Beyond Our Moral Radar

It is amazing to see the bizarre contortions governments can put themselves through in the name of national pride. This time, the Chinese government has written officially to several European governments, asking them not to participate in the ceremonies surrounding the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Sweden next month.The reason, of course, is that the winner of this prestigious prize is Liu Xiaobo, the well-known writer and human rights activist who was handed down an eleven-year jail sentence in 2008 for allegedly seeking to subvert Communist rule. Communist rule in China must be very fragile, if one man can subvert it. Or at least, that's how it seems to the outside world.Seeking to impose this boycott of the Nobel award ceremony, the Chinese vice foreign minister gave western governments the choice between challenging the Chinese judicial system and developing friendly ties with Beijing. The Chinese have accused the Nobel committee of being a tool in the hands of Western powers who resent China's rapid rise.All this smacks of gross overreaction. While Beijing is perfectly at liberty to disagree with the award to a noted dissident, it surely does not have the right to try and coerce others to agree. One problem is that the Chinese government is managing a successful economy in the 21st century with 20th century totalitarian tools. Having to balance the needs of a largely capitalist system with the demands of a Communist dictatorship causes contradictions that manifest themselves in the recent self-defeating campaign.We in Pakistan have been mute observers to the most extreme human rights violations in China. Successive governments, the public and the media have joined hands in this conspiracy of silence. While we all are (rightly and loudly) critical of America over abuses like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, we ignore what is happening in friendly countries like China and Saudi Arabia.Of course, our own human rights record is hardly unblemished, but to their credit, the Pakistani media and civil society regularly take our government to task for violations. Western countries are castigated for perceived Islamophobia, but fellow Muslim countries are spared this critical approach, even though they torture and kill political opponents with sickening regularity.This selective morality robs us of all credibility. While we rail against Israel for its oppression of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, we fail to comment on the savage infighting between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Egypt's thuggish ruling junta, Saudi Arabia's harsh monarchy and Iran's cruel regime - to name only a few - seem permanently beyond the range of our moral radar.In China's case, our clergy and our liberals seem to be in tacit agreement to give the Communist regime a permanent pass on human rights. Termed Pakistan's 'all-weather friend', our powerful neighbour has indeed come to our help whenever our bumbling (usually military) leadership has got us into yet another mess. In 1971, when Islamabad stood isolated thanks to its bloody attempt to crush the popular uprising in East Pakistan, China shielded us from the worst effects of our army junta's ruinous policies. …