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| Pak worry about India’s soft power | |
By Allabaksh
An English language Pakistani paper, founded by the originator of the two-nation theory, recently carried an article to tell readers in a somewhat resentful tone that India was stealing a march over the Land of the Pure because of its ‘soft power’. Don’t take it as an individual’s cry of the soul; it represents a typical Pakistani view, brought up as they are on a rich anti-Indian diet. Most Pakistanis would say that it should have been the other way round!
The resentment in the article also seemed to be directed at the British because the take-off point in the article was an exhibition on India (The Fabric of India, Oct 3, 2015 –Jan 10, 2016) at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Fabric of India is the first major exhibition to explore the dynamic and multifaceted world of handmade textiles from India, spanning from the 3rd century to the present day.
A poignant point made in the article was that the origin of some of the textile items on display at the exhibition lay in what is today Pakistan and Bangladesh. That of course is true. But unfortunately it matters little because India’s ‘soft power’ does not begin and end with certain varieties of textiles that did not originate in present day India.
The reason for the bitterness that the projection of India’s soft power generates in Pakistan should be clear when you hear a constant Pakistani refrain that it excels India in all fields that constitute ‘soft power’, such as art, music, fashion, films, sport, not to mention military and diplomacy. It must surely be a matter of envy in India how well do they manage to blackmail and cheat their major benefactor, the USA. All this is accompanied by the self-deception of Pakistan being a ‘peace-loving’ nation which has been suffering on account of India-backed terror.
It is a belief which is firmly grained in the minds of Pakistani civil and military leadership as also average citizens. In the field of entertainment the Pakistani claim of ‘superiority’ over India is based on some gushing references to their artists in the Indian media, especially singers of popular songs and film actors. When the Pakistanis take notice of Indian actors they prefer to talk about the long list of ‘Khans’ Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan et al) who dominate the Indian silver screen, a not so subtle hint about their faith.
Some time ago, a noted Pak journalist told the readers that the Pakistani males in the film industry were a hit with Indian women because the Indian males lacked the ‘appeal’ their Pakistani counterpart exuded!It is perhaps a contribution of the drooling Indian female fans (mostly teenyboppers) towards the much wanted CBMs - confidence building measures- between the two neighbours!
There must certainly be things in which Pakistan can take pride and use them as an effective ‘soft power’. But like they say, one rotten fish dirties the entire water. The ‘good’ side of Pakistan is eclipsed by its ‘bad’ acts which are noticed far and wide because they are carried out with much ‘fanfare’ to please the domestic audiences.
Islamabad cannot hope to be seen as a ‘soft power’ in India or any other country as long as its paranoia about India exists due to which it is perennially engaged in activities like nurturing and exporting terror. The Indian bogey persists despite Pakistanis reminding themselves on a daily basis that the ‘coward’ Indians are no match for them. The ‘cowards’ were defeated by the ‘gallant’ Pakistanis in all the four wars over Kashmir in replays of David and Goliath contests, so goes the Pakistani narrative!
The fear of India extends to not only the perceived military threat from the eastern neighbour but also to the field of arts, entertainment, business and commerce. Indian entertainers are rarely, if ever, allowed to perform in Pakistan while the concessions India granted to Pakistan under its WTO obligation have remained unreciprocated for over a decade.
Pakistan would not allow even SAARC road connectivity because it will supposedly work to India’s advantage. Indian civilian planes cannot fly into Pak air space, but theirs can and do. The rise of ‘Hindutva’ in India has resulted in some deplorable episodes that invited wide-scale condemnation within India, shaming many. But it should also be kept in mind that many Indians have been subjected to hostile receptions in Pakistan—among them entertainers, cricketers, journalists et al.On the rare occasion, an Indian journalist visits Lahore, Islamabad or Karachi, he or she is tailed day and night. Pertinent to point out is the fact that an Indian journalist, part of an official delegation from Punjab some years ago, was thrown out of Pakistan for no fault of his.
You understand what kind of ‘appeal’ the Pakistanis ascribe to their males when they try to upstage the Indian man-hood. Let us assume that their male ‘appeal’ is a‘soft power’ to which India has no answer. But the fact is that the world knows little or nothing about the Pakistani males with a particular ‘appeal’ but a lot about those Pakistanis who brought ‘fame’ to their country with their dexterity in plotting and executing terror plots from New York to London and Kuwait to Mumbai and Delhi. They travel surreptitiously across boundaries with guns, bullets and suicide vests to carry out missions assigned by the ISI, an arm of Pakistan’s permanent establishment, namely the Army.
We have been informed by a person no less than the former Pakistani army chief and dictator, Pervez Musharraf, who ruled the country for nearly a decade that Pakistanis treat such gun-toting and blood-sniffing men—the warriors with a mission to ‘liberate’ Kashmir —as ‘heroes’. They are supposed to carry out a divine mission.
Unfortunately for Pakistan the rest of the world views these ‘heroes’ very differently. They are called terrorists, though a consolation for Pakistan is that those who do not target Americans are defined as ‘militants’ or with some such less disagreeable word. But the overall world view of Pakistan as an ‘epi-centre’ of terror blocks all chances of Pakistan being able to present itself as a ‘peace-loving’ nation richly endowed with talents in various creative endeavors.
What Musharraf said about his ‘heroes’ is known to the world. That they are trained by the ISI is no revelation but it perhaps did less damage to Pakistan’s image as the global centre of terrorism than what many top Pakistani officials, including the de facto foreign minister of Pakistan and serving generals, have boasted about in recent days: Pakistan has developed tactical nuclear weapons for use against India.
It did not help that a former Iranian president has spoken of Pakistan’s clandestine efforts to transfer nuclear technology to his country during the hey days of A Q Khan’s Nuclear Wal-Mart. In the process he affirmed the widely held belief that the nuclear black market run by the disgraced A.Q.Khan enjoyed official patronage.
With such boasts, bravado and irresponsible talk flowing freely and frequently from the mouths of top civilian and military officials - present and past, how can Pakistan even talk about its ‘soft power’?
(The author is a Kashmir based Freelance Journalist)
(Disclaimer: The views, observations and opinions expressed in above write up of Scoop News are strictly author's own. Scoop News does not take any onus or liability for the veracity, accuracy, validity, completeness, suitability of any of information in the above given write up. The information, facts or figures appearing in the write up in no way manifest the position, standpoint or stance of Scoop News and the Scoop News does not assume any encumbrance or answerability of the same.)
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