Musharraf Shocked Over Daily Telegraph, Are you too?
Yesterday, President Musharraf addressed first News Conference after Emergency’s imposition. Of a few things he was asked, ousting of three foreign journalists from Pakistan within 72 hours notice was the most interesting.
Two days back, I initially heard in PTV news that three journalists (read goray) were asked to leave Pakistan within 72 hours time, due to lingual profanity used for president Musharaf in an article “Bankrupt Relationship” published in Daily Telegraph (UK). When I read through the article, I myself felt offended, let’s quote the profane part here (should I??):
In the old parlance, General Pervez Musharraf is “our sonofabitch”. He has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis. And he has sacked independent-minded judges for fear that the Supreme Court declare illegal his re-election as president last month.
When Musharraf was asked regarding the deportation of three foreign journalists, he said:
In fact I expect an apology from them.
Also he mentioned that what they had written and the way their newspapers had commented about him were highly objectionable and could not be tolerated in any civilized society, and asked what would be their reaction if any Pakistani reporter used such a language against their president.
After reading the article, I was disgusted too. I feel the depature of trio was well justified. Reporters can be sans borders but the ethics should never leave Journalism. When it comes to country concerns, should we not discourage such foreign outbursts??
Quoting from a blog, wecite, I end the post but the question remains.
NO ONE has the right to use such foul language against our leaders. Granted Pakistan is going through enough turmoil lately but that is our INTERNAL affair! We do not give the right to ANY one in the world to downgrade us and our leaders!
Are you Offended by this event??
First comment on the said article.
Damn right! There is a fine line between justified criticism and using a global medium to abuse the President of a country and Daily Telegraph should know better than to toy with that line.
It’s a pity.
They should apologize.
Musharraf is justified in expelling the three journalists from Daily Telegraph. Least we sohould follow the basic norms of decency while reporting even about our opponents.
leaders are our servent they not our god father the language of the journalists is their personal comments they know better where we use these type of words & where don’ts so please general musharraf don’t dictate them were they attack u as a person? they attacked on your policies.so please do your work.
This is the bitter truth,Army has conqured our country…don’t know why this reminds me the east pakistan. They must have had the same extreme hatred against army that we west pakistanies now have. But it is terrifying as well cuz the result of that struggle was not good for this nation.
This is the bitter truth,Army has conqured our country…don’t know why this reminds me the east pakistan. They must have had the same extreme hatred against army that we west pakistanies now have. But it is terrifying as well cuz the result of that struggle was not good for this nation.
This is outrageous indeed.. Maybe this will open up His Highness’s eyes and make him see what they really think about him. But apart from the profanity I kind of agree with what the article said.. well some of it.. he is guilty of some of those things..
I’ve got no problem with it. Suits Musharraf quite well. He is certainly acting like that.
And why are we so offended now? Haven’t we been call George Bush and Tony Blair quite a bit of abusive stuff over the past few years. Hurts, doesn’t it, when someone does the same to us.
I wonder how it was publidhed.Was the editor sleeping or what? this profanity on the part of this stupid reporter is outrageous and deserves most severe punishment according to norms of ethics.
we are proud of our president and let noone backed by greedy, unscrupulous elements in and outside the country blubber such insanity against this brave and wise man of history.
Aye!
Whether we like Musharraf or not, that’s our issue.
Yet no Pakistani is any other national’s pet – and on this point, we have to be together, and clear. Rather than the government protesting, individual Pakistanis must act to remind the nations of the world that we are not anyone’s dog. Enough is enough, we are OVER the imperial rule.
Our current national crisis is multi-dimensional. Right now, apart from the harder issues of Consitution and Martial Law etc., we also have to address age-old soft issues of national identity and our faith in our country.
As for Urdu/other local/Pak journalism which resorts to such language, the same rule must apply.
Pineapple,
This Times of India article (http://preview.tinyurl.com/2l4zue) doesn’t let go of the chance to not just repeat the expletives of the DT article, but also takes the opportunity to remind us of some words with which to remember Pakistan:
‘But much more than personal abuse of Musharraf, Pakistan itself has also been shamed in the western press, variously described in recent months as “the most dangerous place on earth,” “a terrorist grand central,” “a failed state,” and “disaster waiting to happen.”‘
Publications which write these kinds of articles have a clear purpose: to hurt. Abusive language is hardly ever reported or poked about innocently.
This ought to remind us Pakistanis that all these words and ideas reflect upon us. What we ought to do is simple: Write back to all such publications reminding them to mind their tone. AND to proactively go digging for/ and publicizing what’s POSITIVE in Pakistan. Much is, and it’s the responsibility of those able to communicate well to cover the positive news.
He is still our president and the attack is not just on his person but on the office and on the people as a whole. I think the Pakistan government should kick out all british journalists unless the telegraph appologises to mush and to all Pakistanis.
Ramla, very well said indeed.
Why would be I offended by this when Mush is not the true representative or president of Pakistan? Or you want to say that if a “sonofabitch” is your so called president then don’t call him with that name? I think we should have the courage to use the exact and right words for someone deserving and behaving like that.
Aye Aye Hash.
There’s nothing so shocking about that.
SOB is not as much of an offensive term in the UK now, and is commonly used in newspapers there, but it is still rightly considered highly offensive in Pakistan and they ought to have been more aware of local sensibilities. Besides, there is a way to get your point across, you can be sarcastic, ironic, even mean and sly, and you can do all of that without having to swear – that just degrades the point you’re trying to make, even if it is a correct point. I am no Musharraf fan, but I do keep saying that freedom of speech is the right to say whatever one thinks so long as it does not inflict anyone else’s right to do the same. Daily Telegraph reporters had the right to swing their arm, but so long as it did not touch Mushy’s face, this hit him head on. If in fact you take it literally SOB actually becomes a swear word for Mushy’s mom, that is just plane distasteful of the highest order. And I say this despite not having an ounce of agreement or approval for whatever Musharraf has been doing lately.
[...]attention was drawn by a fellow blogger to this post at Islamabad Metroblogging by A for [pine]Apple and I felt disgusted[...]
Language was foul and abusive, and I truly believe Government and Musharraf have acted rightly to expel these journalists. Though I think it is one of the very few occassions the Government has been right in the past 8 years, and there is no justification for pro-western dictatorial policies of Musharraf which have pushed the country to a state of turmoil and left a nation of 160 million with no human&civil rights also depriving them of the last hope they had in form of an independent judiciary. Musharraff has too little on Stake while we have our country.
I don’t find it offensive but rather it is amusing . A popular slogan shouted at protests is AMRIKA NAY AIK KUTTA PAALA , WARDI WAALA WARDI WAALA .DIL BHI KAALA MUUN BHI KAALA , WARDI WAALA WARDI WAALA .
Itnay saal general bush aur blair kay boot polish karta raha aur us kay baad goray usay son of ***** keh rahay hain . Oh , the tragedy !!!
Secondly the term used has a historical perspective .When an American President was asked about a South American Dictator’s atrocities (whom america supported) , he replied “He might be a son of a bitch but he is our son of a bitch”. Is musharraf their son of a b**** .
I thought I saw an American Son of ***** .I Did. I Did.
Did someone notice “” and are people aware of the “phrase” and the fact that it was written by a british journalist?
One this for sure is beside reporter the “Daily Telegraph (UK)” need to find a few educated and civilzed persons in its staff.
And it goes for its editor too, that the “Daily Telegraph (UK)” has a blind editor.
It is shame that a newspaper would print something like this.
I also condemn the language used in the article. But keep in mind this kinds of attitude is observed against slaves and our government official are in fact slaves of Gordon and Bush, so they don’t have any right to ask for apology.
Let me bring my juggar friends in London and have a tete-a-tete with the bastard whoever wrote this. After all, what does calling Mush a sonofabitch say about the rest of the nation?
well it is very sad… the saddest part is that musharraf defamed the country with him.. he gave them the reason to say such a thing.. i dont feel bad cuz it was said to mush but i felt bad because a pakistani president was called such a thing. and just because of the silly things he gets pakistan’s name into!
* Correction:
As for Urdu/other local/Pak journalism which resorts to such language {for leaders of our or other countries}, the same rule must apply.
Exactly – as AliBhae says – the expletive is more a reference to the office of the President. And not because they are “brutal” and “incompetent” – which, save few exceptions, is a title applicable to almost ALL heads of state the world over – but because we are Pakistanis. Because we are thought of as a people who are poor victims, unable to do anything for themselves, and therefore require the uninvited interjections of the world who’s-who.
It’s not “their” fault either. It ultimately boils down to self-respect. And on this count, Musharraf has got my support.
gham na karo inkey sang-sar honey ka,
yai to inkaa apnaa heee sanam khana hai,
jahan shauaq thaa inkoaa mabood banney kaa
It’s absolutely intolerable and for once we should condemn the DT article and reporters in unison. The mum reaction of the “Sky News” reporter, who asked the related question, on Musharraf’s retort was self-explanatory as far as the indecency of the comment is concerned. An apology is certainly due. And we should start to be sensitive viz our identity and symbols related to it.
Sensitive? For Musharraf? Come on, are you in right state of your minds? The words were used as an idiom (only if you guys knew the episode of Franklin Rosevalet and the nicaraguan dictator) and optly explained the relationship between US and Musharraf. There is nothing to be offended about here.
I don’t think this term is used to offend President of Pakistan. To me it seems as Musharraf is very close to US & Brits( closer than he is to people of Pakistan) and responded to their order whenever & whatever they wanted , they think it is their right to use this idiom to show their relationship with the man.
Having said that, the matter and language used by the journalist seems to be quite a biased view and taken from what is projected in western media and may be far from the truth.
The term “our sonofabitch” is dedicated for dictators who are willing to do the bidding of the US. It is case of a lesser evil — a ruler who has an abominable human rights record but is tolerated (or supported) to forward larger national interests of the West. It was especially true during the height of the Cold War, when the world was divided into two poles. It was better to have a tyrant on your side, rather than to lose the country to the Communists, it was thought.
The term “sonofabitch” was first used by the US President Roosevelt in 1939 to describe the dictator Somoza of Nicaragua.
“He’s a sonofabitch [dictator Somoza], but he’s ours” (President Franklin Roosevelt, 1939).
The phrase has been used since in the parlance of international relations since to describe pro-Western dictators. It is not considered offensive as it’s wider used has made it as an acceptable phrase in diplomatic circles.
Rather than being so sensitive about trivialities, we need to put our house in order. The deportation of the Daily Telegraph journalists from Pakistan will be not help lift Pakistan’s abysmal track record on human rights and democracy. Importantly, Gen Musharraf will continue to be a dictator even if the Daily Telegraph stops using this bland term to describe him.
Not many people in Pakistan read the Daily Telepgragh (UK) for its editorials. But this highly “thoughful” decision to deport journalists has ensured that the website of the newspaper gets millions of hits daily.
I am glad these journalists were expelled, in fact I dont know why foreign journalists are allowed into Pakistan? What benefit do their bring to the country? None.
ournalists Get Boot When Paper Calls Pervez (Rhymes with ‘Punofawitch’)
well i believe; he (mush) got what he deserves. He sold people to them and took money for that – what more you expect them to say.
If it was said to our elected president, then it was definately a big issue but i don’t see any big issue in it.
he deserves even worse than that. daily terlegraph has been lenient in my opinion.
Why should Musharraf be so upset? He’s not happy with the comments – so what? Musharraf has lied and made inappropriate comments about others but I don’t see him apologising. He has locked my father under house arrest for more than 3 years and publicly told lies about him. And still he pretends that everything he does is for the sake of the country. Give me a break!! He’s just a petty power hungry egomaniac.
Well check this out what the General’s ISI is upto
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=127673
Elected or selected, Musharraf is the president of our country and so far he is the best ruler no doubt.It’s a shame we can’t distinguish between right and wrong. And we will continue to be humiliated as long as we remain so. Aren’t we blowing horns with the same people who were turned down for looting the nation’s wealth for their own luxuries? Come on, guys, have some sense. What good can be expected from them now, except more looting now for another decade or so?
In fact, the economic growth and uplift which our country has achieved in this period of Musharraf is not being digested by some who have vested interests in derailing the process, be they people at home or elements abroad. And we, as fools, are following them, irrespective of the fallouts. I bet there’s noone else who can face and understand and respond courageously towards the aggressive designs aimed at our country which holds a strategic position in the area. Someone has rightly commented,the west is so far possessing the half of the country but now they want the whole country, by promoting their interests through us, fools.
If the west thinks they can derail Musharraf by such unscrupulous means they are far from the truth. Musharraf is far more clever than any of them. Besides, he has been honest so far in his motives and that surely gives him strength. Conidering the state of mind of the people, the peculiar conditions of the country, the needs of the time, he is doing what is best required. And as to this, let noone have any doubts.
@irfan
@sufian
Are you gusy serious, coz u sound more like Minister Ghalat Bayani (Durrani). Irfan I agree with this part of your comment of corrupt political system. But come on, we people of Pakistan are not bringing her back i.e. BBB. How could one trust a person like President to be not a man of words but just coward who can sell his mother or motherland at just one phone call from Dracula Rice? If mush has brought any money to this country, its at cost this nation ’s self respect. And I am of the view that Nations are known by their self respect and dignity.
is musharraf a dictator? yes he most certainly is. is he the worst dictator in the world? no and by a long shot. leaders of countries like saudi arabia, egypt and china run governments which are much more totalitarian in nature than the government run by musharraf. and yet can you imagine bush or gordon brown ordering saudi king or the chinese president to hold free and fair elections? and can you imagine the what saudi arabia or china would do to foreign journalists whose newspapers called their leaders a “sonofabitch”? i mean christ, the thought of saudi king being referred to as a sonofabith is almost blasphemous.
the reason pakistan gets pushed around is because it does not sell $50 dvd players to the west or supplies it with million barrels of oils a day. more importantly however pakistanis get treated as crap because pakistanis think of themselves as crap. why should other people respect us when we dont respect ourselves?
it pains me to say this but the things pakistanis excel at is bending down in front of foreigners. our ancestors bent in front of foreign invaders and we bend in front of visa officers sitting in islamabd. and sadly, i dont think we deserve any better.
and sure musharraf bent in front of americans when that call came. but thats only a part of the story. before 9/11 our country was bending in front of degenerate arabs and afghans like bin laden and mullah omar. and i dont know about you but i am glad that musharraf is bending in front of people who at least shower once a day.
He deserved it… believe me
Please list your top 10 thugs of pakistan “leader without whom pakistan will be a better place” 1 being the worst n so on
MY list
1.Maulana Fazlur rehman (most shameless n corrupt,military backed no real support)
2.Altaf Hussain (terrorist,Murderer)
3. Imran Khan (hypocrite,self obsessed)
4.Qazi Hussain (Phony, uses islam for self benefits,hypocrite)
5.Musharraf (SOB, power hungry,dictator,liar,self obsessed)
6.Benazir bhutto (corrupt,corrupt,crook,cannot be trusted,husband is a murderer,cannot be related to common pakistanis)
7.Chaudhry shujjat/pervez elahi (corrupt,suckers,lotas,illiterate,dirty politics)
8.Sheikh rasheed (useless,illiterate,lair,lota)
9.All the other maulvis (use islam for self benefits,lairs,fraud,illiterate,no real knowledge of islam, have nothing better to do)
10.Nawaz sharif (dictator like,abajee influence, bank loans, but has the best stand right now)
How shameful. The self-styled president of a country getting this worked up just because someone called him a name. It was terribly childish of General Musharraf to deport those journalists. A bigger man would have simply brushed this off, moving on to more important matters than himself. But what can you expect from a dictator with such a massive ego?
My Top Seven
1. Zia ul Haq (killed first elected PM, forced country into destructive war, produced mindless awam, misuse Islam).
2. Yayha Khan and other Army generals (we lost half of Pakistan due to their neglect).
3. Altaf Hussain (Mafia style politics).
4. Mullhas (Hypocrites and misguide poor and illiterates).
5. Parvez Musharaff (made Pakistan unsafe, highest corruption under him, Army owns most civilian wealth now).
6. Chowdry Brothers and Ijaz ul Haq (Shameless and grabbing land left right)
7. Benazir and Nawaz Sharif. (Corrupt, no connection to people due to long stays abroad).
PS. I’m from Karachi so knows nothing about Imran factor, in my eyes he is too insignificant to make any impact.
People of Pakistan were more by offended by Wasi Zafar’s profanity
khan, totally agreed. Neena you are too biased in favour of BB.
http://musharrafsupporters.wordpress.com/
Musharaf was right to kick them out and our so called free media like AAj, Geo and ARY should mention why pakistan took this step.
They should have the integrity to separate their fight with the govt. and this outrage by daily telegraph.
Geo and ARy should know that the freedom they are fighting for will eventually shut them down. Because BB and Nawaz will have them shutdown in a heart beat when they take power.
british media is trash and the daily telegraph provides further evidence of this. I am glad they were kicked out.
The foul mouthedness of Mush detractors is nothing new, its quite visible in this as well as other blogs. So the Brit journalist are in the same league.
Commenting on what they have actually written, I will simply say that it was the mis-adventure of their govts in Iraq that made it impossible to win the argument for the war on terror. The pictures that came out of Baghdad contributed more to the recruitment drive by the A-Q terrorists than anything else, and made Mush job that more difficult.
What’s wrong with ’sonofabitch’ in a historical context. The audience was British public. All these stupid Pakistanis who are damn angry with journalists need to go to Pakistani streets and need to find out what public say about Musharaf.
Man son of a bitch is a kind word for Musharaf. He deserves more than that.
The odd thing is that this term has been in use by SUPPORTERS of Musharraf in the U.S. government and political supporters for over 4 years now. The Hawks and neo-cons who wanted unconditional support for Musharraf have been using this term to describe him for years. Why didn’t he take offense then and throw out U.S. diplomats and military officials? Is it because the rest of the Telegraph editorial is unflattering?
You call a rose with whatever name it smells the same similarly you call a Sonofabitch with whatever name like His Excellency to Honourable President he remain a “Sonofabitch”… Its a great misconception that he represent Pakistan or Pakistanis…He imposed himself on the nation and we will be much better off sooner he leaves…
gimme a break it means “insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous” as per google define. What’s wrong in it? I have read it gazillion times in respected papers, popular fiction, etc. Its time for all of us to get language 101.
Ali Durrani:
The sonofabitch cussword was meant for Musharraf, but spoken in a clever way. Maybe you dont get it buy Pakistanis do.
We give foreign media too much “lift” in Pakistan.
راشد کامرانلکھتے ہیں:۔
نومبر 15th, 2007 at
میرا خیال ہے کے نکاراگوا کے ایک آمر کی حرکتیں ہمارے سید جنرل صاحب سے کافی ملتی جلتی تھیں ۔۔ انہیں بھی شاید دوسری مرتبہ منتخب کرانے کے لیے ایسے ہی اقدامات کیے گئے تھے اس موقع پر امریکی صدر روزویلٹ نے کہا تھا
Though the Somozas were generally regarded as ruthless dictators, the United States continued to support them as a non-communist stronghold in Nicaragua. President Franklin D. Roosevelt supposedly remarked in 1939 that “Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”
شاید اسی پس منظر میں جنرل صاحب کو بھی “ہمارا کتے کا بچہ” قرار دیا گیا ہے ۔
http://www.mypakistan.com/?p=817
To say the least,it was a real derogatory languange i had ever seen for a leader of any country.Though Musharaf actions are not justifiable, he is a dictator who has crush the judiciary according to his whims.But the words which were chosen have to condemned.
To say the least,it was a real derogatory languange i had ever seen for a leader of any country.Though Musharaf actions are not justifiable, he is a dictator who has crush the judiciary according to his whims.But the words which were chosen have to condemned.
Well, no matter who is and which country a president belong, he/she must be respected. Now if i call the Queen of Britain with any wrong word, what will be ur feeling? and if i call Bush something, how would americans feel about him. This is like a family (probably the word family is no more a valid word), but if any family is living together and also fighting and if a third guy start calling the family leader any wrong words, then the caller must expeect a hostile reaction too from the family members.
nothing offensive about it
The quotes around the phrase suggests that it was used as a figure of speech. It was merely lost in translation. Nothing wrong about it.
Have you people no concept of freedom of expression?
well i believe one has no right to use such words.Your language explains from where you belong so…..I AGREE that musharraf did the right thing by kicking out the journalists but he shouldnt have apologized later.ethics should never leave journalism ,liberty or freedom of speech doesntmean you start using bad language.
i dont understand these foreigners .why do they have to blame islam,jihad and madrassas for even if a cookie got burnt in a microwave?LIVE AND LET US LIVE.