Daily Times

In an astounding outburst, Prime Minister-hopeful, former cricketer and feisty head of Pakistan’s PTI political party Imran Khan has called dark-skinned cricketing stars who recently visited Pakistan as phateechar (decrepit) and rayloo-kuttay (a slang used in Pakistan for a player who is not valued). As if this insult were not graphic enough, the flamboyant and dashing former Pakistani cricket captain added that these decrepit and valueless players had been randomly gathered “from Africa”. Sigh.

First the context. Owing to terrorist activity in Pakistan over the years, particularly due to an incident in which the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked, foreign cricket teams pulled the plug on touring Pakistan. Consequently, Pakistan was forced to host matches in neighboring Middle Eastern countries. Recently, on the initiative of both the Pakistani government and the armed forces, Pakistan decided to host the finals of the Pakistan Super League in Lahore, a city known as much for its lush green trees as for its warm hospitality.

The Pakistani public, even the usually bickering politicians and the querulous TV anchors, fell in love with the idea. Young students and workers, clerks and professionals, and even women queued up for hours to get hold of the “ticket”. The queuing scenes were poignant because Lahore had just suffered two bloody incidents that had cast a pall over its beautiful face. With their nerves on edge and earnest prayers in their hearts, pretty much everyone coalesced to strike a defiant note against the terrorists.

Everyone. Except of course sweet old Imran. True to character, the photogenic and effervescently capricious mega-star fired an angry broadside against the event. In a TV interview on the eve of the finals, he explained his impending absence from the match by claiming that he would be mad to stand in the queue. He also bewailed that with security, the likes of which Lahore had adopted, one could host cricket matches in Syria and Iraq. Post-event, in a press conference, he directed his ire at the foreign dark-skinned visitors who had been “gathered from Africa”.

The Daily Times article “Inside the mind of Imran Khan” has already provided a detailed view of how the great leader’s mind works. But if it were only Imran Khan, the outburst could have been explained by one man’s personality. The sad reality is that we in Pakistan are infatuated, if not obsessed, by our clear-cut hierarchy of this world’s valued and valueless, at the very top of which sit the Americans. Attention: by Americans we mean white Americans. Even former president Obama and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice do not cut it. For evidence see the episode in Hasb-e-Haal (TV program) where Shah Qureshi meets Condoleeza Rice (in parody).

After white Americans are perched all non-American whites. I must relate here my all-time favorite true story, as narrated by national media, of the business conference hosted by a Pakistani Prime Minister in the early 1990s, in which security allowed the white employee to enter the hall but stopped the Pakistani employer of the white man. The white employee had to come out himself and guide his boss inside by holding the latter’s hand.

After the whites, on the ladder of status, are niched the rich Arabs. In part because they speak Arabic. But mostly because they are rich. We revere them. And we place ourselves one rung underneath them. This means that we are above all the remaining non-blacks — the Chinese, then the non-Chinese, and then the Indians. Then come the blacks — phateechars and rayloo-kuttays of the non-African world. And the last rung is reserved for the blacks of Africa. Imran Khan revealed our innermost biases. At least he is honest.

Chinese? Yes. Just look at the newspaper articles on the Chinese. Recently a famous columnist griped that Islamabad’s golf-courses were being flooded by the Chinese. I wonder if he would have aired the same grievance had these invaders been white Americans; I imagine his smug smile greeting these honored white guests on the esteemed golf-course.

Nothing illustrates the above better than my personal experience. A long time ago I was working as a very junior diplomat in China. I was young but driven, and guided by three amazing bosses I had developed a reasonable idea of China’s foreign policy.

At that time Chechnya was being ravaged by terrorism and the Chinese government had taken a very tough stance against Chechen terrorists. It so happened that a senior Pakistani diplomat visited China and gave a strong lecture to our Chinese friends, viewing Chechen terrorists as freedom fighters.

Later, when alone with him, I humbly pointed out China’s position to him. He retorted by telling me that I was not working hard enough to “educate” China. At first I thought I had misheard. In my entire life I have not seen a more professional organization than China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I was sure even then that on Chechnya, as on any other issue, the Chinese would have had hundreds of analysts working day and night. And here I was being told to “educate” them. Sigh.

Racism sits deep in one’s bones. In our bones. And there is a widely available online test called Implicit Associative Test (IAT) that can measure racism inside us. Warning: Even if you try to hide your racist thoughts this test will capture and ferret out the patheechar inside you. Try it at your own risk.

The writer obtained a First Class in French literature from Oxford. He worked in China as a diplomat. He writes for the Daily Times