The problem is that we don’t have many who can speak and write about the army’s role in a bold manner.
KARACHI: I could not agree more with Ayesha Siddiqa’s article “Jatoi and jackboots” (October 10). The problem is that due to long years of military rule and manipulation of the media by the state, we don’t have many who can speak and write about the army’s role in a bold manner. Most of today’s media (and their NGO cousins, financed mostly through American or European sources) are in the pay of different local and foreign agencies or are too afraid to speak the truth or are not allowed to by the bosses.
No one questions billions spent on the defence budget, mysterious things like Rs5 billion released to the ISI before the 2008 elections, wasteful imports like F16s and/or thousands of yards of land given to generals at throwaway prices. Pakistan can only succeed as a nation if issues like these are challenged.
Yousaf Nazar
Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2010.
