Kuch to Seekh lo

It would do Pakistan’s vernacular commentariat a whole lot of good if they were to read, with an open mind, this column in Dunya News.

http://m.dunya.com.pk/index.php/author/arif-niazami/2016-06-08/15723/52121800

One might get to read such views in the occasional English column. In fact, the same author (coincidentally the editor of this paper) writes an English column in this very paper. But it is the Urdu-language print media where such views are rare to find.

The subject is Pakistan’s foreign policy. The headline is a line every rational observer of Pakistan’s foreign policy cries out, while pulling his hair: kuch toh seekh lo!

The writer describes how he complained to a senior American diplomat about how they’d left Pakistan fending for itself while ingratiating the Indians. The American replied how, instead of worrying about India, it would do Pakistan a whole lot of good to get its own house in order first. Furthermore, the diplomat addressed the bizarre apprehension that Pakistan has when two other countries begin getting good relations.

We’re not the least bit shy when we express “concerns” when other neighbouring states have good relations with each other. Nowhere are we more brazen than Indo-Afghan relations. Sometimes, in response to allegations that Pakistan is hedging her bets in Afghanistan by favouring some unruly types against the Afghan government, our defence pundits actually have the audacity to say that India is also investing in Afghanistan! So, in this bizarre calculus, our alleged support for militants is being put in the same category as the Indians building dams, schools and government buildings for Afghanistan.

The Indians are getting on good terms with Afghanistan. Their relations with Iran are on track, with the Charbahar port set to cement ties further. The Emiratis are increasingly becoming enamoured by them. And the Chinese, with their eyes on bigger prizes, aren’t threatened by India anymore; in fact, recently the Chinese have blamed Pakistan-based militant groups for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

Moreover, Prime Minister Modi addressed the US congress recently, where he was feted like royalty.

Meanwhile, Pakistan, wallowing in its outdated paradigms, is stuck in a rut. Our political class, barring the Jamat-e-Islami, perhaps, has moved on. Our foreign service is even more clued up about the way of the world now. It is only the establishment that refuses to acknowledge that the world is round.

And, of course, the jingoistic sections of the media. Consider the following (online readers only) video package by Samaa TV on Modi’s trips abroad. Not looking at issues like the Indian prime minister’s changing the pace of Indian diplomacy (once diffident, India is beginning to join the dance, writes the Economist), the report instead focusses on his penchant for hugging people. Listing out the number of world leaders he has hugged, with some on the receiving end slightly uncomfortable, the newscaster reads “chipkoo jo hain!” And then, there are other reports making fun of his working class origins, with crass, tasteless chai-walajokes. This is all that we’ve been reduced to. Like old money dowager ladies, whose own fortunes are falling, but who turn up their noses at new players running the town.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4fdvq6_modi-aadat-ke-chipkoo-modi-ki-mexican-president-ko-zabardasti-ki-jhappi-hug_news

Instead of wasting money on frivolous foreign trips, writes Mr Nizami, Modi makes trade and sales pitches. We should also take a leaf out of that book, instead of doing “kutti” from everyone.