Pakistan's Double Game
2005 run time: 24 mins
Directed by: Claudio Von Planta
Reporter: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Pakistan is a frontline state in America’s war against terrorism. Since September 2001, Pakistan has arrested top Al Qaeda operatives and has launched a drive to eradicate terrorism from its soil. Reporter Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy travels across her native country of Pakistan to gauge the reactions of ordinary citizens who feel that their president is selling out to the west.
Obaid starts her journey from one of the most notorious jails in Pakistan, Karachi Central Prison. Here, she meets jail superintendent Niazi who talks about the attempts on his life by radical Islamic fundamentalists. Across Pakistan, she meets army personnel and police officers who reiterate the same message; that terrorists are gaining in strength and their violent ideology is difficult to counter because of the limited resources available to the law enforcement agencies.
Obaid travels to meet members of a banned militant group in Lahore, who the United States says has links to Al Qaeda. The four men outline their strategy to win back Kashmir from India and openly show their disdain for President Musharraf’s pro western policies. In Lahore, she also meets a Guantanimo Bay detainee, who talks of the abuses he faced on the hands of the United States.
On the last leg of her tour, Obaid visits ordinary Pakistanis who are adamant to stop the violent ideology of the fundamentalists. She visits a young man who was the first Pakistani to stop a suicide bomber in a mosque. She also visits the local KFC which was burnt down by a mob some months ago.
Obaid’s journey captures the difficulties that Pakistan faces in the coming years. The internal debate in Pakistan between the radicals, the moderates and the army comes alive on screen as she journeys from Karachi to Waziristan.
