Branding Nations -- II

yahyajamil #22

`` Perhaps the operation in Wana has escaped your attention. ``

What do you take me to be ? An idiot ???? For every move by the Pakistani government to change ways after Sep-11 there is a contradictory move. Either it indicates deep divisions inside the Pakistani establishment or it indicates a cynical game.

This is from yesterday`s LA Times

Just Another General

January 9, 2005

On Sept. 11, 2001, the main protector of the Taliban — and Al Qaeda — outside Afghanistan was the government of next-door Pakistan. But by the next day, President Pervez Musharraf had responded to Washington`s ``with us or against us`` ultimatum by throwing in with the United States. Sort of.

Musharraf then had been running Pakistan for two years, having seized power in a coup. After the 9/11 attacks he promised to step down as army chief of staff while keeping his presidential post, a promise he repeated as each year dawned. But when 2005 arrived, there was the president on television, telling the nation he just couldn`t take off the uniform yet: He needed to keep his army post so he could continue fighting terrorism.

That argument is not totally specious — Musharraf has twice survived assassination attempts by Islamic fundamentalists — but unless he does a far better job of using his combined civilian and military posts to improve Pakistan`s economy, educational system and political institutions, he`ll be just the latest in the country`s dismal list of generals who seized power and refused to let go.

Musharraf has rigged elections, proclaimed himself president and constantly insisted to Washington that it`s him or terrorism. After turning to hard-line Islamic parties for support, he is now trying to use the secular Pakistan People`s Party to undercut the Islamists.

The best thing for Pakistan now would be for him to let the PPP`s leader, Benazir Bhutto, back into the country and let her party and the rival but also secular Pakistan Muslim League choose their own candidates in elections.

When Pakistan promised to help hunt Osama bin Laden and block Al Qaeda fighters from fleeing across the border with Afghanistan, Washington rewarded it by ending sanctions and ordering an aid package of up to $3 billion. But the U.S. should insist on value for the money. The Bush administration should demand that Pakistan establish secular public primary schools to compete with fundamentalist madrasas that preach hatred of all religions except Islam.

Musharraf also has stiff-armed Washington in its attempts to talk with Abdul Qadeer Khan, who helped North Korea, Iran and Libya pursue nuclear weapons. The general claimed Khan was a ``rogue scientist`` and then pardoned him. Musharraf`s claim that Khan acted without the knowledge of top generals and civilian leaders is laughable.

Pakistan has alternated for most of its 57 years of independence between rule by corrupt civilian governments and by army generals. If Musharraf does nothing to improve his country, Washington should call him to account. The U.S. has billions of dollars worth of leverage; leaving it idle does no one any good.

bbabu,
`I would not hold Pakistani support for the Taliban in the 1990s against it if Musharraf did not cut the umblical cord completely. Sheltering ex-Taliban leaders and commanders in NWFP and allowing them to undermine Karzai reflects a desire not to mend one`s ways.`

Perhaps the operation in Wana has escaped your attention.

yahyajamil

People are selfish and suspicious. Many naysayers remain unsure of Pakistany`s long-term vision, goals, and strategie. This battle-scarred group can be convinced. They will need to clearly see that Pakistanis are concentrating all their energies on clarifying, completing, and protecting Pakistan`s policy shifts.

Pakistan`s finance ministe just won some reputable European prize for doing a great job. So the country does not have a bad reputation in all areas.

YahyaJamil saheb #8,
If you are worried about balance than let media regulate itself - through a process of democratic feedback. Any external control, given in a controlled mannner will just product a sycophant media.

yahyajamil #18

`` you are right that Pakistan carries a negative image in many more countries than those that view it favourably. Also, I agree that a majority of Americans have a negative opinion about Pakistan. However, it is strange that the reason for our negative image (support to Taliban) now that it has been reversed does not appear as a positive development for you. People and countries do follow policies that in hindsight appear shortsighted, but that does not mean that their effort to reverse them be ridiculed, unless it is an agenda to run down anything positive emnating from a particular country. Nobody is asking the world to forget Pakistan`s Afghan policy of 90`s as no one is asking the world to forget the American Afghan policy of 80`s that bred the so called jihaids. Today if India is trying to reverse the excesses that its security forces committed in Indian Held Kashmir, does not mean that these excesses and those unleashed by Jagmohan in 80`s be forgotten. History should not be forgotten, but we can of course forgive and move forward to a more tolerant relationship.``

I would not hold Pakistani support for the Taliban in the 1990s against it if Musharraf did not cut the umblical cord completely. Sheltering ex-Taliban leaders and commanders in NWFP and allowing them to undermine Karzai reflects a desire not to mend one`s ways.

arjun
you are right that Pakistan carries a negative image in many more countries than those that view it favourably. Also, I agree that a majority of Americans have a negative opinion about Pakistan. However, it is strange that the reason for our negative image (support to Taliban) now that it has been reversed does not appear as a positive development for you. People and countries do follow policies that in hindsight appear shortsighted, but that does not mean that their effort to reverse them be ridiculed, unless it is an agenda to run down anything positive emnating from a particular country. Nobody is asking the world to forget Pakistan`s Afghan policy of 90`s as no one is asking the world to forget the American Afghan policy of 80`s that bred the so called jihaids. Today if India is trying to reverse the excesses that its security forces committed in Indian Held Kashmir, does not mean that these excesses and those unleashed by Jagmohan in 80`s be forgotten. History should not be forgotten, but we can of course forgive and move forward to a more tolerant relationship.

labyrinth1 #9

`` Girls wearing mini skirts , same-sex weddings, media showing only Islamabad -- casinos and bars everywhere - if this happens Pakistan`s Image will be `positive` in West ... << if people thinks this should happen they are not sane !
We in Pakistan are not a perfect society , I am sure once Democracy is stable in Pakistan things will improve .. Mushraff made a good step by allowing `free media policy```

Why does it have to be always one extreme or the other ? Allowing a private media does not solve underlying problems per se. Corruption in India continues unabated despite a ``free press``.

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kaalchakra,
Please read the article in continuation with the first article and it will be clear that we need to clean our image as a nation and not target any particular country or society.

rsidhar,
I could not agree more with you about Gandhara and Budhhist legacy. However, the neglect is not because Pakistan has rejected it. It has more to do with a general lack of planning in promoting tourism. We seem to pay lip service while taking only cosmetic steps. That is one reason why a central agency to coordinate all that is positive is needed. This is true for all countries striving to improve their image.

Pakistan carries a +ve brand image in some countries, and -ve one in others. So the issue in this article is quite unclear. ``Improving a nation`s brand image`` is a diffrerent problem than ``improving a nation`s brand image in the West.``

re: post 11
Thanks for your reply.
I have said the same thing about India. India`s image is poor because it is viewed as a corrupt country which has not yet done everything it needs to for the benifit of the poor. One does not have to strive to build an image if one does the right thing. That was the point i was making.
This does not mean that Pak or India should not try and build on their assets. One of the great assets of Pak is its historical legacy. It is home to the Indus Civilization and a lot of leftovers of the Gandhara art, Buddhist sculptures etc are in Pak. It can project itself as a moderate muslim country (like Turkey) that has not rejected this legacy. This will also result in a boost to tourism. Unfortunately, Pak seems to have rejected this legacy.
Sridhar

rsridhar,
no country or society is perfect. The same goes for the developed nations of the West and India. When a country makes a concious effort to improve its image (as I am advocating), it cleans up a lot of acts, and that is one way of setting in a process of reformation. While I am not a fan of dictators, I do believe that there are many positives in every society and country (including Pakistan) that if projected can create a balance in the way that society or country is viewed.

re: this article
``...achieve the aim of creating a positive Pakistani Brand there is need for a dynamic agency that can conceive, coordinate and monitor the brand building effort at the national and international level between all the role-players....``
I thought the author would have learnt his lessons and not come back!
As i said before, if u do the right thing, u do not need to worry about your image. Despite the terrible Tsumani tragedy, one American couple gave the greatest compliment any foreigner can give to a foreign country by spelling out how friendly and helpful people were even during this tragedy and urged the tourists to keep coming back to Thailand.
There is the image building right there! Thais did not have to strive for it. Their good image will outlast this tragedy.
I also saw the newsclip in CNN about North Koreas threat to the world in general and the new concerns about proliferation. The group of countries that are proliferating included Paksitan! Pak was in the august company of nations like North Korea, Syria, Iran, Libya.
If Pak wants to create a good image, it has a tough job ahead. You need a good raw material to get a good finished product. Raw material of Pak is weak. Let Pakis worry about how to set things right at home and not bother about ``branding Pakistan``. Branding Pak, AFAIK, is a futile exercise.
Branding seems like an inappropirate term to use. One can say`` Creating a Pakistani brand name``. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines branding as
*to mark with disapproval : STIGMATIZE
or *to impress indelibly

Closest that the term ``branding`` comes to the subject at hand is that it denotes ``a mark made by burning with a hot iron to attest manufacture or quality or to designate ownership``
Now, we know how hard it is for Pak!
Sridhar

How to change Pakistani Image ?

Girls wearing mini skirts , same-sex weddings, media showing only Islamabad -- casinos and bars everywhere - if this happens Pakistan`s Image will be `positive` in West ... << if people thinks this should happen they are not sane !
We in Pakistan are not a perfect society , I am sure once Democracy is stable in Pakistan things will improve .. Mushraff made a good step by allowing `free media policy`

Friend,
I am certainly not advocating any sort of control, but trying to emphasise the point that media must stirke a balance between negativivty and a positive projection. That is what is the hall mark of the western media and even Indian media. Our media with its newfound freedom tends to at times delve too much into negativity.

Yahya Jamil-ul-Haq