Only Way to Fix Pakistan Is 'Fight the Elite,' Tariq Ali Argues

British Pakistani writer and public intellectual Tariq Ali delivered a lecture titled “Poor Pakistan” on the affairs in his home country and how inequality, a lack of education and a ruling elite have fueled terrorism and driven the poor working class towards extremism and terrorist groups.

Ali argues that western media and governments tend to ignore the underlying issues that Pakistan suffers from. “News from Pakistan is usually reported in the western media when there is a terrorist outrage,” he says, adding that governments in the West think drones are the solution instead of tackling deeper issues within the system.

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The renowned intellectual points to a recent terrorist attack in a university where dozens were killed, criticizing how western and local media covered the issue extensively despite systematically failing to report on the victims of drone attacks in rural areas. 

“When upper and middle class kids are killed the shock is felt by the elite and the ruling layers in the country. When the poor die, and they have died in larger numbers in recent years because of drone attacks … it is a small paragraph in the western media,” he said.

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“The living conditions of the people, the lack of education, the fact that half the children born die of malnutrition. There is no education for most of the population of the country," adds Ali, stressing that the nation's ruling elite continue to turn a blind eye to decades of impoverishment that has fomented extremism and religious intolerance. 

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“People feel like religion is the only solution,” he said. But Ali has not lost hope just yet. “The only thing that can be done is to fight and fight again till this elite is removed. Until some honest politician arise.”