Pak PM Gilani’s interview to CNN and the larger malaise

Recently, there was an interview by CNN with Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani.  Two particular portions of that interview have become extremely insulting for  the Pakistanis.

1. “Look me in the eye”: In one part, the anchor asks the Pakistani PM “The states seem to believe that there is enough evidence that the Al Qaeda leader is in Pakistan.  Look me in the eye and tell me what more do you need?”

The way she gestures and asks him to look straight and tell her the truth hit a lot of Pakistanis very hard.  It questioned their credibility.  As it should.  And, one who has been following the lie told by Pakistanis day in and day out for last several decades, right from the beginning of their nation – I personally thought it was about time someone did what this lady anchor did.

Although a lot of Pakistani media personnel have made fun of Gilani and his treatment at the hands of the anchor, they fail to recognize that they all have a large part of Gilani in themselves as well.  From the “Kabailil attack of tribals on Kashmir in 1948 which was by the Army, to all the attacks in 1965, 1971, and in Kargil and the entire Nuclear program of Pakistan – where AQ Khan stole from the NATO lab in Holland to the stealing of all the Nuke Plan parts from US and elsewhere – it has been one lie after another.

At some point, your lies catch up on you.

2. “Why don’t they leave?” In an other piece, she exclaims – “.. a third of the Pakistanis want to leave the country.  That’s what the latest Gallup poll says.”  To which PM Gilani replies – “Then why don’t they leave?”.  He smirks as the anchor looks on in complete disbelief and continues “Who is stopping them?”.  That is where the interview ends.  Apparently because the anchor was completely speechless after that.

Most of the Pakistani TV anchors have used it as “good” discussion material, the politicians have used it to hit at the current Government.  And some like Imran Khan and his supporters are trying to show how he is more audacious and smart at handling the foreign journalists as opposed to Gilani.  What they miss is that Gilani may be stupid and a moron, but his stand is no different – on main issues – than any other person in Pakistani establishment.  And the frustration shown by the anchor was not just personal to Gilani but specifically against Pakistan itself.  Gilani’s personal weakness became a good backdrop to give a dressing down to Pakistan in general.

So, Pakistan was not treated that way because of stupidity of Gilani.  Gilani’s stupidity was USED to bring home the frustration of the world at large with Pakistan itself!  It is time that Pakistanis get this message.  That, for the world at large, enough is really ENOUGH!

The daily crap of convoluted analysis of triumphalism by Pakistanis on their radio, TV, websites, papers, and blogs is fine as long as it is shared amongst themselves.  For the outsiders, it is a useless exercise.  And nothing exemplifies the frustration of the world more than the Osama Operation by the Obama administration.

To see the latest manifestation of the US response, look at the decision by the US Senators to cut the Pakistani aid by $33 million – One million for every year of jail that has been handed to the Pakistani Doctor by Pakistani court for helping CIA in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Congressmen on the powerful Senate appropriations committee voted to cut $1 million from the $800 million annual budget for each of the 33 years that Dr Shakeel Afridi has been told he must serve in jail for working with a foreign intelligence agency.

Dr Afridi set up a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad in an attempt to obtain blood samples from bin Laden’s family, as the CIA tried to confirm the al-Qaeda chief’s presence in a nearby villa.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina who helped push through the measure, said: “We don’t need a Pakistan that is just double dealing.” Senators including John McCain, the former Republican presidential nominee, have described Dr Afridi as “courageous, heroic, and patriotic,” and demanded that he be pardoned.

Pakistanis in general are digging their collective grave, with a vengeance.