The President’s speech

Mr President it’s harder to find good news when things are falling apart

President Arif Alvi gave his address to a joint session of parliament on Thursday amid the expected sloganeering by the treasury and opposition benches. But while sloganeering is, unfortunately, par for the course, the opposition truly marred the moment with a walkout. Unwillingness to listen to political opponents is something that the opposition has long-accused the ruling party of. Thus, they managed to establish that, in their own minds, they are no better than the ruling party.

That said, despite the own goal by the opposition, the President’s speech seemed to be a party pitch rather than a statement from an ostensibly neutral office. He exaggerated some of the ruling party’s achievements, then saw others where there are none to speak, and glossed over any failings. Among the things the President congratulated the nation for defeating terrorism, even though this was done mainly before the PTI even took office. He then listed providing shelter for Afghan refugees as an achievement when, at last check, most of them have been here for over 30 years, and the PTI has largely been trying to figure out how to send them back. He then tried to blame the media for the country’s problems, saying that not enough “positive news” was highlighted before comparing the media to children.

Mr President, we can tell you that journalists go out of their way to find feel-good stories. The problem is that it’s harder to find good news when things are falling apart. If anything, the media is more akin to teachers, politicians to children, and voters to parents. We are merely informing the parents of what their kids were up to at school. It is not our fault that we are teaching at a school for delinquent children. Maybe that is also why, on Kashmir, he overstated the government’s achievements. Yes, there were multiple UN meetings on Kashmir, but did they change the lives of the Kashmiris? He also somehow found a way to call Pakistan’s avoidance of a downgrade by international credit rating agencies an improvement. Or have we fallen to the point where avoiding failure is now seen as a success?

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2020.

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