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The skeptical part of me says none of this actually happened and that the article is just a piece of publicity stunt. The other part thinks the author is too ca

by k_sze 7y ago

The skeptical part of me says none of this actually happened and that the article is just a piece of publicity stunt. The other part thinks the author is too careless/not paranoid enough: he just guaranteed himself a spot on a watchlist by publicly admitting that he deceived the officers who interrogated him.

vegiraghav 7y ago
And knowing Pakistanis both are equally possible.
- x3ro 7y ago
  How are social stereotypes relevant to this? The same could be said for India, Germany, the US...?
  - iamnotacrook 7y ago
    I think OP is implying talking to natives familiar with the culture confirms that the situation is not incredible. It's got nothing to do with stereotypes.
- amingilani 7y ago
  I'm Pakistani, would you say you know me well enough to judge whether every account I post online is truthful or not? If your answer to that is negative, then how can you make the same claim for the author?
artiste 7y ago
How familiar would you say you are with Pakistani culture? It really is not very hard to believe.
heraclius 7y ago
It’s quite plausible that he has friends in Pakistani intelligence; many journalists (and, in the past, Marxists) came from élite families. Tariq Ali’s interview in the London Review of Books is very illuminating.⁰ > Our house was often filled with peasant leaders, trade-union leaders, radical poets, essayists, short-story writers, and occasionally, not encouraged too much, members of the family, or old family friends. In Pakistan, the Communist Party was banned, and two of its leaders, Muslim intellectuals from India who’d been sent to fertilise the barren land which was now Pakistan, were trying to create a party. One of them was a brilliant literary critic, Sajjad Zaheer, who was the party secretary. When the party was banned, they went underground, and Zaheer was put up in our house, pretending to be a professor of literature from Aligarh University. One night we were eating supper and there was a knock on the door. In walked one of my grandfather’s oldest and dearest friends, but who happened also to be inspector-general of the country’s police force. In he came, sat down and ate with us. There was a slight nervousness, but the professor/underground CP leader carried it off brilliantly. He knew how to deal with these people, discuss literature and Quranic interpretation, but after supper he beat a retreat: ‘With your leave, sir, I’m tired, I’ll just retire to bed.’ The inspector-general of police turned to my parents, and said: ‘I wish all your friends were like that! Where did you find such a cultured guy?’ A week later, when he was looking at pics of the disappeared CP leaders, he saw that the person he’d met at dinner was actually on the most-wanted list! So, it was a contradictory existence, though I never had any doubts which side I was on. 0. David Edgar, “That was the year that was”, London Review of Books 40.10 (24 May 2018), pp. 3-10, https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n10/tariq-ali/that-was-the-year-that-was https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n10/tariq-ali/that-was-the-year-th...
slim 7y ago
the author is clearly an activist and courage is not something rational
amingilani 7y ago
Unfortunately, as another Pakistani, I can tell you first-hand this account sounds very credible. I've known startup founders coming back from conferences in South Asia being interviewed by "Intelligence" and their companies audited just because someone was curious. I've personally been tried to be interviewed for having a meeting at a foreign Consulate. The "Intelligence" may be hostile to journalists but their conduct is toxic to all civilians. Talking about this encounter is the best thing he could've done. Think of it as protection against enforced disappearance. He's already on a "watch list", why else did they interview him?

by k_sze 7y ago

vegiraghav 7y ago

And knowing Pakistanis both are equally possible.

x3ro 7y ago
How are social stereotypes relevant to this? The same could be said for India, Germany, the US...?
- iamnotacrook 7y ago
  I think OP is implying talking to natives familiar with the culture confirms that the situation is not incredible. It's got nothing to do with stereotypes.
amingilani 7y ago
I'm Pakistani, would you say you know me well enough to judge whether every account I post online is truthful or not? If your answer to that is negative, then how can you make the same claim for the author?

artiste 7y ago

How familiar would you say you are with Pakistani culture? It really is not very hard to believe.

heraclius 7y ago

It’s quite plausible that he has friends in Pakistani intelligence; many journalists (and, in the past, Marxists) came from élite families. Tariq Ali’s interview in the London Review of Books is very illuminating.⁰ > Our house was often filled with peasant leaders, trade-union leaders, radical poets, essayists, short-story writers, and occasionally, not encouraged too much, members of the family, or old family friends. In Pakistan, the Communist Party was banned, and two of its leaders, Muslim intellectuals from India who’d been sent to fertilise the barren land which was now Pakistan, were trying to create a party. One of them was a brilliant literary critic, Sajjad Zaheer, who was the party secretary. When the party was banned, they went underground, and Zaheer was put up in our house, pretending to be a professor of literature from Aligarh University. One night we were eating supper and there was a knock on the door. In walked one of my grandfather’s oldest and dearest friends, but who happened also to be inspector-general of the country’s police force. In he came, sat down and ate with us. There was a slight nervousness, but the professor/underground CP leader carried it off brilliantly. He knew how to deal with these people, discuss literature and Quranic interpretation, but after supper he beat a retreat: ‘With your leave, sir, I’m tired, I’ll just retire to bed.’ The inspector-general of police turned to my parents, and said: ‘I wish all your friends were like that! Where did you find such a cultured guy?’ A week later, when he was looking at pics of the disappeared CP leaders, he saw that the person he’d met at dinner was actually on the most-wanted list! So, it was a contradictory existence, though I never had any doubts which side I was on. 0. David Edgar, “That was the year that was”, London Review of Books 40.10 (24 May 2018), pp. 3-10, https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n10/tariq-ali/that-was-the-year-that-was https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n10/tariq-ali/that-was-the-year-th...

slim 7y ago

the author is clearly an activist and courage is not something rational

amingilani 7y ago

Unfortunately, as another Pakistani, I can tell you first-hand this account sounds very credible. I've known startup founders coming back from conferences in South Asia being interviewed by "Intelligence" and their companies audited just because someone was curious. I've personally been tried to be interviewed for having a meeting at a foreign Consulate. The "Intelligence" may be hostile to journalists but their conduct is toxic to all civilians. Talking about this encounter is the best thing he could've done. Think of it as protection against enforced disappearance. He's already on a "watch list", why else did they interview him?