‘Controlled chaos’ in action?

I have been attending most July 4 receptions in Islamabad to collect leads on developing stories.

With or without being a promoter of the so-called ‘American agenda’ in this country, I have been attending most of the July 4 receptions in Islamabad with a definite purpose: to collect leads on developing stories which have the potential to dominate headlines for many days.

The guest lists at these receptions include the ‘who’s who’ of our political and social celebrities. In the expansive lawns of the American ambassador’s residence, there are corners that encourage and facilitate the exchange of hardcore information on ‘sensitive subjects’. The reception that was held on Monday evening to celebrate the 235th independence day of the US, however, disappointed me.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was there. So were the interior minister and minister of state for foreign affairs. Petroleum Minister Dr Asim and the government’s garrulous spin-master, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, freely mingled with guests. But even this high-profile presence seemingly failed to stir up the chattering elite to go on their usual gossip-mongering spree. Instead, almost each cluster of guests at the reception seemed to be obsessed in its quest to find out a ‘satisfactory answer’ to a question, on a subject, one thought to be too trivial to be given the respectability of attention by such an enlightened gentry: Why did a senior US diplomat decide to hold a reception for gays and lesbians at his residence?

Many of those in the closet have been hosting such events in this city for some years, but no one ever dared to make them public via an officially issued press release. Rubbing in the same question, some guests also tried to provoke me into launching a cynical tirade. It took me a while to make them realise that once you cross fifty years of age, you stop feeling shocked about many things.

But there were quite a number of guests who kept insisting that the question was not about judging a community. Far more important was the attempt to fathom ‘the message’ the US embassy presumably tried to convey by issuing a press release of an event which “sounded like an assault on the moral values of our Islam-driven society”. Being a novice when it comes to ‘communication strategy’, one felt incompetent to answer this question. A dear colleague and renowned anchorperson, Dr Moeed Pirzada, enthusiastically put the same question to a French journalist. And in passing, he also wondered whether the decision to issue a press release regarding the most discussed event should be seen in the context of US-sponsored ‘regulated chaos’ that General Kayani had once talked about while sharing his thoughts with a group of senior Pakistani journalists.

The reference to this briefing suddenly made me pan through the sizeable gathering in the spacious lawn. No doubt, there was heavy representation of the Zardari-Gilani government, but it looked doubly remarkable in view of the absence of high-profile representation from our armed forces. Not more than three mid-ranking officers from various branches of our defence establishment were there as if to mark a token presence. Things were obviously not hunky-dorey between Pentagon and the GHQ these days. As if the virtual ‘no show’ by our military leaders at the US reception was not enough to make me think, a well-connected Pakistani-American sounded almost ‘alarmist’ by whispering into my ear that Senator John Kerry was again expected to land in Islamabad, “sometime in the last ten days of this month.”

Since the fast track release of Raymond Davis, after a hysterically built-up hype in the media over ‘trigger happy streaks of arrogant Americans’, Kerry has not been visiting with ‘good news’. He has mostly been coming here to deliver ‘do-more’-related messages. What will he demand during the forthcoming visit, is anybody’s guess.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2011.