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A recent advertisement dominat ing a quarter of several newspapers’ front pages carries President Asif Ali Zardari’s picture with the legend Quaid-i-Pakistan. Undoubtedly, a minister desirous of pleasing the president simply overdid what he intended. Yet what would have I not given to see a government ad urging people to contribute in some official fund for girls’ education founded to commemorate president’s one year in office. And yet we all know that no such initiative is in the offing. This advertisement then sums up the current government’s erroneous media policy.
The government has many troubles of its own making and yet it fails to see the biggest threat to its existence namely sycophancy. It fails to comprehend that reality is more potent than mere perceptions. That is exactly why it reacts so sharply to any form of criticism and in doing so alienates many of its erstwhile and honest supporters. This reactionary bent of mind is mainly due to the perception of being under siege. And yet as this reactionary attitude strengthens, transparency is compromised, bolstering the widespread perception of corruption and eventually the very fear of siege itself. No wonder then that the current government’s performance is spiralling downwards as its intolerance mounting.
It is clear today that the Zardari-Gilani government did not merely inherit a mounting burden of problems from the Musharraf regime, it also did a coterie of sycophants. It is clear that owing to Mohtarma Benazir’s assassination when it came to forming the government her party was not well prepared. And since the baggage of the past was too onerous, it was caught clueless. In such a situation the coterie of sycophants who had brought Musharraf to such a steep end of his political career in order to survive flocked around Zardari. And it did make perfect sense. These Platos had staked everything for Musharraf thinking that he would win in the end. Now they certainly needed some breathing space. And in came Zardari, memory fresh with people who kept publishing stories or comments on how corrupt he was, during his confinement. Sceptical of the traditional media and the judiciary who in any case have always shown less sympathy towards the PPP than other political concerns he embraced this coterie readily. But now what? Musharraf’s stigma has successfully been attached to the new president and hence he has to fight the past misperceptions about him simultaneously. Only it would have been good had he been putting good fight, but no sir, he seems to have given up the fight altogether. Resultantly the traditional image management has been left to the catfights of the ministers on the tube. The one who earns more brownie points on the television gets awarded according to her/his accomplishments. This strategy however cannot bear any durable results as to the viewers it sounds nothing more than the good old sycophancy. View Full Article »