Musharaff Finds a Way Out

arjun you took a picture from a rally which was from nawaz who has less than 25 seats in the assembly. Do you really think most educated Pakistanis think like this. we have suffered enough during BB and b=nawaz times to think any different. Your democracy sham maybe is good for your country where people strip your soldiers naked because they tried to rape a little girl or where according to BBC the length requirement falls a little short or where bandit Queen becomes a member of the parliament or where die of hunger but refuse to give up on cow piss. we dont want to get there because of BB and Nawaz....

what`s this supposed to be? the illegitimate child of dracula`s affair with bugs bunny?

Re: # 31
Please invite him, it will make things easier for Pakistanis. And the problems you mentioned will be solved too. Do you have any political connections? If not, just write him a letter and maybe he will be so touched he may actually move!

Re: # 25
Don`t know if it is original (at least for me) but sure does sound good-- allah, america and army. If it is your own coinage, congratulations.

General Mushy kya mast president hai... India also will have a vacancy soon. Koi General Mushy ko India bhej do. Kashmir and Chief Justice problem solved instantly !!!!

Musharaf is unable to find his ways out......always, once tyrants are stuck , they are puzzled and they are unable to find their ways out of this jig saw puzzle, then those who supported them lead them to heaven or hell for good and that happens always in Pakistan........

re: #5

Nawaz is outside the ring anyway. Benazir is poised for an election comeback (after a deal with Musharraf). Mullahs have NWFP in their grip. Chaudhries have both the PML and Punjab under their thumb. Altaf controls Karachi with the Mohajir card.

This bar-and-bench movement has broken old loyalties and created new ones. That means no PML-Q style biradiri politics. On top of that, it`s a middle class movement which belies MQM`s claim of representing the middle class. It`s also a democratic and secular movement, which divides PPP`s votebank.

All this movement needs is a new political party. It already has a figurehead and well-defined goals.

re: #5 by tahmed32

{{#1 ``If this genie is not put back into the bottle, it will destroy not just Musharraf, but Benazir, Nawaz, Altaf and Mullahs as well. ``

and what`s wrong with that?}}

Nothing really.

dear love2love

u r right in thinking that how come musharraf will restore CJ, but u seem to have overlooked the fact that what will, if he tries to do that, make him resort to that humiliation. remember beggars cannot be choosers and i think that sums up the whole scene. read also that its not about musharaff but its about something else which the democratic champiosn want to cling on to and its not about pakistan its about their own interests. I still remember a high-level diplomatic meeting where one of the american diploamt when bombaded with all sorts of questions about leaving the Pakistan in the lurch after Afghan war said very calmly, americans went into afghanistan to safeguard their interests only? i hope u might now understand that whole chess board, if u r familiar with playing chess. good luck and logon to www.thefrontierpost.com for more on these developments.

I salute your optimism, because at least on the CJP issue, if Mush is really thinking the way you believe he is, then I think Mush is being very naive. After such hangama and fanfare that the CJP was bestowed with, do you really think he will be ready to cut such a deal with the General?

Mohar #18

(For pakistan - it`s always going to be Allah, Army and America... )

And of the three, Allah is the furthest away.

Regards

From the Imran Khan article on FP

Bubba #21 {``Alf-F is a British citizen allegedly conducting terror in a foreign land (Karachi, Pakistan) and must be held accountable. Bringing May 12 killers to justice is what is paramount. ``}

Bubba,
Since you are on a mission to hold terrorists accountable for the violence they cause, let me just encourage you to broaden your mission:

Imran Khan should get Tally Ban/Al Kayda types in Wana, Don`t Wana, Waziristan, Peshawar, and Quetta extradited to civilization.

Imran Khan should get Bezamir and Besharif extradited from wherever they are hiding for the violence they perpetrated on Karachi and Hyderabad in the 90s.

Imran Khan should get Modi extradited to The Hague for the state-sponsored terrorism he unleashed on Gujaratis of Muslim persuasion.

Imran Khan should search every cave in his backyard to get UBL and Eye Man Soowarhiri arrested and extradited to NYC for the terrorism they unleashed.

Imran Khan should find out who shot the missile that killed 32 people just yesterday in Waziristan - not to mention all the suicide bombings, homicide bombings, and fratricide bombings conducted by religious fundo fanatics in Peshawar, Islamabad, and Karachi.

Re: # 22 by stuka;

Stuka,

Good article that. The author seems sensible. However, the article ends abruptly and the author puts up the cliche:

``I fear that Mayawati will probably fail this test, but I shall be happy if I am proved wrong. ``

We do not know why the author feels that Mayawati will probably fail the test. So let me hold forth on why some politician (not necessarily Mayawati) will not fail the test. For a politician not to fail the test, three ingredients need to be satisfied.

1. The politician should be intelligent and know that he/she is intelligent. That is the politician should be able to form coalitions, both inside and outside the party, in a manner that the party can win elections. The politician, hence, should be able to figure out how will the constituency vote and for what. The knowledge about his or her own intelligence is also important, for that will always induce the politician to learn from previous mistakes and formulate new strategies.

2. The politician should be young. Otherwise, an old politician will simply concentrate on short term gains (since he/she knows that his/her days are numbered). That is RAMPANT corruption. A young politician on the other hand will know that by lessening (not eliminating) corruption he/she can build a reputation which in turn will help winning further elections. The aggregate loot from corruption over the long run would be higher than that collected from RAMPANT corruption in the short run, even though corruption in the short run is lesser than RAMPANT corruption.

3. A stable democracy. If democracy is disrupted every once in a while, like in Pakistan, then even a smart politician will know that his/her chances of comming to power in the future is low. As a result the only recourse is to maximize short term gains whenever one gets power.

As far as Mayawati is concerned. I think she satisfies 1 and 2. The Indian political system ensures 3. So I shall be watching this lady with great interest.

p.s. Note I am not making the assumption that politicians should be good, honest etc etc That is all nonsense. Everyone is corrupt (given a chance) and this includes you and me. In fact my thesis is driven by the assumption of a smart, corrupt and young politician.:)

Interesting article on anti-incumbency

A sobering lesson for Mayawati
June 3, 2007 on 12:56 pm | In The Times of India, Newspapers |

Now that the dust has settled and the instant pundits have had their day, this may be a good time to sit back and reflect on the significance of Mayawati’s amazing victory in Uttar Pradesh. For the first time in independent India a Dalit has won an absolute majority, anywhere. U.P. is, of course, not anywhere—it is 15 per cent of India and home to the largest upper caste population. The people of U.P. are euphoric. They finally have a government that will not be at the mercy of coalitions. Many Indians—and not just Dalits—see in Mayawati a future Prime Minister leading a national party. No wonder she has lit a fuse under every political party.

Meanwhile, we have heard plenty of explanations for her win. The most common is that it was a vote against the ‘goonda raj’ of Mulayam Singh. Another is the Left’s typical knee-jerk reaction—it was a revolt of the poor against the rich. A third view sees in her victory a decline of casteist politics; a trend that began in Bihar a year ago. Then there is is Yogendra Yadav’s conclusion—poor Dalits, poor OBCs, poor Muslims, and poor Brahmins have stitched together a ‘rainbow coalition of the downtrodden’. The RSS has explained the BJP’s debacle as the softening of Hindutva ideology. As for the Congress’ position, the less said the better.

There may be some truth in all these explanations, but none of them goes to the heart of the matter. In Barabanki district, an OBC woman was slapped by her uncle for voting for Mayawati. In her defence she told the reporter that the village patwari, a Mulayam supporter, refused to transfer her land in her name unless she paid him a hefty bribe. A group of auto-drivers in Muzzafarnagar told a Hindi news channel that policemen pocketed a fifth of their daily earnings. By voting in Mayawati they hoped that the police’s share might come down to a sixth. People thus vote sensibly for the things that matter to them.

A woman needs a title to her land. Auto drivers expect to ply their autos without harassment. A sick patient wants the doctor to treat him when he visits his primary health centre. A mother wants her child to learn something in the school. This is how government touches ordinary people’s lives. All governments in India are so eaten away by corruption and mismanagement that they cannot deliver the simplest things that people in the Far East and the West take for granted–drinking water, sanitation, roads without potholes, honest policemen and revenue officials, and decent schools and health centres. Hence, Indians do the only thing that they can—they boot out one set of incompetents just to bring in another.

‘Anti-incumbency’ is thus a code word, and it means: ‘You good for nothing bungler– you have failed me, and I am kicking you out, knowing full well that I may have to kick him out too.’ This is a sobering lesson for Mayawati and a wake-up call for the Congress. Unless the UPA government implements administrative reforms and improves governance, it faces the same fate as Mulayam Singh. When the euphoria is over and the hard light of the day begins to stare her in the face, Mayawati will have to remember that voters want basic services rather than Ambedkar statues. Then her leadership skills will be tested. A good leader sets clear goals for her officers, monitors progress, encourages high performers, and helps remove obstacles in their way. This is how things get done. I fear that Mayawati will probably fail this test, but I shall be happy if I am proved wrong.

I think Pakistanis and some Indians overestimate the role of the US in managing Pakistani affairs. Nawaz Sharif was also supported by the US and Musharraf was actually in the doghouse with the the US for the first couple of years. Big deal!

Romair is right about the incumbency factor. Ultimately the Pakistani people will determine a change, regardless of what the US thinks or wants. Remember Ayub`s ouster soon after he ``won`` the 1965 war against India?

Eight years and still running, Musharraf seems to be running out of gas and needs to either find some new excuse to remain in the same position or reconfirm his bookings on PIA flight IFKDU to Neverland. As a parting gift to Pakistan, he can take the following with him as excess baggage: Imran Khan, Chaudhry Shujaat, Qazi Hussein, Maulvi Diesel, NS, BB, AH, Ijaz ul Haq, and Gen Hameed Gul. Removal of these ppl is of utmost importance cause Musharraf` departure will not change anything, rather lead to the same dog and pony show that we Pakis have become accustomed.