Pakistan’s surreal Urdu media — I, Islam and the Media, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the Media

20 Aug 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Pakistan’s surreal Urdu media — I

By Aakar Patel May 25, 2011 The Pakistani’s uncomplicated view of the world is revealed in his Urdu press. A sample is available daily in the verse of Riaz urRehman Saghar, the poet published on Nawa-i-Waqt’s second page. He’s entertaining, but his trajectory is predictable: Citizens victims, Muslims pious, hukumran corrupt, Pakistan honourable, Amrika bad, Bharat worst. (Urdu writers refer to India as Bharat, rarely as Hindustan.) After over 160 people were slaughtered in Mumbai, Saghar wrote verse scolding India for making it up (“khel rachaya Bharat ne”). Sharing the page with Saghar is Tayyaba Zia Cheema, Nawa-i-Waqt’scorrespondent from New York. She wrote this on May 20: “Yeh faisla ab Pakistani qaum ko karna hai ke woh zillat ki zindagi jina chahti hai ya usay ghairat ki mot pasand hai.” What a strange thing to say. Why must Pakistan die so that Ms Cheema can feel honourable in New York? And why hector Pakistanis from there? http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-the-media/pakistan’s-surreal-urdu-media-—-i/d/5287