The G-man is Pakistan's version of the Superman hero figure

What’s special about the G-man is that he only listens to his heart for what’s right or wrong even though the law of the land says otherwise. Yet the G-man is a humble servant of the people and respects the law because ‘saying’ otherwise will leave a wrong impression on children. This makes G-man a responsible and child friendly hero figure. Even kids will sometimes disobey their parents just like the G-man disobeys the Supreme Court. But its all right. For now up up and awayy!

Below is an English adaptation of a cartoon strip surveying the large shift in Aitzaz Ahsan’s stance over the case regarding Supreme Court orders to the PPP Government to write letter to the Swiss authorities for re-opening corruption cases against the sitting President Asif Zardari.

Veteran PPP Politician Aitzaz Ahsan and a key figure of the Lawyers Movement has recently put his public trust at risk by siding with the unpopular PPP Government

Below is the original cartoon strip in Urdu.

Aitzaz Ahsan to defend the PPP Government in Contempt of Court case

What remains to be seen is whether Aitzaz Ahsan will be able to reclaim the same public trust like he did when he played the controversial dual-roles of a veteran political leader of the ruling PPP and a key leader of the Lawyers Movement.

American Defence Secretary Leon Panetta alleges that high ranking authorities within Pakistani Leadership were hiding Osama Bin Laden

Speaking to an American TV Channel American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has revealed that the Obama Administration did not share in advance its covert military strike inside Pakistan to the Pakistani Government and the Pakistani Military because they had a hunch that the news would quickly travel to Osama Bin Laden to help him escape. Secretary Panetta continued to acknowledge that the Obama Administration and the Pentagon did not have any ‘hard evidence’ to support such views though.

This reveals a dangerous trend the United States has now established a track record of. This very hunch on behalf of the United States has seen tremendous pain and death for the Iraqi people. No Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) have ever been found in Iraq, the major cause of the American invasion. The decade long military occupation of Afghanistan by the United States has not made the situation any more stable for the Afghan people on the ground. The latest American attempt to over-power Iran over its energy oriented nuclear program now threatens to engulf the entire East Asian region including Pakistan and its neighbors including India and the Central Asian Republics (CARs) that comprise of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

What’s most terrifying is the thought that a ‘hunch’ has no pattern, no end and no sense of differentiation between right and wrong, friend and foe. It can be extremely beneficial and dramatically horrific. The world and especially the Asian countries can choose between living in fear or defending their sovereignty and people’s interest.

While the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lead Federal Government has time and again demanded that its term in government be ensured to complete it has consistently failed on its promises to provide for the basic necessities of the common Pakistani: The sole rationale that justifies the continuity of a government. The sitting government of PPP has twice defaulted on its commitment to resolve the severe electricity shortfall which is equated at 1 watt supplied for every 2 watts demanded. Come winters in 2011 the energy shortfall got even severe with the practical stoppage of natural gas to homes and CNG fuel stations. Where the common Pakistani has suffered the most, critical damage has been sustained by the commercial sector with the massive closure of textile industry, a major export contributor, that provides jobs to hundreds of thousands. The textile sector is not the only sufferer though. The 8-14 hour electricity outage every single day of the week has significantly reduced the efficiency and productivity levels of the economy as a whole. Economic analysts have estimate a year on year loss of 3-4% GDP due to bad energy management by the current Government. Electricity and gas being the primary sources of energy to any country’s commercial engine are simply out of supply making Pakistan barely crawl into the year 2012.

With all this havoc being faced by the average Pakistani the PPP lead Government has been solely focusing on its political image and completion of its tenure in power that ends in early 2013. Is the PPP government gaining any political mileage out of its clinging with power? Seemingly not since PPP has  suffered serious political setback with the continuing resignations or dis-association by top PPP veteran leaders. Even the common masses including the PPP voters have publicly and on-media started to criticize the PPP Government. In-short the PPP’s brand of Democracy has indeed been the best Revenge but wrongly directed at the common man instead of undemocratic forces.

With 2012 being the election preparations year it seems highly unlikely that the public would be in the mood to hear any more promises from the PPP leadership. Surely enough the PPP leaders would avoid repeating their favorite political slogan thus far ‘Democracy is the best Revenge’. One cartoonist has his own way of visualizing how he interprets this now unpopular political slogan:

Democracy is the Best Revenge_Late Benazir Bhutto

United States Administration succumbs to holding negotiating deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan

It may even be seen as a political defeat for the United States after tens years of its desperate struggle in Afghanistan. The recent announcement to unite against the American and NATO forces by different Taliban factions, both big and small, has dealt a severe blow to the American morale; especially after they had started to talk of exiting Afghanistan starting in 2014. Despite possessing the best military technology and highly trained fighting soldiers the Americans and their NATO allies have consistently failed in concluding their mission in Afghanistan against much less trained and inferior fire-power of the Taliban groups.

Could this mean another 10 years in Afghanistan for Americans and their NATO allies? Would the NATO allies be actually supportive of an extended stay in Afghanistan?

President Obama’s recent announcement at the Pentagon to maintain American ‘Military Superiority’ in the Asia Pacific region actually conflicts with the on ground reality. The more pronounced intent on behalf of the US Administration to establish direct negotiations with the Taliban are widely seen as a proof of the weakening American resolve to successfully conclude what they had started. Many Afghans see this approach as a face-saving effort by the failing American Military action in Afghanistan.

A USSR like defeat? Perhaps not in terms of casualties and but definitely yes in terms of the humiliation by succumbing to the Taliban factions that may seem to be smaller and less equipped but that have definitely reigned large in terms of leaving an impact on the American War that has led to further destabilization of the region.

USAID - A Pakistani Soldier's Life in Dollars

Would the Americans take the same deal if this situation was reversed? If the Pakistani forces ‘by-mistake’ killed 24 of American troops?! Probably not.

But thinking in retrospect such an incident was imminent with Pakistan’s deteriorating image as that of a ‘Sovereign’ state. The Prime Minister Gilani lead PPP Government did little than lip-servicing and attempting to gain political mileage by continuously ‘condemning’ the drone strikes in Pakistani territory. The United States and the NATO forces had already established a compromised image of Pakistani sovereignty due to the weak play by the country’s government. Has the PPP lead Pakistani Government shown a solid stance over drone attacks and American intrusion into Pakistan to capture Osama Bin Ladin, chances are that the November 26 deaths of the 24 Pakistani soldiers could have been averted.

The latest statement issued by the American State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner did acknowledge the blunder by the US led NATO forces but consistently fell short of a clear-cut, unconditional apology to Pakistan, the families of the martyred Pakistani soldiers and the Pakistani people; “We accept responsibility for mistakes committed by the US side in the Nato air strike incident”. Mark Toner went on to state that the US was ready to monetarily compensate families of the martyred Pakistani soldiers.

It seems that the Americans claiming to be Pakistan’s closest ally in their war on terror in Afghanistan haven’t quite yet understood the Pakistani people. The Pakistani people are being alienated to the Americans and their cause in Afghanistan with every single passing day. The Obama Administration has recently done more to damage rather than build Pak-American relations as evident from popular public sentiment widely covered in the local and international media. The question now is whether the Obama Administration will pay heed to this conspicuously visible dissatisfaction by the Pakistani people or will they continue with their isolated agenda that will dangerously polarize the regional situation both in regional and global perspectives.

Musharraf's Ultimatum: Says he will return to Pakistan in 2012

His alarm has certainly attracted attention since his political opponents and political heavy-weights took some time off from the ongoing Memogate Scandal to indirectly issue warnings to his ultimatum.

Nawaz Sharif is a bitter opponent of Pervez Musharraf due to his forced exile for 8 years

Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz suddenly issued a statement to the media that he will steadfastly pursue the killers of the late Baloch leader Akbar Bugti. Pervez Musharraf is alleged to have ordered Bugti’s murder as leveled by his political opponents.

Pervez Musharraf has defended himself on several fronts including the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti in a re-conciliatory military operation gone-wrong. The case of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) is also frequently used by the political opponents of Musharraf to accuse him of the killing of hundreds of religious students during the military operation that Musharraf had authorized to release the public mosque in the heart of Islamabad from armed terrorists. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has also alleged that Musharraf was complicit in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto by way of not providing sufficient security to her. No charge however has been proven against Musharraf in the court of law. Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) has continuously criticized Musharraf of wrongly involving Pakistan in America’s war in Afghanistan. This political section accuses Musharraf of adopting US influenced regional security policies that have deeply hurt Pakistan’s internal security, alienated its own people from the Northern border areas due to American Drone strikes that have killed thousands of innocent civilians in those areas.

Pervez Musharraf’s return sure is not an easy decision. Come January it should be expected that Musharraf may change his plans at the eleventh hour. It is popularly believed that he will face grave threat to his life and extreme political criticism and resistance to participate in the upcoming 2013 general elections. For now Musharraf has given the Ultimatum of his return and the immediate political response in opposition to him hints at a hidden fear by the political opponents that he may actually come back.

Prime Minister Gilani is accompanied by Pakistan Army Chief General Kiyani and ISI Chief Lt. General Pasha

The statement has come at the peak of the Memogate Scandal that was publicly seen as the reason for the widening rift between the PPP lead Government and the Pakistani Armed Forces. The Memogate Scandal is deemed to have targeted removal of Pakistani Defence Forces leadership in appeasement to the wishes of the American Administration. The backdrop to this recent development is also the sudden exit of President Zardari from Pakistan and his settlement in Dubai apparently for health reasons. Pakistani political parties have seen this move on part of President Zardari as evasive of the building pressure on the Memogate Scandal that resulted in the removal from office of Husain Haqqani, Zardari’s hand-picked Ambassador to the United States. President Zardari had recently shifted his Presidency staff to Dubai which is also highly unusual and unprecedented. Latest move by Zardari was summoning of Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations Mr. Abdullah Hussain Haroon to his camp office in Dubai.

Stressful as it may seem, the single most suffering entity in this entire episode is neither the federal government nor the Armed Forces of Pakistan but the national image of Pakistan as a sovereign, stable and progressive state. All the sworn stakeholders of the national image must realize their utmost duty to safeguard and promote a positive image for Pakistan. This is possible only if all the stakeholders shift their focus from their isolated institutional image building to that of collective national image betterment.

The huge PTI rally in Lahore revealed the changing power balance in Pakistani politics

In the backdrop of the unprecedented tension in Pak-US relations the United States has expanded its out-reach to the political forces in Pakistan. Meetings of Ambassador Munter and PML-N and PPP leadership is a routine matter especially in times of trouble or a change in government. PPP and PML-N have a history of softer stance towards the White House. Which is why these two biggest political parties have avoided directly criticizing actions of the American Administration in the past. PTI’s Imran Khan however has remained vocally critical of the Obama Administration’s actions in Afghanistan and specifically intrusions into the Pakistani airspace and bombing of innocent Pakistani people through drone strikes. Imran Khan has always maintained that the United States and NATO must leave Afghanistan and Pakistan to deal with their issues themselves in their own way. Imran Khan has also maintained that the United States policy of aggression in Afghanistan and Pakistan has failed. United States itself has over the last few years acknowledged that it can not win the war in Afghanistan merely with military power and it needs to bring the local stakeholders including Taliban fighters to the negotiations table.

The contact attempt of the American Ambassador Cameron Munter with PTI Chief may have more significance to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) than to PTI itself. Imran Khan’s statement post his meeting with Cameron Munter maintains PTI approach towards America’s war in Afghanistan, “….this partnership must not be at the cost of Pakistan’s national interest.” Imran Khan went on to demand that the United States must stop violating Pakistan’s sovereignty through drone attacks and other incursions inside its territory if it was interested in maintain friendly relations with the Pakistani people. This statement neither softens PTI’s earlier stance nor helps America and NATO in support for resumption of NATO supplies via Pakistan to Afghanistan. What it however does very effectively is that it draws the attention of PPP and PML-N back towards the American Administration. PPP’s Federal Government and PML-N as Opposition Leader have recently taken publicly popular stance over the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO airstrike in the northern border area with Afghanistan. As a result the Federal Government suspended the NATO supplies to Afghanistan for unknown period which is hurting NATO’s confidence in Afghanistan. Adding to the political pressure surfaced the Memogate Scandal alleging that President Zardari and his close aide the hand-picked Pakistani Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani were involved in toppling over the Pakistani military leadership in exchange for ensuring continuity of the weak Zardari Government. This sent the PPP Government looking for political cover which they only had in authenticating Pakistani Military’s publicly supported demand to suspend NATO supplies and arming its northern border air-defence. This ofcourse was not in US and NATO favor. Further the PML-N that stands to gain maximum political mileage out of this dead-end for the PPP also adopted the popular public demand and Nawaz Sharif went on to support the ban on NATO supplies. Nawaz Sharif was also reported to have cancelled/postponed his scheduled meeting with US Ambassador Cameron Munter in Islamabad quoting his engagement with the Supreme Court over the Memogate Scandal. The Obama Administration now sees its traditionally supportive political parties in PPP and PML-N drawing away from directly supporting the US interests and its Afghanistan war policy which puts the US in a pretty immobilized political condition. Obama Administrations reaching out to growing political players like the PTI or provincially limited political parties like the ANP and MQM at this juncture addresses this political support gap that exists with the PPP and the PML-N. How these traditional political supporters of the US policies in Pakistan and the region react in the after-match of such advances by the US needs to be closely watched.

Prior to today’s statement by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, there existed no popular precedence in modern history in which the President of a Country would fail to get access to ‘safe’ medical treatment for himself in his own country. President Zardari’s sudden exit from Pakistan and admittance to the American Hospital in Dubai for treatment is a great jolt to the Presidency’s image. The very national image of Pakistan is in jeopardy of which the President of Pakistan is a sworn custodian.

Zardari is in Dubai for Heart Treatment and Tests since early December 2011

Pakistani public’s displeasure with President Zardari’s representation of his country has always made headlines. Zardari was strongly criticized by the masses when during the worst floods in Pakistani modern history the President instead of holding fort chose to go for a euro-tour. The Government machinery claimed that Zardari’s euro-tour was aimed at generating support for Pakistan but nothing considerable actually happened that could be linked directly to Zardari’s tour. Pakistani public has questioned the self-imposed confinement of Asif Zardari within the Presidency outside of which he is rarely if ever reported participating in any official activities. If at all President Zardari has moved out to it has been either his home town of Garhi Khuda Bukhsh in Sind or on foreign tours.

The latest addition to this history of Zardari’s Presidency is the Memogate Scandal. The Supreme Court had ordered Memogate stakeholders, including President Zardari, to submit their responses by December 15, 2011. Despite being declared in good health by the able specialist doctors of the prestigious Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi cantonment, President Zardari thought it best to leave the country and trust the American Hospital in Dubai. The message it gives to the Pakistani people is very wrong: The very custodian of national honor and entrusted with ensuring the best possible health care for the Pakistani people himself does not trust the very best of his country’s doctors. Not only that but President Zardari does not even considers himself safe amidst the top level security provided to anyone in Pakistan. President Zardari or his Government do not seem to understand how badly do these decisions tarnish the national image of Pakistan.

The PPP government must realize the mistakes they are continually committing unless their momentum has made it too difficult for them to see where they are headed.

Pakistani PM Gilani says that the United States does not respect Pakistan

United States does not respect Pakistan, was the clear message the Pakistani Premier gave while responding to the direct question of a foreign media correspondent in Islamabad. The recent killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers by NATO air forces inside the Pakistani territory has sparked never before seen anger from the Pakistani Government and the Pakistani Military command. Pakistan retaliated by immediately cutting off the NATO supplies en-route Pakistani territory. This was followed by a decision by the Cabinet’s Defense Committee that ordered the United States to vacate a Pakistani Shamsi Airbase in the country’s south-west primarily used to carry-out drone strikes inside the Pakistani territory against terrorist elements. Latest addition to the list is Pakistan’s decision to boycott the upcoming conference on the future of Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany. The Afghan President has already telephoned the Pakistani Premier to reconsider the announcement for boycott with the message that the Bonn conference is an Afghan conference. The UAE Government has already started pressurizing the Pakistani Government to reverse or delay the 15 vacation notice to the Americans on the Shamsi Air Base.

In a nutshell, the Pakistani Government led by the PPP is under pressure by opposing forces: the Pakistani Military back by the masses in favor of strong measures and the pro-NATO and pro-American forces including President Karzai and the UAE Government in a totally opposite direction that favors relaxation on the issue. This raises the question on the longevity of the decision taken by the Pakistani Government which has frequently reversed such announcements in the recent past or not actually enforced in actual.

A surrounding aspect to this situation are the fast approaching national elections in 2013. The PPP led Pakistani Government is also sensitive to its difficult political position. Public sentiment has grown increasingly critical of the current PPP led government due to economic woes, security failures and most recently due to association of President Asif Ali Zardari’s, who is also the co-chairperson of the PPP, with the Memogate scandal. The Memogate is widely reported to have offered the American Administration a deal from the Pakistani President promising removal of the current Pakistani top military leadership in exchange for assurance of the continuity of the PPP government’s tenure. This in turn has had the effect of further weakening the political position of the PPP. The competing political forces including Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have already taken their critical positions on this incident.

The effort of the PPP Government must be to dispel the growing public opinion seeing them as complicit in matters of sovereignty and national interest to maintain its vote bank for the upcoming elections. How will it all play-out is too early to tell. Right now the political government is busy trying to catch net in its steep fall on several fronts. The idea must be to reach the first grounds with the right change in events and passage of time that would allow the Pakistani Government optimal political maneuvering. The question is whether those grounds shall support any differently than now. That would largely depend on the Pakistani masses, the American Administration and the influential actors from the middle east and Gulf.

Nusrat Bhutto wife of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Late)

With the demise of the last veteran Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, wife of the late Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and ex-chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Bhutto political era comes to an end, yet again. With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the practical role of Bhuttos in Pakistani politics had already ended. Nusrat Bhutto was a symbolic continuation and a reminder of the struggle the Bhuttos died for, one after the other.

The only 3rd generation Bhutto family that remains visible and somewhat politically involved is that of late Murtaza Bhutto (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s son) represented by his daughter Fatima Bhutto and son Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Junior who now live in London. Their mother Ghinva Bhutto remains active in very limited politics as Chief of Pakistan People’s Party (Bhutto Shaheed).

Zulfikar Bhutto Junior, Ghinwa Bhutto and Fatima Bhutto

Sanam Bhutto, the only surviving child of late PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and sister of Benazir Bhutto stays out of politics and lives in London.

The Bhutto Family that once was

Many speak of the end of Pakistan People’s Party after Zardari’s take over on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Many yet speak of the need for a young leader from the Bhutto blood-line to take reigns of the PPP for its revival. Many still think that the workers of the Pakistan People’s Party, also nicked ‘Jiyalas’ (the daring brave), are the real carriers of the mission of the late Bhutto. However practically all that remains mere thinking as Zardari continues to mainstream the Zardari family into the core party positions of the PPP. The first step was taken into this direction by making Bilawal Zardari the Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party and changing his name to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in order to highlight his relationship with the Bhutto family.

Bilawal Zardari holds the picture of his slain mother late Benazir Bhutto as the new Chairman of the PPP along with the co-chair, his father Asif Zardari

With the recent news coming in about the differences between Ghinva Bhutto and Asif Zardari (President of Pakistan) on who will get to bury the late Nusrat Bhutto is actually the state to which the cause of the Bhuttos has actually been reduced to: The right to bury over that of mourning.

While the Pakistani nation recounts their memories of the late Bhuttos, their role in Pakistani politics and their tragic history of assassinations and extra-judicial murder, Larkana, the hometown of the Bhuttos struggles to bridge burying rites with mourning.

Rehman Malik, the Interior Minister of Pakistan was recently conferred an honorary doctorate degree by the Chancellor of the Karachi University for his services in establishing peace in the city of Karachi.

Honorary Degree without Honor

However over 300 (of the 550) regular teachers of the Karachi University (KU) differ from the Chancellor’s decision and Rehman Malik’s candidacy for the prestige that has been bestowed upon selected names such as King Saud bin Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia (1954), Syedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb, Chancellor of Muslim University of Aligarh (1955), Mohammad Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan (1958); Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh (1959), Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (1962), Agha Hasan Abedi (1990); Prof Wolfgang Voelter (1990); Prof Sir Roy York Calne (1992) and Prof Ata-ur-Rehman (2005).

Karachi University’s Teachers Guild had initiated a protest signature campaign to highlight their disagreement over Rehman Malik’s candidature for the honorary degree. A petition carrying maximum signatures would be sent to the vice chancellor, the chancellor and the chief justice of Pakistan.

So far of the 550 regular KU teachers, 300 plus have signed against the decision. This doesn’t include the number of cooperative teachers joining the campaign, sources state.

Pakistani politics has seen ugly moments such as fake degrees of elected parliamentarians who were later expelled from the house and except in certain cases of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) such elements were also expelled from their respective political parties.

Many people, especially Muslims, may take it as a surprise. The primary reason being that such images break-down the “American Dream” image that most of the immigrants and other aspirants embrace based on the pro-American media projection that does not provide a wholesome picture including potential discriminatory behavior from certain domestic social segments.

The questions that arise from this observation are multi-dimensional:

1. Why now? Why did not this realization exist earlier amongst the media and the Muslim minority/immigrants?

2. No more an ‘Eastern Phenomenon’! We all thought (or were made to think) that such social drawbacks were exclusive to the Eastern and essentially non-Western part of the world. Well guess what!

3. Does this mean polarization?! Or better yet getting real, tolerant and appreciative of the goodness that both the East and the West can bring together.

An argument based explanation to the aforementioned observations can be put under two broad-categories:

Interactive Diversity: Too Close for Comfort

The answer to the above questions is pretty much related to society’s increasing exposure to diversity and the globalization of media. Such discriminatory behavior is not exclusive to any single society of the world. It is but a human aspect that is amplified as diverse cultures get too close to ignore; mostly through circumstantial happenings. When the diverse social practices come in close a range  they trigger the previously dormant ‘diversity dynamics’. This essentially results in challenging, directly or indirectly, the lifestyle and philosophic approach of the host society.

Social history vouches that changing human behavioral attributes founded especially on religious beliefs are the most difficult to even engage with. Religion for both the practicing and non-practicing alike has been a ‘Untouchable & Unquestionable’ aspect of one’s private life. It is like a heavily guarded forbidden ‘treasure’ the inquiry of which only brings about a sense of vulnerability and fear of loss.

Media-Wise: Oh so THAT’s my Culture!

The other key catalyst has been the media that has brought about these diversity dynamics through amplified projection of the otherwise politically correct and very blurry social boundaries. The media earlier were isolated in the sense that either their broadcast was limited to a geographical territory of their origin or there was no real media competition in the satellite broadcasting scenario. Since lately the West dominated popular satellite media primarily lead by CNN and BBC has started to face considerable competition from Eastern satellite channels specifically from the middle east such as Al-Jazeera TV and the Asian/South Asian regions primarily comprising China, Pakistan & India. This proliferation of the media has amplified realization of the cultural & value-system differences that exist between the East and the West. These have further provided the Eastern representatives in the form of immigrants, workers and next generation a heightened sense of belonging to their roots and highlighted the contrasts with the host culture of the country of their residence. This form of ‘media advocacy’ motivates these immigrants to practice, project and share their root culture and religious beliefs more frequently and with much bolder visibility.

Huh! Huh? : I am one of them! Am I one of them?

This is exactly what’s been projected in the ABC social experiment video. The previously dormant Muslim practices and the now greater first-hand visibility of the root culture via Eastern (and specifically media of Muslim countries) media to the host country have suddenly created a certain level of ‘strangeness’ amongst the people. What once seemed familiar has now taken several new dimensions to which the general public does not have the answers and thus do not feel ‘confident’ dealing with it. In the wake of religion based tension and armed conflicts with intertwined political interests involving both the East and the West; the public remains overburdened by negative news. The need is to design on ground public activism and media talk-shows that address all such dimensions, answer questions and show both sides of the story for the global community to achieve mutual understanding. Through this mutual understanding would then arise appreciation for the positive contributions of every culture to the ‘Global Culture’. As it is with human history we did succeed in coining the term ‘Global Village’ without preparing the diverse peoples for what was coming ahead. It’s now time for consolation and consolidation.

Unilever Pakistan sponsored reality show’s Pakistani contestant Saad Khan’s death during filming of the show in Thailand has evolved perhaps as the “mystery story” of the year 2009. The much guarded news after leaking out into the Pakistani online social networks has finally made its way to the mainstream print media including the leading English national newspapers like Daily DAWN and Daily The News. Their stories can be read here and here. The print media in general is still quiet on the incident including the electronic media. The major reason has been the heavyweight advertisement spending by Unilever Pakistan which happens to be perhaps the biggest advertising spender in Pakistan.

Meanwhile the story has raged across the Pakistani online social networks  including Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Social News Sites with protests against the unpopular stance of Unilever Pakistan towards the irreparable loss to late Saad Khan’s family of a widow and 4 children, the youngest being little over a year old and the oldest around 7 years of age. Saad Khan was 32 and a handsome, athletically built man over 6 feet in height. Such details make for a powerful, emotions packed and socially stirring response.

The popular sentiment is actually an outrage fed by the uncertainty surrounding Saad Khan’s death that gives rise to speculative ‘social reporting & analysis’ leading to ‘blind social judgments’. These social judgments when driven emotionally and less on facts should not be expected as rational. The best thing to do by Unilever Pakistan would be to immediately and transparently release the details of the incident and identify the exact nature of the mishap. If proven a case of negligence then Unilever must start by firing and filing a case against the respective person/party. In parallel Unilever Pakistan must compensate the family of the late Saad Khan in a way that ensures a safe future for the kids and the widow maintaining their current lifestyle. This arrangement then must be made public in partnership with the family to endorse Unilever Pakistan’s sufficient provision.

A review of the increasingly speculative and flammable reaction of the public suggests that Unilever Pakistan must immediately become accessible to media on this issue and answer tough questions. The power of social press and networks has already pushed mainstream print media to carry initial reports of the incidents and further quietness on behalf of Unilever only gives more content space to speculative information. The number of question marks will only keep increasing and become more difficult to tackle as time passes by. Another latent danger with speculative news is that a negative spin can be introduced by anti-elements for vested interests. Therefore the crisis takes a very complex shape unless handled the earliest.

Following are some high visibility social press posts on the same matter. A view of these reports affirms the aforementioned concerns and call for an active handling of the issue instead of waiting for it to subside. Such issues when become a ‘social cause’ are almost impossible to stop from growing unless directly handled.

A selection of the social media reports on the incident are listed below:

- The Huffington Post

- AARPIX

- Pak Blogging

- CelebGalz

- Blogspot Blogs

Nawaz Sharif & Brother get a lot of media hype on ‘full-filming’ their commitment to the people of Pakistan for reinstating the CJ of the supreme court that was attacked by their own political workers of the PML (Nawaz) during their own rule.

Currently ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) claims to have amicably settled the matter by coinciding reinstatement of Iftikhar Chaudhry with the retirement of the appointed CJ Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar thus avoiding a judicial clash and maintaining sanctity of the court.

err..well this is it. The End.