic and the print media? the blogosphere?
Should it be through the torrent of publications of books in Pakistan that we judge this, and by ' we', I mean any reasonably impartial observer, very much including Pakistanis themselves.
Pakistan is going through its own spring-time of English language literature, one that has been long in the making and one that has caught everyone by surprise now that it is here. As far as Pakistani authors are concerned, if you check with them, they are mobbed by admirers and readers whenever there is an opportunity for Indians to meet them; personally, in my little backwater of Assam, it is an impractical proposition, otherwise I too would be queuing up for an autograph.
We may not have read much; my own count includes Bapsi Sidhwa, and Hanif Kureishi, both read a long time ago, neither read as particularly 'Pakistani'; more recently,
Moth Smoke and
A Case of Exploding Mangoes, and with a great deal of perplexity and trepidation,
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.
But how many Mohammed Hanifs do we have, and, by contrast, how many others who hint at a troubled society, in whose writing we merely occasionally see the paw under the door, a passing whiff of brimstone?
On the question of the electronic and the print media, it is best to pas over lightly, because everyone has his or her very sharply etched 'take' on it; let us all agree to disagree with everyone else. My little squeak of an opinion wouldn't really count in this grand diapason of sound from both sides.
About the blogsphere, I'm much more sure, having been a habitue of both ATP and PTH, and a one-time daily reader of 5 Rupees. I read LUBP briefly when they were tangling with YLH, but didn't quite take to them. These three first-mentioned are fora of impeccable liberal democratic credentials, and there is nothing coming out of there that is suspect; there is a lot that is disputed, but as among comrades and fellow-workers.
And the rest? What of the rest? What is it among them that would attract anyone? There was that classic moron who started his blog with....well, never mind, it's too easily recognisable, and the last thing I want is an angry punctured gasbag hunting my scalp.
So now tell me, having gone through this quickie, what should I conclude?
If I take the vast bulk of correspondents, other than those of ATP and PTH, they hate India, and don't know why. Is that ignorance, or from something they know that we need to know? Please, PLEASE don't raise issues like they're hurt to the core about Kashmir; that horse has been kept running - first embalmed, then stuffed, then fitted with actuators, then put back on the turf - by those who desperately need India to be a permanent enemy, present and terrifying, so that they can keep growing their private empires, and keep getting bigger and better budgets every year.
We read countless times, from Indians, that 'Kashmir and anti-India rhetoric' is used to distract Pakistanis by the politicians and military, so that they can continue to maintain power and build personal assets.
Perhaps awareness of the openness of discourse in Pakistani society on a wide variety of issues would help remove perceptions such as those, that Pakistan exists solely because of 'hate India' or 'not India'?
You just heard the exact same thing, exactly according to the script that you threw open to the public, from someone who's been around, who's tried to keep objective, someone who's striven hard for good relations between the two countries, someone who's a charter member of the Defend Liberal Pakistan Club.
At this moment, honestly, it seems to be a one-way street; we keep bending over backwards, and we keep getting taken for a ride. The more we try, the more we get taken. The more we soft-pedal and put our sore points out of the picture, the more we face jerks, the very late teen types who think it's funny to be rude or coarse, or try to get every discussion to become an argument, or try to win these with totally witless one-liners, and a slew of smileys strewn around the place.
Is it possible that this big myth about Pakistan might actually be a small dirty secret about Pakistan? Have you ever thought about it?
