An Unexpected Birthday Gift

dost-mittar #64: ``But that is true of almost all Pakistani politicians starting with its founder; if Ayesha Jalal is to be believed, his brilliant tactics succeeded, but only in achieving something that he did not really want.``

......Most Pakistani politicians stay well ahead of the game......They are politicians after all....Look at the current crisis.....Not a single member of the ruling party has come out to support Musharraf.......Only the Law Minister and Information Minister are on TV, because they are being forced to........Where is the head of the party, Chaudhry Shujaat......Where are the remaining ministers.....etc........They are all ahead of the game, i.e. they have figured out the future and are now looking after their own interests......

.......The problem with Pakistani politicians is that they are corrupt and are only looking after the interests of certain cliques.......So they are not genuinely interested in progress in Pakistan......Hence, whether they stay ahead or behind the game, they will still do damage to Pakistan, if there isn`t a strong judiciary and press to keep a check on them......

......Musharraf`s case, in my opinion, was different.......I think he was sincere when he came on........And he was not corrupt........He still isn`t corrupt.......But he has lost his sincerity.......His personal career has become more important to him than the future of the country.........I suppose this is a different type of corruption from financial corruption.......Every move he is making is to ensure his own future at the expense of Pakistan.........I think he is in a state of full denial now.......I think he genuinely feels, like most Army generals, that he is the best thing for Pakistan.......This, along with his lack of political evolution will doom him.......

......While the remaining politicians will have, all, planned out a convenient exit for themselves.......They will dump Musharraf and leave him holding the bag......

As for the founder of Pakistan........He was the master strategician......Created a country out of nothing, but the sheer will of his character.......Took on the British, the Congress and the entrenched Pakistani feudals and maulvis single-handedly and defeated them.......The problem was he was too good at it and was way ahead of his time........No one could understand what he wanted.......However, in about fifty years or so, South Asians will realized that his idea of a lose federation of South Asia was the correct one.........

``WASHINGTON, March 24: Chairman and three senior members of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations have urged President Pervez Musharraf to ensure that the coming elections are open and free and the exiled leaders of the PPP and the PML-N are allowed to participate.

In a letter to President Musharraf, released to the media on Saturday, the four senators remind him that no democratic government can be credible without the protective check of a free press and urge him to order Pakistan’s security and intelligence agencies to stop harassing journalists.

The senators -– Joseph R. Biden, John F. Kerry, Patrick J. Leahy and Blanch L. Lincoln -– describe the coming year as “a crucial one” for Pakistan’s democratic development and for its relationship with the United States.

“Handled properly on both sides, the relationship has the potential for significant and sustained improvement,” say the senators, adding: “We believe that the US and Pakistan can and should be firm allies in the decades to come.”

But they warn that if this relationship “is handled improperly, the strides made by both our countries in recent years could well be imperilled.”

The senators say that they wrote this letter as supporters of the US-Pakistan relationship, adding that they understand “the complicated political pressures” to which the Musharraf government is subject but “given the enormous stakes” the US has in developments in Pakistan, “we feel it is appropriate to raise with you several issues of concern.”

The top on their list is the issue of “open elections and open government”.

As Pakistan prepares for upcoming elections, “we urge you to ensure that the Pakistan people can benefit from a robust democratic campaign and engage in open and vigorous debate about their political future,” the senators say.

They recall that the 2002 elections met “widespread international scepticism”, in particular concerning “the extensive involvement of the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies in the electoral process and in daily governance”.

They say that since those elections, they have received increasingly frequent reports of abuses such as arbitrary arrest and detention, mistreatment in custody and repression of journalist and political figures critical of the government.

The senators remind President Musharraf that he has often spoken publicly about Pakistan’s need for a vigorous, moderate democracy.

“The single most concrete measure of progress would be to allow all legitimate parties and candidates to contest the elections, including the senior leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League.

“Unless the leaders of Pakistan’s two oldest and most firmly established parties are free to return from exile and campaign for office, it will be difficult for the international community to regard the 2007 elections as a true expression of democracy.”(DAWN)

this is called Nuhlay pe Duhla -- poor Musharraf !