Pakistan’s Urdu Columnists Live in the La-La Land of Conspiracy Theories

I was most amused in a strange, tragic way as to what nonsense is churned out as ‘opinion’ and ‘analysis in Pakistan’s mainstream vernacular media. I had once written about it as well here. True to his incisive reputation, CM Naim’s piece is extraordinarily well written and revealing. Raza Rumi

By: C.M. Naim – For the past five or six months I’ve been reading fairly regularly the web pages of three Urdu newspapers from Pakistan: Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt and the Express. I glance at the headlines cursorily then immediately turn to the columnists. Most days, each of the three carries a minimum of six columnists. Some of them are big names; they frequently appear on TV shows, get regularly invited to the President’s residence, and travel with the Prime Minister on important trips. These gentlemen never let you forget all that. One or two even give details of the food served on such occasions—there is always plenty of food served, not just a cup of tea, when they visit with any dignitary.

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