Who are we kidding?

Then we have the government's own TV channel and its supposed boss, the Information Ministry (when is it being disbanded?). For a second rather comical time, involving the public display of a hapless president, the head-honchos of PTV and the InfoMin failed to get their act together and again on September 20 President Asif Zardari, thanks to them, was made to look somewhat foolish. He needs to rev up his PR machine, and rather than relying on friendly amateurs get himself some competent professionals.

Still with September 20, we have another large disconnect with public and official perceptions of tragic and alarming events. Even more tragic and alarming and with a greater body count was the suicide bombing at Wah, in the midst of a military cantonment, on August 21 in which were killed some 80 poor and deprived Pakistani labourers (not diplomats or foreigners) and well over a hundred wounded, how many subsequently died we do not know.

Priorities are indeed wonky. There was no great national or international outcry about the outrage committed against members of the toiling awam. It was all forgotten within a couple of days - no elite space had been violated.

There is also a sort of disconnect when it comes to the daily toll of lives lost in the frontier areas where our religious warriors operate with seeming impunity. In the remote areas of Bajaur and Mohmand and so forth death and destruction is accepted as normal. The Taliban are with us, they form a part of this nation. They have support, it is said, from within the ranks of the army and intelligence agencies, and from those members of the public who subscribe to murder and violence in order to achieve their particular and peculiar heavenly ordained goals.

The Americans, unlike the Pakistanis who but pay lip service, do take the militant insurgency seriously. They are rightly concerned about Pakistan, as is much of the rest of the world, situated as it is. The myth floated that all would be well on the local terrorist front with the ousting of the hated by many erstwhile president, General Pervez Musharraf, has sadly been disproved. Since his departure, the militants have upped their anti-social activities, taking them to new heights.