Monday, September 9, 2013

Pakistani media’s alchemy – making a seer out of a crook

What’s happening at this time in Pakistani media has no precedent! It’s desperately trying to transform Dust into Gold using its science of alchemy and its alchemists.

As Asif Ali Zardari leaves the Presidency, Pakistani media slides into a frenzy to be all praise for him, forgetting all the names it has been calling him with. Probably all the television (may be radio also, do not listen to any) channels and almost all the English and Urdu newspapers are making a seer out of him. As is said in Urdu and Punjabi:

’’چوروں قطب بننا‘‘

It may be translated into English as: a thief’s turning into a (sufi) saint

So the Pakistani media’s alchemy is transforming Asif Ali Zardari into a Great Democrat!

This act of Pakistani media reminds of a classic idiom:

Everything that glitters is not gold!

And, I would like to amend this idiom as:

Everything that glitters in Media is not gold!

Here is one newspaper’s today’s headline:

Watershed moment – Asif Zardari basks in afterglow of democracy

This is The Express Tribune, an English newspaper which is thoroughly Pro-Riyasati-Ashrafiya, and Pro-AAZ (Asif Ali Zardari) also.

See the detail:

ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: In epoch-making style, Asif Ali Zardari stepped down as president on Sunday, securing his place in history as the country’s first democratically elected head of state to complete his term in office.

The watershed moment is made more significant by the fact that Zardari’s last three predecessors – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Muhammad Rafiq Tarrar and General Pervez Musharraf —were all in one way or the other forced out of office.

A guard of honour by a contingent of armed forces formally marked the end of the tenure of Zardari, who will be carrying his trademark smile right from the Aiwan-e-Sadr to Bilawal House in Lahore.
A huge fireworks display was organised by the Sindh cabinet members at midnight at Karachi’s Sea View to honour the outgoing president. Several parliamentarians and leading politicians were invited at the display.

Zardari was elected president on September 6, 2008 after winning a majority in the electoral college with 481 votes of 702. He will remain the co-chairman of the Peoples Party – the post he acquired after the assassination of his wife, the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

In his remarks, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, who organised the meeting, welcomed Zardari and said that he was the only President who gave away his powers to the Parliament through the 18th Amendment. He lauded the outgoing president to have pursued the policy of reconciliation and demonstrated immense patience during his five-year tenure despite incessant criticism.

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