By Ammara Shahiryar
Any negative news or piece of information about Pakistan sells like hot cakes in the West. Reason? We all know why. Pakistan and its people are not as bad as it seems in the news. Every country has its share of good and bad things however the responsibility lies in the hands of the media and on the shoulders of the ‘elite’ who have the means to make or break a country’s image.
Thanks to Sharmeen Obaid who has always seen Pakistan from her rather negatively foggy lenses and resorted to getting a skilled doctor fired from his job. Not sure why she has been aggressively defaming Pakistan; first through her movies, then the tweets about us, Pakistani crossing the limits. But this is a small issue; why giving so much fuel to the fire? And it was not even fire in the first place. Social media is a source of building relationships (both social and personal) and one should be ready to receive such requests when they are using social media platform.
She didn’t stop there. In one of her tweets, she mentioned that the doctor has done this to the ‘wrong family’ so who is she? What good has she done for Pakistan that makes her say all the bad stuff? I have never heard of her family doing any positive favors for the people living in this country. Has she contributed towards the education or protection of women she talks about in her movies? She is one Pakistani who chooses to sit in another country and defame her own homeland. Easy thing to do, right?
Having pride on how powerful your family is, will never do any good as if you are bound to close one door on someone, there will be several other doors open to accommodate such educated and skilled people.
I feel ashamed of her being a Pakistani and there are far many people, loyal to Pakistan who embrace the negatives and positives while working for the betterment of their country. If sending a friend request is ‘harassment’ then you are equally responsible. Please stop using social media or keeping the options of ‘receiving messages or friend requests’.
Disclaimer:
Ammara Shahiryar is master degree holder in Mass Communication and is currently holding a senior position at an international organisation based in Gulf. The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of Dispatch News Desk.
