Inside Pakistan

TW: Londonstani is a pseudonym for a reporter from the Abu Maqawama blog. His stories reflect the challenges we face in Pakistan. No doubt our use of targeted missile strikes inside Pakistan does not curry favor with many locals. Nor does our support of the Pakistani elites who are frequently corrupt (kind like many of our elites). On the other hand, Pakistan's comfort with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda means we are bound for a certain level of conflict. Oh the conundrums...

From Abu Muqawama blog:
"...Part of the reason for Londonstani's tour was to find out what the much-mentioned "real" Pakistanis think. In Londonstani's mind this phrase is used when people mean "poor, probably illiterate and unexposed to Western media, outlooks or views". There is a nagging feeling then that wealthy, literate (at least in English) and Western educated/travelled Pakistanis are then "unreal", however, that is another discussion.

What follows is a summary of many conversations had in Punjab, Pakistani Kashmir, NWFP and Sindh:

In very stark terms; the army has lost its traditional authority as the only neutral and relatively competent public institution. Previously, the army stepped in to separate warring tribes in FATA. Now the tribes gang up to take on the army. It's previous aura has gone.

The government is full of incompetent crooks, installed by the Americans, who are like rabbits in headlights when it comes to the country's many economic and political problems (not even counting security). While the country slides off a cliff, the ruling party guys line their pockets and wait for the last plane to Dubai/London. The government is not providing educational services, electricity, water, jobs or anything else. At the same time, for the average man or woman any interaction with the government is likely to be short and brutal or long and grindingly painful. This is true whether to you getting paperwork done or are stopped for a driving offence.

Outside the main cities, the army/police is not in control. Even in the towns where they have garrisons, they are boxed in. There's a definite sense that "ungoverned spaces" are expanding and government control is shrinking. On certain main roads in Punjab (let alone NWFP or Sindh) locals advise against driving at night in case of banditry.

In terms of perception of religious observance and its role in public life, there seems to be a shift towards the more severe and less tolerant. This doesn't necessarily translate always into practice, but more a shared understanding that more severe and more rigid must equal more righteous, and that those who are very severe (or even just look it) must be deferred to.

Now, where this gets scary is when you hear a conversation like:
Person 1: "The Taliban couldn't have blown up the market in Peshawar because a Muslim wouldn't do that."
Person 2: "No, the Americans did it. But you know, the market that got blown up catered for women. And you know it's haram for women to go out of the house."
http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2009/11/pakistan-dispatch-state-nation.html