“Don’t know much about history, don’t know much biology,
Don’t know much about the science book, don’t know much about the French I took…”
asserted
I → know → French
THIS is an old song, which seems to be an apt description of journalists — especially in Pakistan.
asserted
which → seem → Pakistan
Over the decades, the profession has moved on from print to television and now digital but our training remains rooted in old-fashioned ‘generalism’ (if there’s such a word).
asserted
training → move → generalism
As with the bureaucrats who run petroleum one day and health the other, we journalists move from commenting on foreign affairs one evening to the economy and healthcare the next.
asserted
journalists → run → economy
The notion of specialising in issues or studying them in depth is as alien to us as democracy is to Islamabad’s neighbours.
asserted
democracy → specialise → neighbours
Perhaps this is why most in the profession rarely bother with reading and books.
asserted
most → bother → reading
Those of us who entered the field at the time of newspapers learnt the country’s history through oral tradition.
asserted
who → enter → tradition
Late-night chats with senior colleagues, who had survived martial laws and newsroom working hours, told us of tumultuous times such as war, secession and dictatorship.
asserted
who → survive → war
They included those who remembered what it was like working during the censorship of Ziaul Haq’s times, the night Pervez Musharraf removed the government or when an operation was first launched against the MQM in Karachi.
asserted
operation → include → Karachi
The oral history we learnt alongside copy editing was the best counter-narrative to the whitewashed account taught in school books under Pakistan Studies.
asserted
we → learn → Studies
Our daastango provided us with a fun but patchy account of the land of the pure.
asserted
daastango → provide → pure
Patchy, for it leaves us with more questions than answers — the personal accounts that we learn history from are rooted in Pakistan but are a little sketchy on details of the region.
asserted
we → leave → region
Few journalists have travelled around the region and reported on other countries.
asserted
journalists → travel → countries
As a result, many may point out similarities between Pakistan and Egypt (aren’t they obvious?) but few will note what makes them different and why.
uncertain
them → point → Pakistan
Our last dictator spent eight years in power, struggling in the last two.
asserted
dictator → spend → two
And in Egypt, Anwar Sadat spent 11 years in power, Hosni Mubarak around three decades, while Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been ruling for 12 and is still going strong.
asserted
Sisi → spend → 12
Closer to Pakistan, the Gulf states in general have also enjoyed stability and long reigns without much pressure from below.
asserted
states → enjoy → below
Evidently, this is due to oil, but can it explain everything?
asserted
it → explain → everything
After all, Iran is no less oil-rich and yet it went through a revolution, which perhaps remains unprecedented as a political event in the region.
asserted
which → go → region
Despite the authoritarianism of both the Shah and the theocracy that followed, Iran has demonstrated that its people believe in resistance.
asserted
people → follow → resistance
In recent years, they have pushed back multiple times against crackdowns; at times they have even compelled the state to change course.
asserted
they → push → course
This is a strain missing in Iran’s neighbours to the west.
asserted
This → miss → west
Crowded, noisy and poor, societies in this region struggle with imperfect democracies.
asserted
societies → struggle → democracies
But to its east, it’s a different story.
asserted
it → ’ → east
Is this why this region has avoided the kind of authoritarianism that marks the Middle East?
asserted
that → avoid → East
Crowded, noisy and poor, societies in this region continue to struggle with flawed and imperfect democracies; there is flirtation with authoritarianism but on paper most of them adhere or aspire to the framework left by the British.
asserted
most → continue → British
This is true of Pakistan where martial law dictators have also worked hard to prove their democratic credentials by holding elections.
asserted
dictators → work → elections
And with it comes the inability of rulers in the region to lord it over their citizens for long periods.
asserted
inability → come → periods
In India, Jawaharlal Nehru and Narendra Modi have also enjoyed prime ministerships for a similar period of time.
asserted
Nehru → enjoy → time
In a tradition closer to Iran, South Asia has also pushed back against dictators of the civilian (Wajed) and military (Musharraf) type, with street protests forcing them to call it a day.
asserted
protests → push → it
Strongmen such as Modi have also been bested by students armed with their wit and social media, while in Pakistan, authoritarian establishments have struggled to clamp down on criticism on X.
asserted
establishments → best → X.
This is not entirely new: back in the 1970s, both Indira Gandhi’s imposition of the Emergency and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s authoritarian rule came to an end, albeit in very different ways.
asserted
imposition → come → ways
In one country, the democratic system pushed back while in the other, the military establishment did so.
asserted
establishment → push → other
With all our problems, Pakistan’s journalists still sit in talk shows and complain about the censorship they face; their counterparts in nearby regions are perhaps not allowed to whine thus on live television.
asserted
counterparts → sit → television
In most countries with censorship, journalists usually spend their time complaining about absolute freedom.
asserted
journalists → spend → freedom
There is an ‘argumentative’ South Asian that shapes this region differently from its western neighbours.
asserted
that → be → neighbours
Travel east to Myanmar and here once again, regimes tend to become more authoritarian and more long-lasting.
asserted
regimes → tend → Myanmar
The long detention of Aung San Suu Kyi under a martial law regime illustrates this best.
asserted
detention → illustrate → this
After a short experiment with elections and civilian control, Myanmar has returned to military rule but one in which contestation by the people has turned to civil war.
asserted
contestation → return → war
While this may seem alien to Pakistanis, it is worrying that in parts of our country we, too, face a situation where the state appears to only control the cities.
uncertain
state → seem → cities
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
