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A letter to the editor of TIME magazine by Mr. Tony Lazaro

SHAMK9

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Mar 5, 2010
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The Editor, Time Magazine
Dear Editor,

I recently returned from a charitable trip to Pakistan, whereby I visited both Karachi and Islamabad. I spoke with several universities, key businesses, prominent business leaders and several religious people from all generations….

On the day I returned to the office, someone had placed your magazine (January 16, 2012), on my desk. I read with interest your article on Karachi and the city in doom. For a person to have just returned from the very same place that your magazine described was somewhat bizarre, so I read with great detail your writer (Andrew Marshall’s) account.

Let me begin by saying that I often flick through your magazine and find the articles of great interest, but on this particular day and this particular article, I found certain comments to be both one sided and indeed very negative. I say that because I saw a different Pakistan to what was portrayed in your article. I do not and will not comment on the political or religious problems that the country faces, but I will go so far as to say that not everything is as bad as the image that your magazine paints.

Sure there are deaths in the cities. Please show me a city in the world, that is free from political fighting and unrest.

Sure there are differences in the political party opinions. Please show me a country in the world where the political parties agree.

Sure the innocent are suffering. Please show me a country in the world where wealth and power is equal and the innocent don’t suffer.

Sure corruption is in Pakistan. Please show me a country in the world that is corruption free.
My list could go on, but my point is that Pakistan does have problems…but so does every other country in the world in some way or another. However, in the case of ALL other nations, there are often good things to report and the media goes out of its way to promote these good things across the globe, whenever possible. The ridiculous amount of shootings in the USA are balanced off by the success of Google, Microsoft and Apple. The financial dilemmas of Greece are lost in the marketing of the Greek Islands as a holiday destination of choice. The child slave industry of India, is brushed under the carpet in favour of the nation’s growth in the global software boom. What I am trying to say, is that someone needs to look further into Pakistan and see that there are millions of great stories to write about, which would portray the country in a different light, to that what is being portrayed by your article.

When I was in Pakistan, I visited a towel manufacturing company (Alkaram Towels). They produced some $60million in export in 2011 and are aiming at $85million in 2012. A substantial increase in sales…in a recession I would remind you. The company was started by the current Chairman, Mr. Mehtab Chawla, at the tender age of nine, after his father passed away. Today the very man employs 3000 staff. Now that’s a story.

I visited universities of NED, Hamdard, Karachi, Szabist and NUST. The students are unbelievably intelligent. They spend their spare time developing APPS for android and apple. They are involved in cutting edge technology and no one in the world knows this. Why not send a reporter to Pakistan to look into this. Why not research good things in this nation, rather than just the bad things. At NUST (National Institution for Science and Technology – Islamabad)) there were 38,000 applications for medicine. There are only 83 seats for the medicine course on offer. The competition is unbelievable. In short it pushes the best to be even better. But the world doesn’t know this. Why ? Because no one wants to report on it, or no one knows about it…or both !!

Please do not get me wrong. I understand that news is news, but it is high time that the western world stopped promoting these terrorists and political wars in Pakistan and started to write something that would help the nation. Something positive. If we really care about global partnerships and economic growth, then I suggest we try and give Pakistan a helping hand. There are 180 million people in Pakistan, 65% are under the age of 25. The youth of Pakistan is its strength.. it is like a sleeping giant. If you think that India is a booming nation. I suggest you stop a second and look at Pakistan. Given a little help from the western world, Pakistan can become a dominant economy. She doesn’t want aid and she doesn’t need money… she just wants the chance to be seen in a different light. I believe we have a fundamental obligation to assist. The only question is, who will reach out first.

Warmest regards,

Tony Lazaro
Managing Director
Rising Stars Management Group
Tel: 02 8824 7000
Fax: 02 8824 7766
Rising Stars - "...We Leave Nothing to Chance"
 
Apparently, much to your dis-belief!

Actually, according to this link, it has not been publsihed so far. Perhaps you can link to the site where it has been publuished?

excerpt from: A letter to the editor Time Magazine – By Mr. Tony Lazaro « AHKath's Blog

I am pleased to reproduce a letter to the Editor, Time Magazine written by Mr. Tony Lazaro who is the Managing Director of Rising Stars Management Group after his kind permission, for that I am very thankful to him.

This letter has not been published by Time Magazine so far (I didn’t find it in its issue of 30-Jan-12), but I found it worthy of posting on to my blog
 
USA has always been using their media to tarnish pakistans repo worldwide..
nothing new...

they never ever see anything good in us but magnify and shout out loud about all negetivities about us...
and yet they blame us of hating them...
evidence is the other way round..its them who are the haters not us.
 
Unless published, the letter will not do much good to its intended audience, I fear.

Apparently, it find much more audience than intended.

Tony Lazaro says:
January 25, 2012 at 6:09 am

Hi everyone,
Firstly thank you to all of you for the very warm comments and acknowledgements. I am not sure how this small article has become such an interest to every Pakistani throughout the world, but what I am learning very quickly is that everyone is grateful and humble in their comments to me.

Some of you believe that change is necessary, (which of course it is), some of you beleive that change is impossible (which of course it is not). However change will take time. I liken fundamental changes to that of loosing body weight. We put weight on over time, say three years. When we decide to loose wieght, we try and do so in three months. All that happens is we loose water from our bodies but not the weight, so we get a false reading. Its called a quick fix, but NOT a solution.

Pakistan can have a quick fix, but fundamentally, to have solution it needs to consider the weight loss theory, if Pakistan has become “dark” over 20 years. We must allow 20 years for it to recover properly….THAT IS A SOLUTION…not a quick fix.

However in order to start a 20 year process, that is what we need to do. Or should I say that is what Pakistan needs to do. She needs a START A 20 YEAR PLAN…… to recover socially, educationally and industrial wise. That way economic growth will be guaranteed…as will prospertity and a better life style for all.

It is possible…but everyone needs to get on the same page.
Good luck…I will watch with interest.
 
Apparently, it find much more audience than intended.

Mostly Pakistanis themselves, which is like preaching to the choir!

do u blame their audience? they hav been brain washed and made to hate on us for over years now.

The audience is not as naive as you would believe, and not as easy to brainwash or susceptible to hatred either.
 
It is not a journalist's job to put a positive spin on what's happening in a foreign country(unless it is a human interest story, in which case you will see too much sugarcoating)
It is a story about violence in karachi, and that is how it will be reported(and negative story sells)

The biggest story about US in Indian media are usually "some lunatic killed loads of people in some school or crowded places".
Australia is treated lot worse.
 
I think that these words by Tony are important:

Pakistan can have a quick fix, but fundamentally, to have solution it needs to consider the weight loss theory, if Pakistan has become “dark” over 20 years. We must allow 20 years for it to recover properly….THAT IS A SOLUTION…not a quick fix.

However in order to start a 20 year process, that is what we need to do. Or should I say that is what Pakistan needs to do. She needs a START A 20 YEAR PLAN…… to recover socially, educationally and industrial wise. That way economic growth will be guaranteed…as will prospertity and a better life style for all.

The problem remains that quick fixes and stopgap measures continue to be preferred over proper long term solutions.
 

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