I knew many students and residents around San Luis Obispo would not know too much about Pakistan, but I figured that at least some people would have an idea of recent events in Pakistan as they've been in the news recently.
A few weeks ago Pakistan called on the United States to drastically cut the number of CIA agents in Pakistan after finding a large amount of CIA agents still operating in the country. This has brought on a deepening military rift between the U.S. and Pakistan.
Also last week 25 Pakistanis were killed in a U.S. drone strike. The drone killed 13 militants devoted to the government, five women, and four children. The attack was suppose to target al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, but apparently the innocent citizens were killed in the crossfire.
Upon receiving this assignment I was hoping some people would have some knowledge of recent events in Pakistan, but I was clearly wrong. No one knew the capitol of the country- Islamabad, and everyone had trouble in recalling any Pakistan events. I thought answers would change as I talked to more people, yet still the same.
"What do you know about Pakistan?"
"Umm...terrorism, Osama Bin Laden, it's in the middle east."
or "goats," was another answer that I got. Some people I asked thought that we were at war with Pakistan, which we are not even though are relations are a bit strained as of now.
After a while I sort of accepted that not many people on campus were quite aware of what was going on in Pakistan or the country itself. I suppose living in a city, and going to a college where the majority of the population is white, and where diversity is a bit lacking, answers wouldn't be too flavored. Though I think part of the problem is that people really don't take an interest as to what is happening globally unless it has an affect on them. I think a lot of other people had this same problem in interviewing people on their countries.
I'm not exactly sure where this lack of knowledge/awareness comes from, but I think that it all comes down to that most people just care about themselves, and anything that is happening outside of their bubble, which has no affect on them doesn't deserve to be noticed.
It seems Americans, our view on Pakistan, is not so much as it's own identity, but it seems we mash it up with all the other countries of the Middle East. I think people always get it mixed up with Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Contrary to this Pakistan shares a lot maybe more cultural and geographical similarities with India at it's southern border. Both countries share a similar government, and religious beliefs. Adding to that Pakistan isn't even considered as part of the Middle East, instead it is classified as being part of South Asia with India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately I doubt we will see a rise in persons awareness in Pakistan, or many still do not know that Pakistan has had one of the top cricket teams in the world, just recently losing the Cricket World Cup to first-time winners India I was hoping more people would as we've seen a surge of media coverage in that region since the recent Middle East unrest began starting in Tunisa and Egypt.
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