Interesting BBC article about the politics of criticizing Zardari, and how much of it is is propaganda.
Criticism of Zardari in Pakistan hides a political game
Two significant developments took place on Thursday.
Firstly, Bilawal Bhutto denied he was planning to address the Pakistan Peoples’ Party rally in Birmingham, one of the main reasons for Mr Zardari’s trip.
Secondly, Prime Minister Gilani informed journalists that the ISI chief had not, in fact, scheduled a visit to the UK in the first place.
Many quarters insist Bilawal Bhutto’s “cancellation” of an appearance at the Birmingham show may be the result of a rethink on the part of Mr Zardari’s advisers to minimise political damage.
But what about the confusion over the story about the ISI chief’s visit to the UK? The initial report on Geo TV had come from mysterious, unnamed sources.
And even more mysteriously, the army’s media wing - which normally keeps a hawkish eye on the news, correcting reports at the first possible stage - had not stepped in to clarify the report.
Friendly journalists
The ties between the military and the media are strong.
The military often use the media to protect its hold on the giant corporate empire which it has built.
In the 1980s the military did this through open censorship. Since the 1990s it has evolved subtler ways.
It controls almost all access to big stories, and has therefore been able to raise a corps of “friendly” journalists who now control most key jobs in Pakistani media due to their “contacts”.
President Zardari’s supporters suggest the media could have made up the story of the ISI cancelling its trip to the UK in order to spark an anti-Zardari campaign, which intensified as the scale of the flood damage became clear.
‘Maximum impact’
The government, which is already under attack from all quarters - the military, the judiciary and the political groups that support Islamic militants - finds itself on a difficult wicket while dealing with the media, says a senior member of the government, who requested anonymity.
“If the government has a piece of information which they can use to puncture the balloon of unfriendly propaganda, they use it only when they are sure it will have maximum impact,” he said.
Privately, politicians more or less subscribe to views expressed by Mr Cameron and say military officers are the ones “looking both ways” on the Taliban.
These politicians desperately need a normalisation of relations with India and Afghanistan because that is the only way they can create business and employment opportunities for their voters and stay popular.
But the military is afraid this will erode its huge business empire which provides thousands of corporate sector jobs to retiring officers every year.