Communicating an Idea and Expressing a Thought

(Dr. M Anwar)

Each requirement is responded below.

1.    Requirement - 1.    “Describe the situation, and who you need to communicate”

   a.   I am a proud “Pakistani”. I like my country and love its land. To me the people of Pakistan are cooperative, loyal and friendly. I consider myself a normal person with feelings and emotions of an adult. I am peace loving, gentle and accommodative person. Since I like to be treated with respect, dignity and honor, therefore, I make sure others coming into contact with me are treated well. I do not like to be abused and avert violent and aggressive behavior. I want to resolve the issues and conflicts through peaceful means of dialogue and negotiations. I have the requisite will and determination to defend myself when confronted with threatening or awkward situations but I prefer using indirect approach rather than bulldozing my way through. As a Muslim I believe in God, the Day of Judgment, and life after death. Most of the human values are well entrenched into my behavior and are reflected through my personal conduct. My associates share common values with me. Actually majority of Pakistanis are generous, cooperative, hardworking, accommodative, upright, morally sound, peace loving and tranquil people.

  b.    Who I want to Communicate.  I want to tell the western world and key communicators in USA to lend their ears to me and pay attention to what I as Pakistani want to tell them? It is as important for me to communicate to them as it is for them to listen to me. 

2.    Requirement – 2.  “Now write the whole message (as you would want to say to the person concerned)”

         The Message. Unfortunately, the outside world has misperceived me and my country. Instead of uncovering the truth, the world poses to be scared of me. My views are drastically misunderstood and no attention is paid to my pledges. My countrymen are labeled as religious extremists with fundamental belief system. They are projected as unscrupulous terrorists having insular mind-set and prejudicial thoughts. My religion “Islam” is equated with terrorism and my virtues are presented as the vices. All Pakistanis not only reject such allegations but also protest against these charges designed to malign Pakistan as a nation state. My voice appears to have fallen on deaf ears as hostile thoughts like “Pakistan is failing or failed state” and “Pakistan is the most dangerous place in the world” are being spread with a view to deliberately show Pakistan in a bad light. Foreign leaders form biased opinions about Pakistan. This is totally unfair and unjust as surface value items are picked up to form opinions and build perceptions while deep inquiry to know the truth is ignored. Since Pakistan is a victim of extremism and terrorism, therefore, fake stories and picture paintings with oblique angle suggestions or vision need to be stopped. Powerful media channels must subject the contents of their broadcasts to the rigors of credible testing and valid verification. This will help them to avoid inflicting unwitting damage to me and my country.

3.      Requirement – 3       “Observations: (The context)”

Observations. (The Context).  Pakistan where I was born has not changed and the people of Pakistan are also having the same attitudes towards their fellow human beings. Unfortunately foreign forces due to their political agenda have created situations in Pakistan which really do not reflect true Pakistani environment. In Pakistan all human beings are treated well. Prior to 9/11 the world witnessed Pakistani hospitality as numerous foreigners came to Pakistan to help Afghan people to fight the Soviets who had occupied their country. These foreigners and the western politicians developed conflicting interests and declared war against each other. The innocent people of Pakistan were made to pay the price. Further more the powers concerned are now turning the tide on Pakistan and resorting to name calling against Pakistan. This may be based on their political agenda but we Pakistanis would defend our country’s interests at all costs.  The world must listen to our ordeal and find the truth.

4.    Requirement - 4. “Thought and / feelings: How you feel about what happened?

Thoughts and Feelings. . I feel awful when I look back what Pakistan has offered to the outside world and what Pakistan is getting in return. Pakistan made sacrifices and offered cooperation to the friends, tried to accommodate the Afghan refugees’ influx and managed them for many decades but Pakistanis are labeled as sponsoring terrorism, not doing more to fight the terrorists and politically targeted to be further implicated for sins never committed by them. This is cheating and betraying a time tested friend. Pakistanis have such bitter feelings and are likely to react any time they are pushed to the corner. Hence, a word of caution for the propagandists, to mend their ways before it was too late. For this Pakistan needs to reach out to the world to make our point. My fellow countrymen have to join me in my efforts to build the real image of Pakistan as a peace loving and moderate nation state capable of managing its affairs under all circumstances and during all seasons.

5.      Requirement – 5. “ Wants: What would you like to happen”? Following aspects merit consideration: -

         a.         Let us stand together and defend this country from internal and external threat.

         b.         As a nation we have to grow beyond petty differences and personal interests.

c.         Political leadership, political parties, civil society and masses must get united as a one nation and face all the challenges including the threat posed by terrorism, squarely.

         d.         Government’s writ must be respected under all circumstances.

         e.         Be accountable and responsible for your deeds and save the national interests.

         f.          Counter anti Pakistan propaganda in your own capacity.

g.         Using superior intellect we need to create a space for ourselves in the world’s major media channels to put across own view point.

         h.         Pakistan is a peace loving country and must be projected as such.

         i.          There is a need to rationalize the emotionalism and to realize the ground realities.

         j.          We need to get sincere to ourselves and to our fellow countrymen.

         k.         Develop the faith that Pakistan is a capable nation state which can well manage its                 affairs.

         l.          Extremism and fundamentalism are to be rejected and terrorism has to be fought                      openly.