The TIME 100 list of Most Influential People in the World is out. This year, rather than honoring our Army Cheif Gen. Pervez Kiyani, TIME has honored the Intelligence Chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha. Now, that is what we call a class example of narrow-mindedness and self-serving attitude. The write-up for Pasha was written by Michael Hayden, a former CIA director. In his write-up, Hayden has portrayed Pasha as a cause of all troubles in the South Asia. The article of Hayden is also a nice example of bigotry - in his open lines, he ran Pasha down the mud and in the ending lines, anticipating him to play "nice". Having Lt. Gen. Pasha in that list is no matter of honor. It shows that the centers of influence in American cannot see anything other than their ongoing 'constipation' aka The War of Terror. Later this year, a decade would end for the war in Afghanistan but it seems that the war will never end. The war would have been won if Bush would have not meddled with Iraq. Waging two 'genocidal' wars not only destabilized the region but his act of cleansing out the evil-doers backfired. Furthermore, the war against terror has turned into the war feeding terror as the most causalities in this war have never been Americans, they have been Pakistani. Our public and government is considered 'a partner' but it never shows like that in the American media. The American media is been fairly unbiased and unfriendly in this whole blood game of war.
On the flip side, the question arises that are we producing influential leaders or not. My answer to this is "Yes" and "No". Pakistan has its share of its good influence. We have examples like Edhi who helps people not only in his country but also outside Pakistan. We have the example of Imran Khan who energized the much required relief efforts in Pakistan and prohibited to make much of an political issue out of it. We have the example of Shahid Afridi who united the country, locally and internationally, and brought the cricket team back into the semi-final against arch-nemesis India and even after losing against India, he handled defeat. Thanks to Mr. Afridi, there is more cricket on the streets and on the grounds more than ever. How about mentioning Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi along with Rohan Bopanna? Both of the guys showed a perfect example of co-existential harmony. Sadly, nobody will see these in these lights because us Pakistanis would like to talk about the good we have. Indeed, Pakistan is a troubled country but it still has the pocket of goodness. The reason of I said "No" because not a single write-up has been written by a Pakistani in the TIME 100. If music producer like B.O.B can write a appraising piece for Bruno Mars, why can't we? Surely we would have better example and TIME would not have to include Justin Bieber and Blake Lively in the list for the sake of 'influence'.
Furthermore, the list also misses out the names of Khaled Mohammed Saeed and Mohammed Bouazizi. Death of both of these guys played important bringing about the change in Egypt and Tunisia. Furthermore, the influence of Bouazizi's death started the Tunisian movement of revolution. This death hold importance as it is changing the face of the world's political scene. The Arab leaders of today might not be there tomorrow. However, we see Wael Ghonim, an Google employee from Egypt who happens to be married to an American, on the top of the list. The write-up was written by Mohammed el-Baradi, the former chief of IAEA. Indeed, Mr. Ghonim was one of the admin of the Facebook page, "We all are Khaled Said" for which he faced interrogation. However, making him the face of the Arab Spring does not make any sense. I am not calling Mr. Ghonim, an opportunist and I believe that his name should have been there in the list but TIME's editorial team did not consider the guys who made it all happen. TIME needs to stop having an American-friendly face on their important lists and honors. If they want to stay credible, they should stop playing it safe and 'put their game face up'.
On the flip side, the question arises that are we producing influential leaders or not. My answer to this is "Yes" and "No". Pakistan has its share of its good influence. We have examples like Edhi who helps people not only in his country but also outside Pakistan. We have the example of Imran Khan who energized the much required relief efforts in Pakistan and prohibited to make much of an political issue out of it. We have the example of Shahid Afridi who united the country, locally and internationally, and brought the cricket team back into the semi-final against arch-nemesis India and even after losing against India, he handled defeat. Thanks to Mr. Afridi, there is more cricket on the streets and on the grounds more than ever. How about mentioning Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi along with Rohan Bopanna? Both of the guys showed a perfect example of co-existential harmony. Sadly, nobody will see these in these lights because us Pakistanis would like to talk about the good we have. Indeed, Pakistan is a troubled country but it still has the pocket of goodness. The reason of I said "No" because not a single write-up has been written by a Pakistani in the TIME 100. If music producer like B.O.B can write a appraising piece for Bruno Mars, why can't we? Surely we would have better example and TIME would not have to include Justin Bieber and Blake Lively in the list for the sake of 'influence'.
Furthermore, the list also misses out the names of Khaled Mohammed Saeed and Mohammed Bouazizi. Death of both of these guys played important bringing about the change in Egypt and Tunisia. Furthermore, the influence of Bouazizi's death started the Tunisian movement of revolution. This death hold importance as it is changing the face of the world's political scene. The Arab leaders of today might not be there tomorrow. However, we see Wael Ghonim, an Google employee from Egypt who happens to be married to an American, on the top of the list. The write-up was written by Mohammed el-Baradi, the former chief of IAEA. Indeed, Mr. Ghonim was one of the admin of the Facebook page, "We all are Khaled Said" for which he faced interrogation. However, making him the face of the Arab Spring does not make any sense. I am not calling Mr. Ghonim, an opportunist and I believe that his name should have been there in the list but TIME's editorial team did not consider the guys who made it all happen. TIME needs to stop having an American-friendly face on their important lists and honors. If they want to stay credible, they should stop playing it safe and 'put their game face up'.
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