Pakistan may bask in the respectability gained by mediating between the US and Iran but the harsh realities are known to the world including the dire state of its economy, rescued only by successive IMF bailouts.
“Pakistan is in a very bad situation economically, and it is very fragile. On top of that, IMF conditions are making it worse,” US-based Pakistani journalist Marvi Sirmed told StratNewsGlobal on The Gist. Foreign investors have little interest in Pakistan because “who wants to invest in a country that is so destabilised by security issues?”
In her view, there is no creative thinking among Pakistan ‘s political class to pull the country’s economy out of the mess it is in. That Islamabad is now billed as a mediator (although messenger may be more appropriate), has less to do with the efforts of its political or diplomatic elite and more to do with its past associations with the US.
In her view, the blasphemy laws and Islamisation have combined to make Pakistan a hellish place for minorities and provided space for jihadi groups of every kind. Under Gen Pervez Musharraf’s government (2001-08), madrassas mushroomed.
“He gave free hand to mullahs in Sindh and Balochistan, the most liberal parts of Pakistan. That period also saw a lot of forced conversions of Hindu girls.”
Sirmed adds that everything we see today in Pakistan might have emanated from the beginning, but it was strengthened and intensified by Musharraf and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“It has changed so much that no politician is ready even to touch blasphemy laws today. Unless this is repealed and the entire structure of state, the entire polity, entire state structure decides, including the judiciary, including the government in office, including the establishment, that it will not tolerate any kind of public lynching, any kind of vigilantism, nothing can happen as Pakistan requires their seal of approval.”
She had a warning for other countries: “Wherever vigilante terror exists, we should nip this evil in the bud. Otherwise, you will become Pakistan.” Watch the whole conversation here.
ALSO WATCH PART ONE OF THIS CONVERSATION:
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