The New Bedfellows

KARACHI: The grand-daughter of the father of nation Quaid-e-Azm Mohammad Ali Jinnah having dinner with her family.

Where is Mantolives? Why does this family looks like Gandhi's family?

Re: # 50

I think caption should have read Nawasi

Urstruly #49 {"Karachi - Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah ki poti apne ahlkhaney ke humrah intihaai pasmanda haalaat meN khaana kharahi heN."}

Urstruly,
How could Jinnah have a poti? Who was his son?

Musharraf is headed to Kabul on Thursday, he might never make it back = ), maybe he takes the Karzai man with him, the Americans might aim at getting two birds with one stone, who knows... they are busy linking the Taliban/Al-Qaeda with Iran, with Pakistan and with the purple dinosaur... The military is firmly gripping power in Pakistan, and it is itself firmly in the grip of the Americans. The BB will sweep the (rigged) elections, but only as a stop gap until an army general returns to power, at the heels of war drums beating in the same region as before....check out this regions history.......Not too far away as Iraqis languish in their own sewage, without power, jobs, and security, the Maliki government is crumbling.....Welcome to the new world order.....and of course tahmed, the American elite have absolutely nothing to do with it all...

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.

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.

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....

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

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

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

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

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

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

#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. :)

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.

#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.