Satire, local practitioners of the craft bemoan, dies this side of the Suez. That is a defeatist attitude, of course. There has been plenty of tanz in these parts, much appreciated and even a part of folklore.
And confusing intentionally satirical news for the real deal is a phenomenon much documented in the west as well. Hobbyist bloggers maintain records of instances of industry leader The Onion taken seriously.
But, all said and taken into account, perhaps things actually are much worse on this front in Pakistan.
A bit of a mini maelstrom was caused recently by exactly such a situation when noted (and former Pakistan Today) columnist Nazir Naji published an article that he had originally found on local progressive online-only viewspaper Hum Sab. Naji gave the original article due credit and he also reproduced, word for word, the disclaimer on the original article that had clearly stated that the article in question was, indeed satirical.
Fed up with the spate of conspiracy theories, Jaffar Hussein, the writer of the original article, wrote a piece on how a meeting took place in the higher echelons of the League, where it was being discussed what to do about new challenger Imran Khan.
What got Jaffar Hussein’s goat, he later clarified, was how the conspiracy theorists claimed an envious vantage point in these secret meetings. Sort of like the narrator of a paperback spy novel. It is that very tone that he satirised in the column. In it, the higher members of the League say cartoonishly evil things. To state only one, Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar wanted for the party to join hands with Imran Khan. While Nawaz Sharif was mulling it, Ishaq Dar says that the total amount of money that we have stashed away in foreign accounts is $23 billion; if we were to join hands with Imran Khan, the latter would force all of us to declare said amount because he is an honest man.
Jaffer Hussein himself forgot about the article (Hum Sab, though admirable, is a small niche outfit where the enlightened furiously preach to the choir) and, a couple of years later, the article was reproduced by Naji.
Naji, a veteran of the local press, has a much higher following, most of whom got the joke, obviously. The PTI’s Naeem-ul-Haq, as we now famously know, did not.
Referencing the article’s mention of how the then army chief General Kayani was cop-opted into this plan and so was the media after shelling out an astronomical amount, the PTI’s spokesperson tweeted that his party’s longstanding allegations now stand vindicated.
A little later, not because of common sense, but because of a pushback by certain retired members of the armed forces, Naeem-ul-Haq said that the views that he expressed were not those of his party but his very own.
Perhaps Channel 24’s Ali Haider scored higher on the ridiculous meter when he analysed the contents of Naji’s column, while actually accepting it to be satirical! He even got the PTI’s favourite reporters, Asad Kharral, to comment on it!
http://www.zemtv.com/2017/04/05/ali-haider-discusses-content-of-nazeer-najis-coloumn/
Kharral, while commenting, rubbished Naji’s ideas (without acknowledging that it was satire but by saying that the man had no morals) and said that he himself held those views in earnest. Do you have any proof regarding such allegations, asked Ali Haider. It is my challenge, roared Kharral. Whatever that means. As always, the burden of the proof is on the accused. Innocence has to be proved.
