Meeting the Ambassador

By Hammad Anwar 
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When I got the tweet from US Consulate Lahore asking about my email id as they had to send some invitation, my first guess was that it would something related to social media. To my great surprise, it turned out to be an invitation to a small group discussion with US Ambassador Richard Hoagland. I would be lying if I said that this didn’t excite me. I was really looking forward to a discussion with the senior most US diplomat of my country.

Upon reaching the place, I was warmly greeted by the hosts and was introduced to other participants as well. The theme of the discussion was to be ‘Youth Activism in the country’ but upon the arrival of Ambassador, the discussion started with the upcoming General Elections in the country. The question poised was that would the social media will play a role in bringing out the voters, especially the youth, who previously have been away from the voting process? The participants were of the view that indeed there is much more awareness as it was before in the country but still it didn’t constitute the majority of the population. So, it was early to conclude the real affect, which would only show during the actual elections. The participants were quick to point out that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf is the pioneer in using the social media as a campaigning tool.

US Ambassador kept the discussion lively and casual, he was more open to listening than giving out statements though he did explain the policies and the objectives of US government in improving the ties. One of the strategies he was working on was to have more interaction with different groups from the civil society. He was in agreement that Pak-USA relationship has been what he called a “roller coaster ride” over the years, dating back to initial years. The rocky relationship has left some wounds which are yet to heal.

Following up with the point, there were concerns that since there are anti-American sentiments in the society thus their aid and efforts in improving the infrastructure, like the 300km road built in Waziristan, has been futile. News bulletin about Drone strike followed up by paid advertisements of US Aid, not only leaves a backlash in the minds of masses plus it also leads to confusion about what exactly US wants. This dual policy leaves a rather distorted image of their efforts to improve the ties.

The question of human rights were raised at the same time, where a participant made reference to USA`s silence on the human rights violations during General Zia era. He pointed that even today, a certain Scholar-turned-Tv-Celebrity is always issued USA visa even when he has openly advocated murder of a certain minority sect. So the point was raised that the USA government needs to be clear and consistency on all fronts.

Another point raised though not thoroughly debated was that US should deal with the elected leadership of the country, to which Ambassador`s answer was that they come to talk to the “leaders” who can actually come forward and take decision. Now these are from the civilians or establishment it shouldn’t be the issues as they are basically reaching out the real stakeholders. Personally I agree with the point, in the sense that Pakistan has long way to go till we actually divide roles of establishment and civilian government. We are not a country like Turkey where you can send 3 Generals home with one written order, last time someone tried doing this in Pakistan; we were stuck in dictatorship for almost a decade. Thus personally I believe it’s high time to accept how things are, come out of idealistic worlds and adopt unified national policies on international and domestic issues.

The Ambassador was of the view that even USA is carrying about many development programs in the country yet it is not accordingly credited with. Number of suggestions came up in reference to that with one being that US can work with other nations under international banner like UN. This would help US to take a back seat yet support the initiatives and efforts which they believe in betterment of the society.

The original topic Social Media was somewhat lost in the discussion but eventually came out in the later stage. The phenomena of social media have left impact on the country, where Ambassador pointed out there is a large silent readership, who even without leaving their prints in form of comments, still read and make up their own opinion about it. It is too early to properly determine the extent to which it can and will play role in the country. The discussion ended on hopes from both sides that they were taking something out of it.