Uncertain Days

NOVEMBER 1996 - Perhaps the caretakers mean business and perhaps they don’t. As usual, speculation runs high and there is no shortage of ‘authentic’ information doing the rounds, but if the national broadcast of the President earlier this week was any indication of the way things are going to be, permit the already cynical Pakistani to snigger.

Pakistan Television before La Sheikh and after her, has had the utmost contempt for its own schedule, observing its violation rather than its observance as a general rule. It would continue to advertise its schedule of daily programmes and then ensure almost with a twisted sense of the absurd, to make departures from it without ever being apologetic for it. Thus viewers in Pakistan began to learn the hard art of endurance as day after day they would sit in front of the idiot box watching in painful agony as their favourite programmes would not air even long after their due time. Complaints and even calls to stations made by angry and frustrated viewers were met with cold and indifferent replies. No body gave a damn. This was long before we began to switch to Doordarshan which was the first alternative the viewers had. Followed later by NTM and then the arrival of the satellite dish at least retorted the balance somewhat in favour of the viewers. Today, of course, with the proliferation of the satellite dish, PTV’s decades old despotism has come to an end. Thanks to the new technology which is PTV-proof and thanks to that wonderful slim, black plastic case which simply allows you to flick off the damn set or send you channel surfing, we are free at last.

It was the lucky ones who had the gadget who escaped PTV’s disgusting clutches the night the President was to address the nation. For a country used to addresses by Presidents, Prime Ministers and ‘well-meaning’ dictators, this one wasn’t going to be any different, but since the government had been dissolved, people were anxious to learn what was next in store for them. For reasons that are not known to us, the broadcast originally scheduled after the 9 pm bulletin, was delayed and then as one ‘milli naghma’ painfully rolled into another ‘milli naghma’ the viewers had no choice but to keep waiting or switching channels, returning to PTV to find another dreadful song blaring out. There was no announcement, there was no word from PTV as to what had happened to the speech of the President. A new time for the bulletin was announced for 11 pm but event that was not honoured. The President finally came on at 11:20 almost two hours behind schedule. Surely this instilled no confidence in the new setup.

If one assumes for a moment that there were complications in Islamabad and that the speech had not been recorded (although these things are done hours in advance) and therefore the schedule announced could not be followed, what prevents PTV from taking a minute out and sharing the delay with their viewers ? Is it that they cannot think of this ? Is it that they are incapable of making this announcement ? Is it that the thought doesn’t cross their mind or is it that they simply don’t give a damn ? We all know it’s the last reason which governs this heavy - handed and indifferent medium. The comments of the viewers are of no concern to PTV because it owes its viewers nothing. It is a bureaucratic and unimaginative organisation which plods on in this day of global communications, much the same way as an ox would on a high speed motorway. It doesn’t take an army of writers, commentators and producers to prepare a statement that simply tells the viewers that there is a delay. It doesn’t need too much imagination either. It simply is a state of mind. What PTV’s attitude and performance achieved that night was further discredit to the government and since this was a new setup, it was the worst launching pad for them. The credibility of what was to follow when the President began to speak was already eroded by the time he got going.

Of course in the larger contest of the crisis that we are in, one bungled broadcast from PTV is going to make no difference to the dice which is going to roll this way or that, or given the way things run in this country, not even roll at all. The sacking of the arrogant and unpopular government of Benazir Bhutto has, after the euphoria has died down, been replaced with more uncertainty. Our future which has almost always been gloomy and despondent seems to be still mired in doubt and fear with the coming days full of apprehension and worry. It is a pity that a lady who gets sacked twice over is still unable to comprehend what was horribly wrong with her government. What has been done may be illegal and unconstitutional or whatever but the fact is that only two hundred demonstrators came out the other day to support her. It seems that elections here are won by parties who get votes from people for the wrong reasons and our leaders have no public following. When Mr. Bhutto died there was hardly the uprising that we all expected. His daughter’s ouster has not made any one shed a tear. As other countries march on, concerning themselves and devoting all their energies to improving their quality of life, we are still struggling to stay afloat. In all this, it is amazing to hear my school friend the ex-press minister of the mango fame embassy of Pakistan in London, defending Ms. Bhutto’s incompetence and corruption. What price blind loyalty ?