Pakistan Eye of the Storm

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