ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN: Reactions to the American-led war against Iraq have created political have in Pakistan where the Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been trying to stabilize the country and restart the economy after a year of domestic turmoil.
A rift of unpredictable consequences has opened between the Prime Minster who generally supports the Sausti Arabian and allied view on Iraq and the Pakistani military which is still Smarting from the cutoff of American aid in October.
Recently Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg the Army Chief of Staff made a speech in which he said the gulf war was part of a “Zionist” strategy that also guided Washington. Reflecting the view that any Muslim leader was preferable to an assortment of infidels and heretics he argued that “the United heretics he argued that “the United Nations had allowed the allied forces to liberate Kuwait and not to destroy Iraq economically and politically.”
Pakistan has committed more than 10.000 soldiers to the allied force in Saudi Arabia bat said that they are there mainly to protect the holy places.
In a rush to make political capital of popular support for President Saddam Hussein of Iraq the fragmented Pakistan People’s Party still Jed in theory by Benazir Bhutto has in effect joined ranks with the religious right and the military who are traditional enemies.
‘This is taking place against a backdrop of nonstop propaganda that favors and in some cases is paid for by Iraq or Iran. Teheran apparently hopes to emerge from the conflict with a major role in the Middle East Pakistan has an influential Shirte Muslim minority in a largely Sunni Muslim country.
Pakistan a nation not entirely sure of 18 ‘bearings is awash in anti-Western policies In a country where Christian churches are being stoned because Washington is in charge of the war there « a daily diet of visceral anti-Americanism and crude anti-Semitism in the press both English and Urdu.
“Imagine $13.5 billion for losing half a dozen lives and some houses” a columnist in the Muslim newspaper wrote of the Israeli aid request because of its role in the conflict “Trust a Jew to make big money out of a minor mishap”.
Many Pakistanis say that the out-burst against the West has peaked or reached a plateau a retired army officer said and that a large part of the credit for cooling tempers goes to the Prime Minister.
Diplomats agree that Mr. Sharif while under pressure from conservative Islamic parties that helped bring him to power has moved decisively against the mobs and those who instigate them. Representatives of Western embassies say they believe that they are well protected.
The Government has curtailed and in some areas banned the sale of posters with an artist’s rendering of the Iraqi President at prayer.
The press attached of the Iraqi Embassy has been expelled on charges of funneling large amounts of money to pro-Iraq demonstrators and directly instigating protests
A political analyst in touch with provincial Urdu language newspapers sad that Iraqi money is being lavished on propaganda in a country where journalists are paid a paltry salary and there are no accepted codes of journalistic ethics it as easy to influence the press this person said.
Another Muslim Savior Figure?
There are bold voices willing to counter the trends.
In an interview with The Friday Times Khaled Ahmed an editor of the Frontier Post a Peshawar-based newspaper that has generally been hostile to the United States said that the Islamic world had again fallen for a mythological hero.
“The Muslims have always booked for a savior figure” he said. “They did it to Gamal Abdel Nasser to Qaddafi even to Ayatollah Khomeini Once you start subscribing to the Idea of a savior figure you enter the realm of mythology where reason does not work.”
The Pakistani and Indian press has given prominence to stories that prove to be clear cases of disinformation: that Israel’s planes are based in Saudi Arabs of Turkey that Pakistanis and Americans have been shooting at each other that Iraq won a major land battle against allied forces in Khafje. The United States Information Service here has a Collection of doves of such stories all of which they try to refuse
Where “the Truth’ is Relative
Pakistanis also get their mews from the gulf through mullahs in the mosques and from fore broadcasts including the BBC and the Voice of America. Bot a Mudent with generally moderate views said recently that when he “wanted the truth” he turned to Moscow radio of the Iranian national network
Asked what he meant by the trust he replied that on Iranian radio he had heard that more than 200 American planes had been shot down He said that Americans were contending that they had lost only a few which was clearly a lie.
Pakistan’s two largest cities Karachi and Lahore receive the Cable News Network’s international service bus this is often criticized a5 too pro-American Pakistani publications and the Government television network do not report on the war from the scene however saying that such coverage is too expensive for a poor third-world country.
“In Pakistan” Mr Ahmed of The Frontier Post said.
“Journalism has become the first casualty of this war.”
By Barbara Crossette The New York Times.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991
