Different conspiracy theories remain very popular in Pakistan. We believe that most of our problems are not homegrown; rather all these issues are the result of some hidden American, Jewish, or Indian lobby. The main conspirators are believed developed western countries and a few international organisations. According to popular belief, these powers remain busy in conspirating against our interests, setting aside their own well-being. Whenever we fail to find mundane explanations for the country’s numerous problems, we eagerly come up with alternative theories to keep things exciting. The electronic media also joins the conspiracy chorus to draw public attention. Since we are living in an era of commercialisation where ratings are of prime importance for the media, it does not care about validating the news and other information; the media broadcasts unauthenticated news as soon as it receives it.
Even natural calamaties are considered the result of some state-of-the-art conspiracies. One such mother of all conspiracy theories regardS the October 2005 earthquake. This earthquake was regarded as the result of the US’ underground bombardment of the area between Kaghan and Kashmir to kill some wanted terrorists. According to the local population, neighbouring countries agreed to this scheme only on the condition that there must be no damage on their side of the border. The US agreed to this condition because it had just the kind of bombs that could guide destruction in any direction and the neighbouring countries had nothing to worry about. So, according to those people, underground bombing resulted in a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which caused damage over hundreds of miles in that area.
Another popular conspiracy theory concerns the youngest ever Nobel Laurate, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by terrorists in 2012 and is now working for girls’ education and human rights. Locally she is considered an undercover agent. Even the educated lot doubt the authenticity of the terrorist attack on Malala in which she was severly injured. The international community has acknowledged her services but, unfortunately, we have not acknowledged her efforts.
The same is the case with foreign funded welfare programmes, especially in the field of health. Whenever such a programme is initiated, a number of conspiracy theories emerge from different sections of society. The main theme behind most of these conspiracy theories is that these programmes are aimed at making our population infertile so that ‘they’ can reduce our population, which will make it easier for ‘them’ to conquer our country. We believe that these millions of dollar programmes are working for the sole purpose of making us infertile. However, keeping in view our present population rate, we have countered these plans by reproducing more and more children. We are the sixth most populous country in the world and, according to estimates, our population will continue to increase at a high growth rate. We consider any threat to our fertility to be a threat to our sovereignty.
It is evident from the propaganda tabled against the polio vaccine that these vaccines are making our younger generation sterile. The same propaganda is one of the reasons that polio is still endemic in Pakistan but who cares? It has gained ground in those areas where the literacy rate and per capita income is very low while the number of persons per family is very high. Parents in these areas are reluctant to vaccinate their children against polio because they fear that their children will not be able to reproduce and due to this vaccine their family name might not be carried to the next generation. They are willing to make their children vulnerable to the polio virus but they are not willing to make any compromise on their ability to reproduce.
One of the other threats to our fertility was in the form of the introduction of iodised salt. When iodised salt was introduced in Pakistan to counter iodine deficiency in masses, strong opposition from different sections of society rose against its utilization. They were of the opinion that iodised salt contained certain chemicals that would reduce their ability to reproduce. We termed it a conspiracy of western nations against Pakistan to make the people of Pakistan sterile. Even those families where one or more persons were suffering from iodine deficiency were also not willing to utilise iodised salt. They were more than happy to trade these symptoms with the ability to reproduce. However, according to research, the reality is that apart from goiter and mental retardation, other symptoms of iodine deficiency may affect their ability to reproduce normally. These include abortion, stillbirth and congenital anomalies. But if after consuming iodised salt we are not able to reproduce there will be no abortions, stillbirth or congenital anomalies.
These conspiracy theories gain ground mainly due to our low literacy rates. Some particular groups mould public opinion to serve their own interests. Since a majority of the population has no access to verified and accurate information it believes whatever it hears. The electronic media often fuels the fire in this regard. The government needs to take measures for the improvement of the literacy rate. Programmes for adult education are also of vital importance. These programmes should be initiated in the least developed areas. It is the duty of the government to make authentic information available to the common man. The media often acts as catalyst in spreading such conspiracy theories so the government should restrain the media from spreading unverified news. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) should be strengthened and a comprehensive code of conduct should be formulated and implemented.
The writer is a postgraduate student at the Technical University in Munich and tweets @drshabbir1986