DIPLOMATIC DEALINGS: Pakistanis remain a spirited lot

2009/11/07

By Balan Moses

PAKISTAN has changed immeasurably since I last visited in 2003, not all for the worse as would have been expected in the wake of the troubles it has seen recently.

While the people have undergone psychological trauma the likes of which Malaysians will hopefully never know, a new resilience has emerged.

Some old timers here say it resembles the spirit of 1948 when a bloody "war" erupted between the newly-independent Pakistan and India.

The people, although under siege in different ways nationwide from the wiles of terrorists, have united to fight the enemy which has wreaked havoc in their midst.

The head of a leading national media group, while decrying the change forced upon Pakistani society, welcomed the "fighting spirit" of the people in the face of attacks by a cowardly enemy that showed no compunction in killing women and children.

Fariha Razak Harun, the group director of the Jang Group of companies and Geo TV Network, a conglomerate that publishes the largest-selling The News English newspaper and leading Urdu daily Daily Jang, said Pakistanis had undergone a 360 degree change.

"We have lost the way of life that we knew not too long ago. We can't even go to the mosque on Fridays. I have to tell my children to pray at home," the anguished leading journalist lamented.

But as the head of the outspoken and most-viewed television channel, Geo TV, rued the constraints that terrorists had placed upon the people, she also spoke of how the people had gained new respect for the armed forces.

Pakistani soldiers have never been loved by the people, especially after several regimes which sought to exercise control over them from the front end of a gun.

According to Fariza, probably the most powerful media personality in the country, the three wings of the armed forces "are doing a super job with the people looking up to them (like never before)."

It is obvious that society here has undergone a change from a predictable lifestyle of relative ease to one of armed guards at many homes, bullet-proof jackets for journalists going into "unsafe" areas and barbed wire with gun-toting guards around some media offices.

The security situation is definitely critical as also evidenced in the large number of security personnel on duty at the Karachi International Airport that we saw on landing on Wednesday.

The situation appeared even more dire as the commercial capital of the nation is quite removed from the troubled spot of South Waziristan which has seen Pakistani troops in the thick of action against a diverse group of terrorists fighting under the Taliban banner.

The first sign that even Karachi had been psychologically affected by the terrorist activity was the fact that the vehicle that our group of five journalists was in was sandwiched by three police escort vehicles with soldiers armed to the teeth.

The vehicle behind us could have been one pulled out of the battle zone in the north: it had five soldiers from the Rangers -- probably the Pakistani version of our commandos -- inside and one "riding shotgun" from the open top with a huge mounted artillery weapon at his disposal.

In Lahore, nearly a two-hour flight away, the armed escort from the crack Punjab Elite Police Squad looked as if they were ready for immediate action, come what may.

It came to me as we sped off at breakneck speed from the Lahore Airport that Pakistani High Commissioner to Malaysia, Lt Gen (R) Tahir Mahmud Qazi had delivered on his promise to me and my fellow scribes of an unforgettable trip.

It had been his idea to send a media team to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad before he left for home for good early next year to learn about Pakistan and its potential as a trading partner.

A firm believer in Pakistan-Malaysia ties, he has been trying his best for the past two years to convince Malaysian investors to enter the Pakistani market.

What I saw reinforced the envoy's belief that his people could rise above the troubles of the day to etch out a better tomorrow.

I have been seeing an urgency in the people met over the past four days to court progress that I never saw six years ago.

Usman Hasan, the director-general of services at the Karachi-based Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, is an example of the Pakistani trait of never giving up in the face of adversity.

Despite adverse publicity and the attendant reluctance of businessmen to invest in the country because of the security situation and political troubles of which there has been much over the past decade, he is convinced of the vast potential that remains untapped.

Asked about the huge imbalance in bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia, he said it showed the huge potential for trade in the future.

With a spirit like that how can Pakistan go wrong, I wondered aloud as I walked into the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel in Lahore where the affluent continued with a lifestyle unchanged by the security situation nationwide.

Never mind the armed guards outside, the checks on guests using a metal detector and the sand bags that gave the hotel a fortress-like appearance.

I had seen the same spirit earlier in Shazia Muree, the Information minister of Sindh, who had spoken with such clarity of thought about improving the lot of Pakistani women, children and the underprivileged.

It was not that she was unaware of the gravity of the situation not more than a two-hour flight from the capital of Punjab.

The member of the Sindh legislative assembly representing the Sanghar constituency is unwilling to allow the forces of terrorism to take over a country that hard work and valour on the field built.

The fire is obviously still in the hearts of the people of Pakistan 61 years after nationhood earned with blood, sweat and tears.