Why most Pakistanis hate US policies?: The News

By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Judith A McHale’s “excellent” work and the New York Times’ reported Helene Cooper’s “exclusive” story might have made the day for the two but I am set to be declared any time as an al-Qaeda member and then killed inhumanly without being given the chance to defend myself.

The NY Times’ August 20th story “US officials get a taste of Pakistanis’ anger at America” reflects how smartly Washington and the US media make villains. I never had any doubt about their bias towards us — the Muslims and Pakistanis — but I never thought one day I myself would taste the magic of their lethal combination.

In my “one-on-one” recent meeting with Ms McHale, the Obama administration’s new under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, in Islamabad I did say that “we hate you” rather went on to the extent of telling her that “you” are callous, inhuman and cruel and that “you” have no respect for human lives. All this was said in a particular context and had a special reference but the way McHale quoted me in the New York Times suggests as if Ansar Abbasi hates McHale and that we Pakistanis hate all Americans.

First, I believe that the US under secretary was unfair to have picked up only me and my selected but mutilated “quotes” from our 30-40 minutes long interaction though she met other 16 Pakistani journalists and eight officials too. There is no explanation as to why I was treated so “specially”. Secondly, to my reckoning this “one-on-one” meeting, which was though also attended by Gonzalo Gallegos, Consular for Public Affairs in the US Embassy in Islamabad, and Joe Mellot, McHale’s special assistant, was a background interaction but it turned out to be an opportunity to portray me as a villain in the US media.

I don’t have any problem to say in public what I uttered in the conference room of the Islamabad hotel with McHale but I was never expecting that the apparently polite lady would turn out to be so impolite. At least, an old lesson stands reiterated — never trust the Americans.

In respect of Helene Cooper of the world’s most renowned and one of the most influential newspapers The New York Times, one can only wonder if the media ethics in the US allow a journalist there to quote someone while quoting some third party and that too to the former’s disadvantage without bothering to check the facts from the person, whose name and words are used to make the story.

It is true that McHale gave her initial polite presentation about building bridges between America and the Muslim world. She said she was in Pakistan to hear what people here think about the US and its policies.

I definitely thanked her politely for inviting me for an interview but never said that I hate her. Rather, I started by saying that I would be very candid, frank and honest in my views and to reflect what is in the minds and hearts of the majority of the people of Pakistan. I told McHale that most of our leaders would be sharing the same feelings but they would not tell you in your face, “We (the Pakistanis) hate you (American administration and policy makers)”. There was no point that I being Ansar Abbasi should hate another individual Judith A McHale.

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