Islamabad: US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's move to reach out to Pakistanis through "new media"
during her three-day trip to the country seems to have fallen
flat.
The US embassy put out a press statement the day
Clinton began her visit that not only would the trip be
covered by the "traditional press", but also by "Pakistan's
enthusiastic and growing on-line media community".
Clinton has wrapped up her trip to the country but the
response on Facebook is as good as nil.
Apart from three Facebookers who gave a thumbs up to
her visit to the Sufi shrine of Bari Imam in Islamabad, only
two comments have been posted on the entire visit. One of the
two comments has been re-posted several times.
The statement put out by the US embassy read: "The
Secretary's activities and discussions are being covered by
citizen reporters everywhere on the hot new social networking
sites 'Twitter', 'Flickr', and 'Facebook'."
It added: "Clinton is a big fan of new media social
networking tools and she encourages friends around the world
to use them to discuss important issues and share ideas as a
way of strengthening dialogue and building understanding."
Sidra Shan, a Pakistani Facebooker, commented on the
televised town hall meeting of Clinton with women where she
addressed "America's desire to build a broad, more
comprehensive relationship with Pakistan based on mutual trust
and respect".
Shan commented: "As I have also participated in the
above mentioned talk show, basically the Secretary wants to
change the anti-American perceptions of people but it takes
time, as action speaks louder than (words) so Americans have
to prove what they are saying."
The other Pakistani who commented on the visit is
Efzal Rahim.
"Secretary Clinton is a true friend of Pakistan. I may
doubt others but she is the sincerest person the US
administration has ever seen. Her interaction with media and
students of Pakistan (though not truly a representative of all
four provinces) was an excellent show.
"This people-to-people contact must go on so that we
can understand each other point of view properly. Her frank
and candid discussion with the media and students has made me
a big fan of her," he wrote.
Rahim, who is active on Twitter as well, sent "lots of
love and regards from the province of North West Frontier
(Pukhtoonkhwa)" to Clinton. Rahim also re-posted this comment
several times on this Facebook account, which has 143 fans.
However, only a few are Pakistani.
On the other hand, Pakistani bloggers ran several
threads on Clinton's faux pas during last year's general
election, in which she told an American journalist that "If
President (Pervez) Musharraf wishes to stand for election,
then he should abide by the same rules that every other
candidate will have to follow." She also told CNN that she
thinks "it will be very difficult to have a real election".
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, October 31, 2009, 14:22