In Khalid Hasan’s Honor

Pakistan: Dream Deferred or Denied?

'American trade policy discriminates against Pakistan' - Robert Hathaway

'Subdivide Pakistan into 16 provinces' - Shuja Nawaz

By Rana Fawad

Posted February 26, 2009 
 

WASHINGTON: Though we used to be on the receiving end in the late Khalid Hasan’s columns, he always exhibited professionalism as a journalist.

This view, expressed by Prof. Stephen Cohen, was shared by all speakers at an event held in honor of the late Pakistani-American journalist, author and translator Khalid Hasan (1934-2009), who died of cancer on February 5.

Organized by nine Washington-based nonprofits, the event (Pakistan: Dream Deferred or Denied?) was held on Wednesday (February 25, 2009) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Prominent among the cosponsors included the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Heritage Foundation, Middle East Institute, United States Institute of Peace, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Ambassador Teresita C. Schaffer, Director South Asia Program CSIS, and Stephen Cohen welcomed the guests.

The speakers included Stephen Cohen, Senior Fellow (Foreign Policy Studies, the Brookings Institution), J. Alexander Their (Senior Rule of Law Adviser, United States Institute of Peace), Shuja Nawaz (South Asia, Atlantic Council), Robert Hathaway (Director, Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), and Marvin Weinbaum (Scholar-in-Residence, Middle East Institute). 

The proceedings were divided into two panel discussions. First session was moderated by Lisa Curtis.  

Prof. Stephen told the audience that Khalid Hasan would write what was right in his view and added that when an Iraqi journalist threw shoes on President George Bush, Khalid took a position which was highly unpopular in Pakistan.  

The professor referred to Khalid Hasan’s column in which he criticized the Iraqi journalist for breaching the trust that gives journalists proximity to presidents and other high officials so that they could carry out their journalistic duties. “Journalists should use their pens and cameras not their shoes to express themselves,” the professor quoted from Khalid Hasan’s column. 

Elaborating on Pakistan’s situation, Prof. Stephen commented that the United States ignored Pakistan’s domestic problems as well as nuclear program in the past. He regretted that the Bush administration missed an opportunity to help set things right in Pakistan after 2002. He said unfortunately the American policy was focused on one person, General Pervez Musharraf, who was not up to the task than Ayub Khan (Pakistan’s former military ruler in the 1960s). 

Referring to the last sentence (is it too late for Pakistan) of his book The Idea of Pakistan, Prof. Stephen remarked, “I can’t give you an answer for that.” He explained that the book dealt with several scenarios of Pakistan’s future.

He expounded that although parts of Pakistan seem to be turning into radical Islamic sub-states, he doesn’t think it’s going to become an Islamic state. In his view chances of a functioning democracy are also slim, though parts of the country operate under democratic norms and values.  

As for the possibility of military dictatorship, Prof. Stephen said it was possible again and it could be an incompetent but benign government like General Musharraf’s rule. He added that it could also continue as an elite dominated coalition of military and political forces.  

The senior analyst commented that the possibility of Pakistan continuing in the future as a stable, benevolent elite dominated country is probably less than what I thought it would have been five or eight years ago.  

Enumerating Pakistan’s problems, Prof. Stephen remarked that “Economy under Musharraf did not prosper” and added that “Pakistan is ill-equipped to deal with the modern globalization.”  

In his opinion Pakistan’s army is facing three challenges at present: India, tribal areas, and domestic radicalism.  

However, he termed Pakistan’s nongovernment organizations and moderate youth as a positive sign for the future of the country. Similarly, he believes that Pakistan’s neighbors including India do want to see Pakistan a stable country. He pointed out that it is the time for American diplomacy to align other nations like China, India, and Saudi Arabia to promote stability in Pakistan. 

Paying tribute to the late journalist, J. Alexander Thier, Senior Rule of Law Adviser, United States Institute of Peace, said journalists like Khalid Hasan were the only conduits of information on emerging problems in Afghanistan in when the western media was not covering this region.  

He told the audience that Khalid Hasan employed humor in his columns to express his view on various issues and read out an excerpt from his column he had written against a proposed Sharia bill in the previous provincial assembly of the North-West Frontier Province. Khalid Hasan wrote, “The adopted bill in the NWFP assembly for the second time is a slap in the face of the vast majority of the people of Pakistan who abhor the mullah’s Islam which is a travesty of Islam’s inner spirit of rationalism, decency and tolerance.” 

Alexander commented that the excerpt was striking to him over and over because this perspective was shared by so many Pakistanis that he had come to know.  

Referring to the current situation in Pakistan, he remarked, “I think we all are deeply troubled by the combination of political fragmentation and radicalization that is occurring there.”  

“The story of political fragmentation is an old one,” he said and added that unfortunately in some ways it has contributed over and over to the swing of pendulum between democracy and totalitarianism. 

Explaining the radicalization, particularly in the frontier region, he was of the view that basically there was no outlet for politics. He said that the absence of possibilities of actively participating in economic development of Pakistan could create an enormous potential for people to support political movements which take advantage of their frustration.

Alexander pointed out that loose nukes or the threat of loose nukes, jihadists, and economic meltdown have made Pakistan a high priority on the US security agenda. He told the audience that the Obama administration was extremely concerned about Pakistan.

He suggested that to address the fears about Pakistan the policy should be geared towards how to engage Pakistani society. Referring to his own visits to different Pakistani areas and meetings with Pakistanis, Alexander remarked that at human level I think Pakistani society is fundamentally a tolerant society.

He termed the explosion of free media in Pakistan a positive development and said that it helped engage the society in an informed debate.

Remembering Khalid Hasan, Lisa Curtis (Heritage Foundation) said most of us were deeply shocked at the news of his passing.