Pakistani internal security (catch all)

[Bill Moore]

I agree the media is the means to shape opinion and radicalize the populace, and it is also the means to send the message that cripples the radical message. Since apparently there is no dissenting voice against this extremism in the Pakistan media (I'm guessing, I don't know), then maybe he who controls the media is the one who controls the State or pseudo state?

[omarali50]

I would add that the media in Pakistan is reasonably free and liberal opinion does still exist. My point was that the "deep state" deploys real power to push forward a certain worldview that they consider very important to the survival of Pakistan (they are wrong in my opinion). This worldview supports extremism. This worldview may have privately changed in some people at the top in GHQ (maybe), but they have neither publicised this change of heart, nor asked their many many agents in the media to do so...that is the single most powerful factor in this equation.
Having said that, its possible that we are past some point of no return. I hope not, but maybe. Maybe they cannot publicly change their position because they have genuinely lost control of the situation. But in that case, we must start from this fact: that they have lost control of the situation. We cannot have it both ways..that they control the country and yet they cannot use their resources to influence ideology against the "extremists"...something is wrong with this picture.

[carl]

Omarali50:

I read that the public education system in Pakistan teaches the worldview favored by the "deep state." Is that true?

[Jedburgh]

IPCS, 7 Jan 11: Reading Pakistan I - Who Killed Salman Taseer?

Yes, of course the security guard pumped bullets into Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, who stood against the Blasphemy laws in Pakistan. But, did he really kill Taseer? Or is he only an expression and an instrument of a larger narrow religious chauvinism?

Salman Taseer was not assassinated for political reasons. His assassination was a culmination of his opposition to the blasphemy law in general, and more specifically, his efforts to commute the death sentence of Aasiya Bibi, awarded by the lower court on charges of blasphemy.

IPCS, 10 Jan 11: Reading Pakistan II - Four Implications of Salman Taseer's Assassination

A voice of reason against the abuse of blasphemy law in Pakistan has been brutally silenced. What are the implications? If his assassination is a loss to the moderate voices in Pakistan, who stands to gain? What does this loss and gain mean for the future of Pakistan?

[omarali50]

Omarali50:

I read that the public education system in Pakistan teaches the worldview favored by the "deep state." Is that true?

Absolutely true.http://www.cfr.org/publication/20364...extremism.html

I have several comments on the following blog that may be of interest: http://www.brownpundits.com/2011/01/...tion/#comments

I dont know, but the thought has crossed my mind that America will not manage to turn the army in any significant way...I think the US wants to get out and the army will provide a relatively soft exit and thats about it. The mess that follows will be China's headache (and India's). Maybe thats not such a catastrophe. The Chinese start out with less baggage and they are more businesslike and ruthless. Hopefully, they will guide their local agents into some simulacrum of stability.
I am ranting and raving a little, so I will drop it for now. I really dont know how this will turn out. But if you want to know the deep state's latest attempt at humor, check out: http://aq-lounge.blogspot.com/2011/0...rom-abyss.html

[tequila]

Interesting article in DAWN: "The Rise of Mehran Man":

Often, perceptive foreigners spot social trends that escape us because we are too close to them to see the changes going on around us. For instance, Burke identifies the shift away from English, and sees ‘Mehran man’ as urban, middle class and educated outside the elite English-medium system. He sees Muslims being under attack from the West, and genuinely believes that the 9/11 attacks were a part of a CIA/Zionist plot. Actually, my experience is that many highly educated and sophisticated people share this theory.

Burke continues his dissection of the rising Pakistani middle class: “Mehran man is deeply proud of his country. A new identification with the ummah, or the global community of Muslims, paradoxically reinforces rather than degrades his nationalism. For him, Pakistan was founded as an Islamic state, not a state for South Asian Muslims. Mehran man is an ‘Islamo-nationalist’. His country possesses a nuclear bomb….”

Mehran man’s views about the region and the world reflect contradictions and confusion. While India is home to Bollywood and IPL cricket, it is also viewed as the historic enemy. And while increasingly Islamic jihadis who kill Pakistanis are seen as terrorists, those who kill westerners or Indians are called freedom fighters. Small surprise, then, that public opinion in Pakistan no longer favours a pro-western agenda.

In his encounters with army officers, Burke sees a growing alienation from western goals and aims. According to him, the army is now full of Mehran men, and this has dramatically changed the institution’s orientation.

The rise of urbanized middle classes in India, China, Pakistan, and Russia may lead to greater prosperity and democratization, but also to increased political instability, radicalism, and hyper-nationalism as well. Germany and Japan in the early 20th century provide cautionary examples of how rising prosperity does not necessarily equate to greater liberalism, especially if economic conditions turn. The current economic crisis in Pakistan might be just such a turning point, and not for the better.

[omarali50]

I think the Mehran Man business is overrated. its true enough of army officers but the vast majority of Pakistanis are still urban poor or rural peasants, not "Mehran man". Mehran Man is ruling the place right now, but the basis for this creation is almost entirely imaginary (including extremely silly books like Indus Saga, and of course, the blessed "two-nation theory"). Mehran man will have to compromise with the reality of Pakistan's Indian and Afghan origins (with persian high culture thrown in) a bit more or he (and his women) are in for very serious trouble...

[davidbfpo]

Pakistan I think can be described as an egg that moves around as the wind blows and a variety of players armed with a variety of weapons try to hit it. Some clearly want to smash the egg and re-assemble it very differently. Bit by bit those overseas, including those of Pakistani heritage, shrug their shoulders and are less inclined to help the egg survive.

US, UK and other Western players policy has been to shore up the 'egg', but as we know it has also given the military players some weapons and loads of US$.

Earlier Bill asked:

What happens if the State fails in Pakistan? What would it look like? How would a new government emerge?

Remarkably the Pakistani state is quite resilient and it is civil society, especially the secular parts, that are being battered. The state will survive. Look like? A more Islamic state, in reality not the current rhetoric, without affecting the power of the urban and rural rich (assuming they stay). Yet another period of 'emergency' and with little role for the West.