The positive picture of Pakistan

In what appeared to be a quite optimistic omen, a German journalist namely Joachim Holtz after being in Pakistan for more than two weeks presented a different picture, saying reality is far better than perception.

While addressing at the Karachi Press Club, the senior journalist and foreign correspondent of the German channel, ZDF observed, “This is my second week in Karachi and before coming, I thought I would not survive even a day”. He was speaking to the journalist community on ‘Pakistan’s image abroad- a German view’.

In his view, Pakistan has no image at all in Germany. He elaborated, “Pakistan is simply the name of an Islamic country in South Asia. There is mostly fear and some respect amongst Germans for the country and mostly, they have a blurry image of strange people living in a far away land”.

Only a handful German were aware that Pakistan, the beautiful land, has delicious mangoes and the people love cricket, he said that there were many who believe that this is an extremist and nuclear-armed country.

He, however, said that these people know very little or nothing about the country in reality.

The German journalist citing Pakistani and German newspapers said that he only found news about bombings, Raymond Davis, the assassinations of Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, floods and their destruction.

He said there is another side of the picture which was shown very rare. Only a few German media outfits covered events such as Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), while only a single paper published a feature on Sufism in Pakistan.

Apparently what he had read, the visiting journalist seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his tour.
Apart from taking a dip in the ocean, he visited the Empress Market in Karachi and the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.

He also paid visit to Murree, Lahore and several cities in Sindh, including Sukkur, Hyderabad and Thatta.

He exclaimed, “I have never met any unfriendly person while travelling. There is so much hospitality; even the poorest have welcomed me with a cup of tea. I love it here!”

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=20435

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Apr 27 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.