Published on February 24, 2008
in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s born-again democracy will fail. Musharraf will be proved right that Pakistan does, after all need ‘unity of command’. The worst of the skeptics will say “Pakistan is a failing state with or without Military rule but more slowly with than without”. Pakistan’s elite that consists of majority of Army’s brass, its bureaucracy, its multi-national technocrats and its feudals will once again be singing paeans to a smartly-uniformed general who speaks in clipped tones. And they will be spitting venom in their living rooms on Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari - those no-good politicians who are taking the country down the garbage chute.
This, of course, has not happened yet but is quite likely to happen.
Everything that has sustained 33-years of military rule remains in place: a powerful military, strong ubiquitous web of intelligence agencies, weak civilian institutions, rampant societal corruption, deeply-entrenched feudalism, a thoroughly disillussioned populace and faltering economy. Only two things are missing for the moment: masses who are angry with those about to come to power and the will of the army to rule. Masses as of this very second are hopeful and the military desperately needs time to regroup and re-energize by polishing its image and paying attention to building its badly eroded professionalism. How long will it be before these ingredients also get thrown in the pot?
That, of course, depends on what follows. Continue reading ‘Can You Hear the Alarm Bells Over the Trumpets? By Shaheryar Azhar’
Published on February 15, 2008
in People.
By John M. Glionna
KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Perched in the living room of his sprawling villa, security guards posted outside, Ardeshir Cowasjee is feeling a bit cantankerous about the future of volatile Pakistan.Another leader has been killed. He considers his president a pawn of the United States and accuses him of sponsoring the kidnapping and torture of citizens. Massive vote-rigging in the upcoming parliamentary elections appears certain, he says. Continue reading ‘Article on Cowasjee: Pakistan columnist doesn’t know the meaning of fear, LA Times’
Published on February 8, 2008
in People.
The bomb explodes near Bhutto’s vehicle following a political rally in Rawalpindi.
The conclusions of the inquiry were outlined in a detailed report handed over to interim Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz by Detective Superintendent John MacBrayne, accompanied by a senior official from the British High Commission, during a meeting in Islamabad.
The text of the executive summary of the report is as follows:
On the 27th December 2007, Mohtarma Benazir BHUTTO, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), died as a result of being attacked in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Following discussions between the Prime Minister and President Musharraf, it was agreed that officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) should support the investigation into Ms Bhutto’s death. The primary focus of the Scotland Yard team was to assist the Pakistani authorities in establishing the cause and circumstances of Ms Bhutto’s death. The wider investigation to establish culpability has remained entirely a matter for the Pakistani authorities. Continue reading ‘Scotland Yard report into assassination of Benazir Bhutto released’
Published on February 8, 2008
in Pakistan.
In the past months, as the crisis in Pakistan has worsened, key figures in the Bush administration, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have spoken out about the need for free and fair elections and have condemned extremism. Yet they’ve continued through-out to support the man who poll after poll show to be the least popular public figure in Pakistan, less so even than Osama bin Laden: President Pervez Musharraf. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte went so far as to call Musharraf an “indispensable ally” just days after the general declared de facto martial law and suspended Pakistan’s Constitution. Continue reading ‘Pakistan’s Forgotten Man by Aitzaz Ahsan, Newsweek’
Published on February 5, 2008
in People.
IN my column in this space last week, I had expressed my puzzlement over the phenomenon of large numbers of educated, seemingly intelligent Pakistanis supporting military dictatorship over democracy.
Since writing it, I met Shaukat Aziz, our ex-prime minister who is presently living in London. After our conversation, many pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. As he insisted that the interview was to be off the record, I am professionally bound not to quote him. But I am allowed to say that I have seldom met anybody as complacent and self-satisfied as he is. Continue reading ‘The army’s camp-followers by Irfan Husain, The News’
