Pakistan - your questions answered

Christina Lamb responds to Fellows' enquiries following her article in the Spring Journal

Following on from her interview with human rights activist Asma Jahangir in the Spring edition of the RSA Journal, Christina Lamb answers questions from Fellows on that feature and wider Pakistani politics.

Christina Lamb is foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and has been twice awarded Foreign Correspondent of the Year in the British Press Awards and the BBC What The Papers Say event. For more information about her, go to www.christinalamb.net.

In Morgan Spurlock's film 'Where is Osama Bin Laden?' he comes to the conclusion Bin Laden is probably in Pakistan. Have you seen the film and is Bin Laden's potential presence in Pakistan something that is on the political radar of the country?

I have not yet seen the film, but some years ago I had a bet with a senior official at the US State Department that Bin Laden was in Pakistan � so I guess that makes my view clear! It�s hard for me to imagine he can still be in Afghanistan with some 50,000 foreign troops there. In Pakistan he is still widely admired. The government itself admits he could be in the tribal areas.

The US has provided almost a billion dollars annually to Pakistan for its "fight against militancy" since 2001 � what is it getting for its money?

That's a good question. General Musharraf would say his administration has been responsible for the capture of hundreds of al-Qaeda militants and the foiling of several plots, plus the Pakistani army has lost more men fighting militants in the tribal areas than the entire NATO force in Afghanistan. Yet others might say it is suspicious that the six most senior al-Qaeda members captured so far were all living in residential areas of Pakistan, even in the military cantonment in the case of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. And odd too, that these captures always seem to come on the eve of a visit to Pakistan by a senior US official. The US � and Britain � certainly believe that Musharraf is their great ally and that is why they have lobbied so hard for him to remain after February's elections in which his party was decimated.

How stable is the coalition government in Pakistan?

No government made up of two such bitter rivals can really be stable. It was a marriage of convenience for a nation shocked by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. But already splits are starting to appear - for example over the continuation of Musharraf as president and the restoration of the judiciary, fired by Musharraf last November. Nawaz Sharif campaigned on ousting Musharraf and bringing back the judges but Asif Zardari seems to be prepared for Musharraf to remain in office and, although he has finally agreed on restoring the judges, it is still unclear how and when.

Has democracy really taken root in Pakistan - is it something that the populace genuinely desires?

The people of Pakistan have not had a very happy experience of democracy, which is why whenever the generals have taken over they have usually been welcomed. Sadly, the Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif governments of the 1980s and 90s (they each had two spells in office) spent much of their time making money and locking up opponents rather than improving the lives of the people.

The military insists it never wants to take power but is pushed into it by opposition politicians. Before she died, Benazir said to me that the greatest lesson she had learnt was that it is impossible to have democracy without a loyal opposition.

However, the army needs to give democracy a chance for once � it�s a sad fact that the only elected government ever to complete its term in Pakistan was that of Gen Musharraf.

Is there a chance Asma will go into politics? Are there any other leading female political figures on the rise?

I don�t see Asma going into politics as she feels she is more useful on the outside. To her, politics is still too dominated by feudal lords who switch back and forth depending on who is in power and don�t really want to change the status quo.

There are some impressive women politicians. For example, Abida Hussein (despite her feudal background and tendency to switch sides � she did not get elected this time round); Sherry Rehman, who is now information minister; and Fatima Bhutto who covets her late aunt�s mantle, although the family is split on its support. Plus, the outgoing Pakistan ambassador to Britain is a woman, Maleeha Lodhi. 

How effective is the media in Pakistan, is it independent?

Pakistan has a flourishing media. There are a number of very good newspapers in English and Urdu which have excellent columnists, although the news reporting tends to be what I call statement journalism � just reprinting the statements of politicians or leaks from the military (both of whom often pay for the privilege). However, illiteracy is very high so these only go to a small number of people.
 
In the last few years a large number of private TV stations have been set up and these are very influential. During the judges movement last year it was these that they were announcing where the chief justice was going so people could gather. For this reason Musharraf took them off air when he declared his state of emergency last November.

What are the conditions for the average woman in Pakistan; are there any initiatives like the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh?

Benazir Bhutto set up a woman�s bank called First Women Bank to help women with loans to set up small businesses. But they will often pass most of the money onto their husbands and it�s still a very difficult place for women, particularly in rural and tribal areas where honour killings are common and girls are often raped in feuds to bring shame on their families. I recommend reading the story of Mukhtar Mai - www.mukhtarmaiwwo.org

How do you personally cope with hearing upsetting stories such as Asma's � do you take it home with you?

I don't really see Asma's story as upsetting so much as inspiring - it's people like her who make my job worth doing, otherwise it could all seem rather hopeless. Her work has pioneered great changes in both women's rights and bonded labour in Pakistan.

But it's hard not to be affected by all the terrible things one sees and hears as a foreign correspondent in these areas, particularly in the case of Zimbabwe where it all seems hopeless. Pakistan at least always seems to muddle through.