It is fashionable in Pakistan to oppose America. Perhaps, it is a phobia that has gripped the country that America is bad. Or, it is just plain stupidity that people in Pakistan love to be anti American. No matter how you look at it, there is a campaign in Pakistan against the United States of America and this perpetual negativity has started to yield dividends in terms of public buying into this notion that America is the enemy.
There is absolutely no harm at looking at both sides of any argument. So, if the people in Pakistan are interested in trying to understand Washington’s policy towards Pakistan, they should be helped and their questions should be answered. Similarly, it is also wise for the people to protect Pakistan’s national interest. But, this exercise in objectivity has somehow evolved into bitter hatred towards Washington. In this process, everyone has played a role, but the most destructive role was played by the so-called religious leaders with the help of pseudo intellectual and ignorant buffoons, pretending to be journalists. Now, this tsunami of hatred is about to destroy intellect across the country.
Those who were in a position to influence public opinion in Pakistan did a tremendous disservice to Pakistani public by not telling them the truth about critical facts along the way. Another factor is Pakistan’s military’s obsession with India. This one dimensional approach towards country’s security has not helped anyone. Army in Pakistan with the help of selected journalists and religious parties has been pumping anti Indian, anti Jewish and anti American propaganda for decades. As a result, the overall psyche in Pakistan has become completely retarded. It seems that the country has lost the ability to critically analyze anything and the entire country is stuck on one thing and one thing only – ‘America is bad, the current war against the Taliban is not Pakistan’s war and America is sponsoring the Taliban.’ Now, how can any nation be taken seriously if it can’t even understand the grave threat the country faces.
However, when Pakistan needs money, medicine, equipment, or anything else to help one emergency or the other, the first country to step forward and provide aide to Pakistanis is America. Historically, regardless of what hate mongers preach in Pakistan, it is a fact that America has been an ally of Pakistan and America has always done whatever was needed to help Pakistan. Therefore, it is very upsetting right wing politicians preaching against America in print and especially on electronic media. This foolishness is only hurting Pakistan. It has to be countered and it must be stopped.
There are forces of reason in Pakistan, but those who try to be objective come under tremendous verbal assault by all sides. Anyone attempting to point out Pakistan’s own failures is bullied and his or her voice is completely drowned by the right wing nuts chanting anti American slogans. These forces of negativity appeal to the nationalism and to the religious feelings of innocent Pakistanis and in the process common sense goes out the window.
So, I ask my friends and readers to counter these right wing hate mongers across the country by simply asking one question: What has America done to Pakistan to hurt the country? Obviously, the answer is no, but let’s see how they answer this question!
