Political Quandary in Pakistan

Re: # 79

You are right Laddu Mian. Only the Mullah can perhaps teach them a lesson as they are already doing through their terrorist outfits as according to them (the Mullah) creation of Pakistan was a sin in which none of them was involved. At least their leaders, Moulana Fazlurehman and his father, had publicly said so a number of times.

It is in fact not a mere 'political quandry' but a time bomb, perhaps a nuclear one, whih would explode any time to take us back to the stone age.

All I can say is that chowkies are idiots and will always remain so.

Apparently ISI has nothing better to do than monitor a third rate fool like masadi.

lets understand that pakistan was created by a unholy trinity, the landlords who didnt want to lose its privilages, supported by religionists and the army,poor mr.jinnah, the secular, was only an afterthought, a caricature. over sixty years all three have grown big. so therevis no chance forward cause the civil society is so small in comparison. so lets the religionists rule for a while, mess it up so that the army becomes aligned with the civil society and then there would be peace.

Someone asked about who is in which bed in Paki politics. Please allow me to help:

Bezamir was in bed with Mushy but the Dick Traitor refused to take his uniform off so now Bezamir is trying to get in bed with Nawaj Besharif who was already in bed with Moola Fazool Raman. The good thing is that Soodi Arabian law allows multiple occupants in the same bed.

Imran Khan was in bed with Aunt Jemima who gave her sweet syrup to Huge Grant who was rejected by Liz Hurley who went and got banged by an Injun. Now it appears that Aunt Jemima wants to hook up with the Great Can again.

One thing is constant - Hypo Chacha Al Butteesi is in bed with gora ass.

What is the outlet out of this situation.
None? No solution.
Let the politicians take care of their constituency.
Is the political landscape going to change whether there is Army or not?
Apart from some gain of Islamic parties and loss of leftist parties in NWFP, look at the composition of assembly about the same as in 1985 (may be 1988) . The parties have changed people are the same (ideology has changed basic premise of Kursi remains the same). And it is going to remain the same.
No solution in sight.
I don't think Benazir can perform miracle. And Nawaz Sharif can deliver without the blessings of Army.
Next election will choose the same people. The only question is on which party platform.
Give me the solution?

majumadar writes "Actually it was inaccessible in India too so I presume it was not the ISI's fault."

Possibly not this time but my site www.asadi.org is being blocked by the G of Pakistan ever since I started posting on Chowk...that is why I suspected the ISI types for inaccessibility of Chowk these past few days...

Re: # 78

"the fact of "parliamentary democracy" being the worst recipe for Pakistan:"

After reading all the chowk articles I am convinced that Pakistan actually DESERVES these Islamists and their imbecile mullahs and the Khalifas.

Pakistanis need to live under these bearded felons and suffer the fruits of their karmas.

"....The upshot of my essay is to highlight the inevitable political quandary in which Pakistan is trapped. You can install a political government by popular vote but there are no effective checks and balances by which a political government can be kept to the straight, narrow and workable path.
Who will break this quandary or how can Pakistan escape from this quandary is not clear yet."

You are dead right on the "quandry" Mr. Gill! Your lucid write-up has brought out well the fact of "parliamentary democracy" being the worst recipe for Pakistan: we have been passing through many torrents of shenanigans posing as 'heavily mandated' democratic parliament/government.
From what I can discern in the multitude of cursing or polemic in the many other write-ups and the interacts on this forum [chowk.com], there seems a terrible lack of clarity on WHAT is wrong and WHAT needs to be done!
How about starting from the premise that we require a total re-evaluation of the concept that 'parliamentary democracy' is what the doctor ordered for Pakistan? How about giving a shot at understanding what Jinnah wanted for Pakistan?
What about having a well-conceived form of democratic governance and administration that is a mixture of what was envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam; and that which is nearer to what was put in place about 1400 years ago?
May I humbly suggest a read of my paper, "Religiosity, National Ethos....." posted on this forum, 6th Nov 2007?
May I also request/suggest the Chowk Editors to 'censor' the noxious/irrelevant comments posted on the interacts which trash the content and are unrelated to the main thrust of particular articles or write-ups?
I would also suggest Chowk.com Editors to kindly 'moderate' the more serious write-ups: perhaps it may be considered appropriate to invite comments/views from: Janab Sharif al Mujahid , Dr. Parvez Hoodbhoy, Janab Qazi Faez al Issa, Prof Anwar Syed [his write-up, "Dealing with an emergency", DAWN, 11th November 2007, is a sort of sequel to a long list of revealing/suggestive political frame-work for Pakistan], and many other apolitical commentators.
Pakistan is poised on the edge of a precipice - some would rightly say, "hurtling down..." - and if urgent corrective actions are not taken, the spectre of armageddon foretold in the "Blood Borders" and "How the Balochistan Liberation Army came into being", will be realised [New York Times thinks it may be in 2010 or so]

Masadi sahib,

(Chowk was inaccessible from Pakistan yesterday and today is also inaccessible via Internet Explorer. The ISI types are roaming these streets or maybe they are working overtime for the sake of "democracy". )

Actually it was inaccessible in India too so I presume it was not the ISI's fault.

Regards

Note in addition to #74

Note: The real "rock and a hard place" is what the people of Pakistan find themselves in, faced by a choice between Musharraf's "democracy" and America's "democracy"- they want neither because both circumvent them(or pass them by) while using (and abusing) their name.

p.s: By the way, our esteemed president, who was also called a sonofabitch by the Daily Telegraph announced through his attorney general 4 days back that emergency will be lifted in a month and elections would be delayed by a month. Never one to go back on his words, he declared yesterday that the elections should be held before January 9th, under the barrel of the military gun. He also declared that it was "history in the making" the for the first time martial law slayed the judiciary and not the assemblies from which the opposition had already resigned in protest over the laughingstock he had made of the country by contesting presidental elections while serving as the country's highest ranking military officer in uniform. In related news, he was also descibed as a sonofabitch by the Daily Telegraph.....

According to our esteemed President, who was also called a sonofabitch by the Daily Telegraph, emergency in Pakistan was declared for the sake of "democracy", because stage/phase 3 of the democracy through dictatorship process was in danger of being "derailed". The hard work of past 7 years, that of manufacturing numbers showing the poverty has been reduced in Pakistan and literacy raised by 15% was in danger of being exposed and all the hard work lost. Our president, who was an unknown figure before the coup that brought him to power and now is the most popular political leader of the country, acted to save "democracy". For those of you ingrates who do not know what the three stages are, here is a history lesson for you all

Stage 1: Musharraf rules through the barrel of a drawn gun after overthrowing a democratically elected government for the sake of "democracy"

Stage 2: Musharraf rules through the gun but the gun is placed in the holster for purpose of legitimating and of course it is for "democracy"

Stage 3: Musharraf is declared president and COAS for life, to safeguard "democracy".

Stage 3 was disrupted because the Americans had a different plan for "democracy": choose a Prime Minster before any voting or campaigning takes place, and take the "gun" away from Musharraf and give it to another COAS, so he can rule through its barrel at the right time.

What have people got to do with "democracy"? In Pakistan, not much, democracy is pre-cooked and microwavable. It can be enforced from on high or applied through stages. It can be smoked, cooked, sautéed or stir fried but never consumed by the people.......Enjoy, now that the train is back on the tracks and the judges under house arrest and the dissidents being court martialled....


p.s Chowk was inaccessible from Pakistan yesterday and today is also inaccessible via Internet Explorer. The ISI types are roaming these streets or maybe they are working overtime for the sake of "democracy". The little men and women must not get any information.....because they might derail stage 3 of the path to "democracy". It must be true because our esteemed president, also called a sonofabitch by the Daily Telegraph, who was educated at the Ivy League, Pakistan Military Academy, and who in his own words found himself between a "rock and a hard surface" (should have been place but the literary giant who wrote his own biographical account of taking on the entire Indian military and now is not surrendering to 160 million Pakistani folk should be in a position to invent his own language, leave alone a borrowed phrase).

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Re: # 71

I think you have a great point, although one thing to add. The judiciary should not be completely independent....it needs to be controlled via checks and balances as well....

Take the American System of Government for example, The three parts of the government work via checks and balances...like three corners of a triangle....The President...The Congress...The Judiciary!

President nominates the judges.....Congress confirms them......Judges uphold the constitution and keep both Congress and President in check....

"You can install a political government by popular vote but there are no effective checks and balances by which a political government can be kept to the straight, narrow and workable path".

Independent judiciary, and completely unfettered media is the answer. Public can be informed and mobilized into political activism through the media. With the recourse to independent courts availble, this will create the necessary system of checks and balances. This has the promise to slowly cleanse the system.

The Times of India

POLITICALLY INCORRECT

Kis taraf, Musharraf?
11 Nov 2007, 0000 hrs IST,Shobaa De

"Bad news across the border is good news in India," commented seasoned journalist Asif Noorani in an impassioned email. The e-greeting by Nitya Anand Chepuri (author of the controversial book 'Tarbela Damned – Pakistan Tamed'), was more ominous. It read, "Fireworks will be provided from the other side of our western border this Diwali." So... what is the real story? I spoke to Noorani to get a better understanding of the action from someone who is right there in the trenches, so to speak. He scoffed at the misrepresentation of the situation in India. Like he put it, "Our children are going to school as usual...we are at work...the streets are calm. I'm happy to say, our Emergency is nothing like yours." Noorani, an old India hand, was in Chennai (Madras, in those days), when Indira Gandhi declared 'our' Emergency.

According to Asif, people were so paranoid, he was told not to speak to even a taxi driver, as that person could be a spy. He gleefully gloated during his spirited defence of Pakistan's General, "Musharraf is far less brutal than his predecessors, especially while dealing with opponents. What is Bhutto's record? Or Nawaz Sharif's? There is far more personal freedom in Pakistan at present, than ever before. Today, lawyers can stand up to a military dictator...what more do you want?" I checked with some other friends in Karachi, and the story was pretty much the same. "There are no protestors on the street... life is pretty calm. So, the Fashion Week got cancelled, but who cares?" Noorani's dismissal of the issue was complete when he stated cynically that people on both sides of the border share exactly the same, rather pleb concerns – the price of cheeni! He added jauntily that i could relax and ask him whatever i wanted to — "Don't worry, i won't be arrested at the end of this phone call."

As someone (me!) who had been directly affected by Gandhi's deplorable handling of the nation in general and the media in particular, during one of the worst, most shameful times in India's history, what Noorani was claiming , sounded like a 'Dream Emergency'! He boasted about the professional class in Pakistan having woken up for the first time, as a positive fallout of the current situation. He also asked what the alternative was to the General (''there are no uncorrupt politicians to take over from him.."). For a man who can be safely described as a liberal in a repressed society, i was rather intrigued by Asif's stand. He was not giving me a well-rehearsed spiel, and to the best of my knowledge, he is not on the General's payroll. In fact, Noorani is often teased by colleagues, who call him an Indian agent! Sugar coating? Or a balanced point of view from a sane scribe not given to hyperbole? Who then, is the villain of the piece?

However, happenings across the border are certainly sounding a whole lot better-scripted than our two Bollywood Diwali Dhamakas. One is as over-pumped up as the hero's muscles, and the other has audiences weeping with frustration. There was just too much riding on poor SRK's sixpack, while the missing 'butt shot' in the other mega production, took care of that imbalance. Meanwhile, India lost to Pakistan, which definitely doesn't qualify as cricket's 'phuljhadi moment' for us.

Today is Brother's Day across India. If one stretches that a little further, it is a day to honour a special bond and renew positive feelings. I am in such a smarmy, sentimental and 'Mush-y' mood, I feel like phoning the General and calling him over for some traditional Maharashtrian 'faraal'. Maybe his emergency is better than ours, but all emergencies are essentially bad and anti-people. There is no such thing called a 'good' emergency. As a concerned sister from across the border, that would be my simple and heartfelt message to Parvez bhai — call it off, brother.