The New Bedfellows

anil #54: "Keep me posted"

....yes, i have reached bangalore....and mumbai....and gurgaon....should be going to hyderabad shortly.....i am now, quite well entrenched into this IT scene....

....i have also reached karachi and islamabad and lahore and am quite well entrenched into the IT scene there, as well....

.....i suppose somewhat of a unique situation.......half my emails go to pakistan and half to india....travelling quite a bit, in the region from gulf to india......

there seem to be two different groups of indians evolving in IT....those who went to the iit's etc. and went off to the usa and established themselves, there.....and those who went to the iit's etc. and stayed back in india, and established companies there....i have now met both and worked with both.....interesting to see the differences and similarities......

i think india has reached a saturation point in terms of lack of availability of skilled IT professionals......everyone being hired and put on projects is very very young.......overwhelmingly less than 5 years of experience......and the demand for skills is so high, and supply so low, that these companies will eventually face large declines in quality....and salaries will go through the roof....

......they are now moving off to china and recruiting in places like hungary and romania.......they should look at pakistan.....

Re: # 67
you do travel alot don't you i hope it's not in your dreams only.

To get things started, Pakistan needs parliamentary elections every two years with term limits for the PM and President positions - also may be a good idea to have term limits for the legislators - two years makes sense, until we find people who are genuinely interested in propagating true democracy.

Tahmed Sahib:

"That is: if he really believes what he says, Musharraf would himself request to be allowed to focus on his job as military chief of bringing law and order to the tribal area."

You have given a very accurate definition of the role for the General President.

I would not be surprised if Benazir (=PPP) gets elected with a healthy majority, this is exactly what would happen. As legislature would be strong and independent, and Judiciary can only interpret, apply and enforce laws legislature hands down.

#63, Agreed again, Tahmed Sahib. I would much rather have an incompetent government elected by Pakistanis than a competent one imposed by foreign powers.

But then, why can't we have a competent government selected by our own people? Or get rid of an incompetent one without having to resort to coups, revolts, or treason. Nothing wrong with shorter term limits and a viable option to recall a bad choice.

Salim: Glad we agree on this fundamental issue facing Pakistan today. By "duly appointed and removable" I did in fact mean through duly elected. Although, our political leaders do need to recognize that they are the servants who are their at the will of the Pakistani people. Musharraf is in fact quite keeping with previous leaders (elected or otherwise) who start acting like kings. The important thing is that if the Supreme Court of Pakistan continues to live up to expectations, then Musharraf may well go down as being the last "ruler" of Pakistan, and his successor as the first "servant" of Pakistan.

WIth their mass outpouring of support to the rule of law over the past few months, Pakistani people have shown the world that they are as capable as any nation of being a free people.

#60 {"Pakistani people need to rule themselves through duly appointed and removable leaders, and those seeking to take away this basic right of the Pakistani people need to be judged by the Pakistani courts."}

Tahmed Sahib,
I agree - please change the word "appointed" to "elected." It sounds too much like what seems to be going on. :)

Here is the link to the bbc article I tried to give at the end of post #60

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6933876.stm

anil: I am very surprised that you buy Musharraf's flea-bitten claim that he needs to be dictator or else the terrorists will win. You must be one of the last few people left in the world who buy that.

But, let us assume for the sake of argument that Musharraf really believes what he says. In that case, shouldnt he be arguing to be freed up from all these other duties he has taken upon himself (most recent being to try and bribe lawyers with pay increases after they failed to be bullied by him)? That is: if he really believes what he says, Musharraf would himself request to be allowed to focus on his job as military chief of bringing law and order to the tribal area.

Here is an article from bbc today that I discusses how the self-styled "elite" who claim Pakistani people need to be ruled by someone like Musharraf are in fact putting the cart before the house. Pakistani people need to rule themselves through duly appointed and removable leaders, and those seeking to take away this basic right of the Pakistani people need to be judged by the Pakistani courts.

Hypocrisy of Pakistan's ruling elite

It's more sensible this way:

1. Mushy + Bezamir (PPP)
2. Besharif (ML(N))+ Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain + Chaudhry Pervez Elaahi (ML(Q))
3. Mullah Fajlu (MMA) + JI + MQM (w/o AH) + TI

#51, Urstruly,
Thanks - that makes so much sense. Now, if she is a nawasi - is she the aunt of the guy marrying Preiti Zenta?

Where does Hamid Mir fit in all of this :-?

And Fox News directly broadcasts GEO's footage whenever reporting any news from Pakistan ; )

Ha ha, wonder of wonders, the CIA's media outpost in Pakitan, GEO TV, directly broadcasts Voice of America programming without even hiding the logo...hmmm they must think we're damn fools....

Romair:

Nice to read about your progress, if you have reached Bangalore you have reached at the center of action in technology for at least next ten years. Keep me posted. That place now has more engineers than silicon valley. Their savings rate, and the returns on investment are now much higher than even the U.S.

Congress is so done in the south. Besides there is so much more fun in being an entreprenuer and let those politicians chase you.

Tahmed Sahib:

I respect your sentiments and the definition of true leaders you have given. The examples of Washington, Sherman and Gandhi that you have given only show that true leaders also know when their time has come. In democracy sometimes it is not possible, as Churchill had to be defeated in the polls.

One cannot say that Musharraff's time is over. Here is my reasoning. Musharraff, in my view, is the last General to seize power in Pakistan. The U.S. certainly wants army to play role in the governance of Pakistan, as most observers will say the terror agenda is unfinished, and likelihood of right of center (in religious sense) coming to power in fair elections is very high. How would such a government deal with the unfinished agenda at best is unclear. Hence the role of army is certain in the governance for some time.

Therefore, a coalition between army and the largest fairly elected political party is the solution that makes sense. This side of politics is clouding many judgments and raising emotions against Musharraff. I think decision to remove Musharraff will squarely rest in the hands of Pakistani army. Personally speaking, bringing in a new general will not set a great precendence that newly elected legislature submitted itself to a new general.

Governance wise, the best is to evolve free and independent legislature and then break the bond with the army (or, may be it does not need to be broken) depending upon how power sharing is passed onto the army.

Therefore, to me on account of unfinished agenda and priority to evlove independent and powerful legislature. Musharraff is the best alternative for peaceful transition.