Who is Rafia Zakaria?
A nobody, whose Wikipedia profile calls her a Pakistani-American attorney, feminist, journalist, and author. That itself probably entitles her to talk baloney on things she has no understanding about. Like her opinion on the population of India.
This morning, she enlightened the world about what she thinks of India's 'dubious milestone' of becoming the most populous country in the world, in her column in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. Titled 'Too many people...', the column holds forth on how India failed in containing its numbers, while China did. It also rubs in the glee the author derives over this 'dubious milestone' of India by quoting how the German news magazine Der Spiegel made fun of this fact through an insinuating cartoon.
All this is quite alright and in the domain of public debate, but what gives Ms Zakaria the right to spew such disgusting calumny over a topic she clearly has no depth to write about? One has to only read a few lines of her column to know how specious and superficial her writing is. As a journalist, she has produced a terrible copy that did not deserve publication.
I would like to ask Ms Zakaria if she is aware of what is happening in her country of origin? Any number of words would prove inadequate to describe the totally despicable state of affairs in Pakistan currently. Ms Zakaria should be advised to pick up her pen for worthier causes focussing on Pakistan, instead of wasting precious digital space on the neighbour her country so loves to revile. If she is suffering from lack of inspiration, she only has to read the very newspaper that has published her laughable column. The Dawn has ample ideas for her to write on, matters that she may have better understanding of, such as the ongoing political drama around Imran Khan and PTI, also the ongoing rapid decline of economy, the ongoing plunge of the Pakistani rupee, etc., etc.
In other ideas, she could also write on how the world has stopped listening to Pakistan's hue and cry over Kashmir. Or, on its Faustian capacity to please its big brother only to be able to pursue its favourite pleasure of terrorism?
How about the burgeoning population of Pakistan as a topic? It is, after all, as 'dubious' a 'milestone' as India's population given the size and 'prosperity' of Pakistan. Or, how about writing on the very limited choices of life this huge population of Pakistan has, given the state of polity and economy in the country?
That would give you, Ms Zakaria, a more profound shot at writing than the topic of India's miseries. Leave that to the Indians, please.
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