Are dictatorship and democracy mutually exclusive? In a country of cultures as ancient and complex as Pakistan’s, the answer to what the future holds is not straightforward. Projected to be the world’s third-most populous country by 2050, Pakistan has stood at the crossroads of East and West for centuries.<\/p>\n
Now in the “nuclear club,” and an emerging secular democracy amidst neighboring Islamic theocracies, Pakistan plays a critical role in America’s war on terrorism. Former President Pervez Musharraf had long been viewed as a key U.S. ally in the region—a reputation that did not always serve him well in Pakistan. Dinner with the President: A Nation’s Journey<\/i> recounts a moment in Pakistani history and helps to inform an exploration of its future.<\/p>\n
Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar and Sri Lankan co-director Satha Sathananthan request a dinner with their country’s leader — and to their surprise, the request is granted. The journey goes beyond dinner table conversation as the filmmakers achieve a sense of openness with their host. The president shares his thoughts about topics not usually explored by the media as he engages in personal conversation never seen in news clips.<\/p>\n
As they encounter people from all levels of Pakistani society, the film reveals a country where ethnic and tribal loyalties struggle against modernization and religious Islamic forces threaten to make Pakistan a theocracy like Iran. In the crosshairs of these changes sits the president himself, whose ties to the military and modernization efforts in Pakistan had made him a lightning rod for controversy from across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n
Dinner with the President: A Nation’s Journey<\/i> asks its audience to rethink conventional Western wisdom around concepts such as individual rights, democracy, power, and political process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Directors Sabiha Sumar and Sachithanandam Sathananthan sit down with former President Pervez Musharraf, before he resigns from office, to address the army general’s plans to establish democracy in Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1225],"class_list":["post-68","films","type-films","status-publish","hentry","topic-politics-and-government"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n