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WEEKLY
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| Disappointing speech |
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
I wish Mr President had asked his party workers and supporters not to read Jang and The News and refrain from watching Geo, and then waited for their response. But he chose the manner adopted by the late General Ziaul Haq and General (r) Pervez Musharraf, thus losing the first round with his main critics in journalism, namely Shaheen Sehbai and Dr Shahid Masood. He could also have ignored their views or taken legal action against them, but he didn’t. General Ziaul Haq threatened journalists in 1978 saying if he wanted he could hang a few of them to silence the rest. Journalists proved him wrong, however, by bravely facing prisons and lashes. In the same manner General Musharraf, while promulgating the emergency on November 3, 2007, blamed the media for confusion and uncertainty in the country and imposed curbs on it.
Mr Zardari should know that three former premiers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, failed when they tried to gag the press. It is not that newspapers and TV channels are right all the time, but you cannot simply silence the media by use of force and threats. What if Shaheen Sehbai holds a foreign nationality? So what if Shahid Masood is overly critical of the government? What if one media group, in Mr Zardari’s opinion, is against the government? There are scores of newspapers and TV channels, including the state-controlled media, which are in favour of the government. Some Geo TV anchors and Jang and The News columnists and reporters may be against Mr Zardari, but are they powerful enough to change the government?
Mazhar Abbas
Former secretary-general, PFUJ,
Islamabad
*****
Pakistanis had hoped that President Asif Ali Zardari would make an important speech on his party’s 43rd foundation day on November 24, covering the entire gamut of issues confronting the country, particularly the energy crisis, dwindling exports, gaping fiscal deficit, lack of investment, rampant unemployment, food shortages, deteriorating law and order, extremism and militancy.
Unfortunately, to our disappointment, it was not to be. The speech was delivered to a listless and unenthusiastic congregation of a few thousand party supporters, woefully lacking in energy, via video transmission and from within the four walls of a besieged presidency by a worried president. The speech of Mr Zardari was full of rhetoric. The unleashing of a vitriolic tirade against his critics, calling them ‘siyasi adakar’ (political actors), was most definitely in poor taste and below the dignity of his office. All in all, it was a disappointing speech.
M S Hasan
Karachi
*****
The televised performance of Mr Zardari in the recent public meeting of the PPP was anything but presidential. It was more like the ranting of a PPP jiyala. He had the opportunity to ignore media’s criticism and act like a president. He fell short of this and attacked the free press in a disgusting manner rather than addressing important and urgent national issues. I think that he has bad advisers who are going to lead him to his, and PPP’s, ultimate downfall.
Tariq Nazir Syed
Rawalpindi
*****
I wonder why the Election Commission, political parties and civil society do not find President Zardari’s involvement in his party’s day-to-day affairs against the constitution. Can the president, according to the constitution, be his party’s head?
Abu Mustafa Bilali
Mardan
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