Mohsin Hamid, Pakistan's claim to literary fame recently, ruminated on the current state of Pakistan in last week's issue of Time Asia Magazine in the article, Two Steps Forward, One Step Back. Hamid takes on President Musharraf head on in examining why Pakistan's image branding is a miserable failure, despite great strides taken in economic growth, an expanding liberal atmosphere for the youth, and the phenomenon of 'brain gain' that is happening in the country today.

I believe Musharraf is probably sincere in his desire for "enlightened moderation" — for, in other words, a more widely respected and tolerant Pakistan. But he is undermining this goal by failing to shed attitudes he has inherited from the Pakistan he wishes to leave behind.

Musharraf's tendency to forget that one civil liberty ignored, as in the case of denying rape victim Mukhtar Mai her passport to travel to the US, can tarnish an already fragile, and often, incorrect image of Pakistan. Pakistan is changing, according to Hamid, for the better, for the smarter and for the more liberal. And if Hamid, the author of the quintessential enfant terrible novel Moth Smoke, says that, then we take it seriously. Good thing Hamid takes his job as a gadfly seriously as well and reminds the President that consistency is the key to good governance, and more importantly, good PR.