Abstract:
Pakistan is an easy place for a journalist to work. Most Pakistanis, from
policemen to politicians, shopkeepers to soldiers, love to talk about politics. Admittedly, the more they know the less willing they are to speak
on the record but nevertheless Pakistan remains a very open country.
Indeed, Pakistan’s willingness to tolerate the scrutiny of local and foreign journalists is one of the reasons it has an image problem. Countries
such as Saudi Arabia manage to avoid hostile media coverage simply by
refusing to grant journalists sufficient access to do their work.
My first thanks, then, are to the many Pakistanis who were so willing to share their views with a foreign visitor. I should mention in particular the BBC’s long-standing Islamabad correspondent Zaffar Abbas,
who was remarkably generous with both his time and his unrivalled
knowledge of Pakistan. For over a decade now, he has had the unenviable task of explaining the finer points of Pakistani politics to successive BBC correspondents sent from London. Beyond expressing my
thanks, all I can say is that I look forward, one day, to reading a book
written by him.
I would also like to record my thanks to Shahid Abbasi, Idrees
Bakhtiar, Amit Baruah, Jaffar Bilgrami, Admiral (Retd.) Fasih Bokhari,
Cecil Chaudhry, Paul Danahar, Karen Davies, Michael and Kim
Keating, Ms. Ha, Hussain Haqqani, Mishal Husain, Abida Hussain,
Mushahid Hussain, Talat Hussain, Fakhar Imam, Chris and Valerie
