A BRIEF but telling moment passed quickly without comment in the press conference by the DG ISPR on Dec 5. It came in response to a question in which he was asked a vague and rambling question about how the “national media” amplifies the remarks and narratives that the DG had spent the entire press conference denouncing as fake and against the interests of Pakistan.

The DG started off by saying that the big problem with the “national media” is that they want to discuss nothing but “politics and rhetoric”. He exhorted them to talk about “actual issues” inst­e­­ad and went on to furnish a few examples. He said the country’s population is 250 million, and it’s growing by 4m every year, saying that we’re adding a small country’s worth of population every year.

“That requires a lot of resources,” he said, referring to the mouths that need feeding. He pointed to the recent rains and ensuing floods, pointed out the huge losses they caused, then added that, according to one estimate, 25 to 30 million acre feet of water was drained into the sea within three months. “One MAF is equal to $1 billion of agriculture product,” he carried on. “So you poured 25 to 30 billion dollars’ worth of water” into the sea.

Then he mentioned the water storage capacity of the country, at 13 to 14 MAF, and underlined that next year there will be even more rains, then let the thought trail off by saying the media should be........

© Dawn