[Assam] From the Dawn - PATRIOTISM and ‘national interest’

[Ram Sarangapani]

The Dawn has some of the best editorials one can come across, and I have
been reading some of these for years.

Ayaz Amir, Irfan Hussien and Jawed Naqvi are wonderful (Naqvi more
pro-Pakistani, and I think based in New Delhi as their correspondent).  And
then there was Ardeshir Cowasjee.

I don't see Amir or Cowasjee any more. During the Mushraraf days, I could
have sworn they all lived in the UK (and not in Pakistan) - because of their
often strong criticisms of Mush.
Cowasjee could take one down the pre-Independence days, and outline a vivid
history of merchant shipping, harbors, and life in general of those days.

I agree, most of the time the OpEds were balanced, and it was
always intriguing to read the Pakistani view of India

BTW: the Dawn has a new look. The other thing I like about the Dawn is that
it is not loaded with millions of pop-ups like the TOI.


--Ram


On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 10:27 PM, Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I don't about you guys, but I read the Dawn once in a while. It is a
> forward looking newspaper that gives balanced viewpoint  most of the time,
> contrary to what we hear about Pakistan from Indian news source.
> The following may be of interest to you.
> Dilip Deka
> ===========================================================
> Pakistan
> National interest
> Dawn Editorial
> Saturday, 21 Feb, 2009 | 11:44 AM PST |
> Is it patriotic to defend one's country even if its case is based on denial
> or half-truths? — AP
> PATRIOTISM and 'national interest' are amorphous ideas that defy
> definition. Dictionaries equate patriotism with a love of your country and a
> willingness to defend it, but that only lands us in even murkier territory.
> Besides implying a person's affinity for the land where he or she was born
> or raised, what exactly does 'love of your country' mean? Does it make a
> citizen duty-bound to expose the nation's most deep-rooted and abhorrent
> problems or to hush them up so that the country's image is not tarnished?
> Then there is the question of defending the country. Battlefield combat and
> fighting off invaders is the preserve of the military. But on the civilian
> level, are Pakistanis obliged to defend their country in the face of
> criticism even if the case for the defence is based on denial or
> half-truths? Some say that patriotism and national interest, as defined by
> the entrenched elite, involves going about life with blinkers on, ignoring
> the
>  inequity, injustice, hypocrisy and religious bigotry that, unfortunately,
> are the hallmarks of today's Pakistan. Others, usually those who benefit
> most from the system as it stands, disagree. We should count our blessings
> and focus on what is good, they insist, instead of highlighting the
> country's shortcomings however grave they may be. These are deep waters, for
> one man's meat is another's poison.
> The media at large was asked at a seminar on Thursday to question the
> definition of national interest. As one speaker put it, 'there are many
> centres of power — [the] army, politicians, agencies, religious groups and
> the government — and they define and redefine national interest from their
> own perspectives.' This assessment is spot on. Vested interest has long been
> conflated in Pakistan with the public or national good, to the political or
> monetary enrichment of the powerful and the detriment of the people. This
> was inevitable in a country that has been ruled by military dictators and
> inept or corrupt politicians in the grip of delusions of grandeur. Some, it
> could be argued, didn't really lose touch with reality, as it so often
> happens with those entombed in the corridors of power and surrounded by
> sycophants. They were just individuals with nobody's interest at heart
> except their own.
> Questioning national interest is one thing. Defining it, for reasons
> outlined at the outset, is another matter altogether. We are citizens of a
> country whose very identity is still open to question some 62 years after
> independence. Do we lean towards the Middle East or the immediate east or
> are we somehow unique in ourselves? Some soul-searching is in order if we
> are to escape the web of deceit and deception that has imprisoned us and our
> country. Patriotism, after all, can be the last refuge of scoundrels.
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