© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium

without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Our Presidential Spokesman

This story further strengthens my belief that some of our funny politicians will take a long long time [repetition intended] to learn what democracy and governance is. Bad luck for them, Pakistan doesn’t have the luxury of time and we need to do something about it [we’ll discuss this in the future. Let’s laugh now!]

Presidential spokesmen are supposed to maintain high standards of public conduct but obviously not in Pakistan where foreign-brokered deals often bring fake democrats to power.

A simple fact is that the Presidency released an official photograph of the President and the Prime Minister with the Pakistan Cricket Team. This official photograph taken inside the Presidency showed no trace of the traditional portrait of the Quaid-e-Azam. Instead there were four – not one but four – portraits of PPP leaders on the wall behind the President and the team members.

Instead of firing off an angry statement [The News, 1 July 2009] full of fume and bluster, Mr. Babar could have admitted an oversight, acknowledged the importance of the official portrait of the Founding Father of the nation, and ended the controversy by saying this will not be repeated.  While at it, he could have also taken the courtesy of giving full respect to the ‘Quaid-e-Azam’ instead of repeating the single word ‘Quaid’ several times in his statement. [He should excuse us since we Pakistanis are lost now with so many permanent ‘Quaids’ leading our illustrious political parties.]

But instead Mr. Babar ended up giving us a long lecture about “the detractors of the Bhuttos,” the “Bhutto-haters,” and my favorite line, “It is a measure of the greatness of the Bhuttos that even a mention of their name boils the blood of the detractors forcing them to stoop as low as to fabricate lies.”

Is this how a Presidential Spokesman should sound like in a large and important nation? He is right in a sense because it is not true that the portrait of the Founding Father has been removed from the Presidency. But why should the Presidency release an official photograph showing the framed pictures of four party leaders and none for the man who should be there in the first place? Is there no Protocol Officer in the Presidency who could prevent such blunders?

And when will we see people like Mr. Babar act professionally like government officials should and not like some smalltime party activist shouting street slogans?

Posted at Ahmed Quraishi’s The Lounge. Comments are welcome. Please click and post.

Here’s a bonus ‘cartoon’:

© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium

without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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