Quote – unquote
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Editorial, The News Iternational,Pakistan
Sunday, May 24, 2009
President Zardari has said that he did not say 'Waziristan is next' in an interview published by the London Sunday Times on May 17. The interview was subsequently widely referred to by our electronic and print media. Speaking on Friday last he said…"I had said the government would eliminate militancy wherever it felt the need to do so" - which is not the same as saying 'Waziristan is next.' There is no shortage of politicians who are quoted and 'on the record' one day and deny that they said anything of the sort the next – and not just politicians; everybody from soap-opera stars to scientists pontificating on swine-fever deny their words despite having been filmed and recorded as having said them. Much of the time the dispute about who said what and when is nothing more than a storm in a teacup and dies down as quickly as it flared up. But the president's alleged words which were published in a reputable newspaper carry weight - and in these troubled times, consequence. At least some of those leaving Waziristan now are moving as a direct result of the 'Waziristan is next' quote.
The puzzle with the president's most recent quote about his interview with the Sunday Times (conducted by Christina Lamb, who knows more than many western journalists about the ins and outs of Pakistani politics) is that nowhere in the interview is he quoted as saying 'the government would eliminate militancy wherever it felt the need to do so'. Nor does the word 'Waziristan' appear anywhere either – at least in the online version of the interview. The problem of the 'missing' quotes may lie in the difference between the printed and the electronic versions of the same interview. There are often significant differences in terms of content between the newspaper as sold to the customer on the street and the newspaper accessed online. Online content is sometimes edited differently to the print version of the paper, usually by a different team of people and not infrequently in a different building. As things stand we are unable to make a comparison between the two versions and thus cannot know definitively.
No matter, the president has said in an interview with a private TV channel that 'the government will hunt down the Taliban everywhere in the country' – and 'the country' clearly includes Swat but – arguably - not Waziristan. The status of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is hedged with ambiguity, and whilst they are considered a part of Pakistan by the federal government the inhabitants frequently feel very differently. Reports of an 'operation' – which is not an 'operation' according to the army spokesman – in South Waziristan Agency may be the first indicators that the army is going to take the fight into the Tribal Agencies, boots on the ground. Not since 2002 has the army ventured across the line and into the Agencies, but needs must when the devil drives. The president may or may not have said something like 'Waziristan is next' – and it is in a sense immaterial either way. Waziristan is next; and we support the army and the government in their fight against those who would drag us back to the Dark Ages; and if in the process a little enlightenment is brought to the obscurantists of FATA, then so be it.
Source
Sunday, May 24, 2009
President Zardari has said that he did not say 'Waziristan is next' in an interview published by the London Sunday Times on May 17. The interview was subsequently widely referred to by our electronic and print media. Speaking on Friday last he said…"I had said the government would eliminate militancy wherever it felt the need to do so" - which is not the same as saying 'Waziristan is next.' There is no shortage of politicians who are quoted and 'on the record' one day and deny that they said anything of the sort the next – and not just politicians; everybody from soap-opera stars to scientists pontificating on swine-fever deny their words despite having been filmed and recorded as having said them. Much of the time the dispute about who said what and when is nothing more than a storm in a teacup and dies down as quickly as it flared up. But the president's alleged words which were published in a reputable newspaper carry weight - and in these troubled times, consequence. At least some of those leaving Waziristan now are moving as a direct result of the 'Waziristan is next' quote.
The puzzle with the president's most recent quote about his interview with the Sunday Times (conducted by Christina Lamb, who knows more than many western journalists about the ins and outs of Pakistani politics) is that nowhere in the interview is he quoted as saying 'the government would eliminate militancy wherever it felt the need to do so'. Nor does the word 'Waziristan' appear anywhere either – at least in the online version of the interview. The problem of the 'missing' quotes may lie in the difference between the printed and the electronic versions of the same interview. There are often significant differences in terms of content between the newspaper as sold to the customer on the street and the newspaper accessed online. Online content is sometimes edited differently to the print version of the paper, usually by a different team of people and not infrequently in a different building. As things stand we are unable to make a comparison between the two versions and thus cannot know definitively.
No matter, the president has said in an interview with a private TV channel that 'the government will hunt down the Taliban everywhere in the country' – and 'the country' clearly includes Swat but – arguably - not Waziristan. The status of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is hedged with ambiguity, and whilst they are considered a part of Pakistan by the federal government the inhabitants frequently feel very differently. Reports of an 'operation' – which is not an 'operation' according to the army spokesman – in South Waziristan Agency may be the first indicators that the army is going to take the fight into the Tribal Agencies, boots on the ground. Not since 2002 has the army ventured across the line and into the Agencies, but needs must when the devil drives. The president may or may not have said something like 'Waziristan is next' – and it is in a sense immaterial either way. Waziristan is next; and we support the army and the government in their fight against those who would drag us back to the Dark Ages; and if in the process a little enlightenment is brought to the obscurantists of FATA, then so be it.
Source
Labels: FATA, Militants, Taliban, Terrorism, Tribal Areas, Waziristan, Zardari
posted @ 10:14 AM,
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