Political Quandary in Pakistan

"Who will break this quandary or how can Pakistan escape from this quandary is not clear yet."

When non-political elitists such as Roedad Khan etc stop behaving like rulers and the PEOPLE of Pakistan are allowed to decide for themselves.

Too wordy to read. Can anyone kindly tell what the article's central theme is? Thanks.

'US should back Musharraf to secure nuke weapons'

United Nations (PTI): Former American Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the Bush administration's continued support to President Pervez Musharraf is necessary to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists and fundamentalists.

He blamed the present American government for "contributing to the instability in Pakistan by not strongly supporting Musharraf".

Promoting his new book, "Surrender Is Not An Option", Bolton wanted the US to focus less on election and more on ensuring that al-Qaeda terrorists do not lay hands on nuclear weapons.

Expressing doubt that a civilian government in Pakistan could keep military under control or nuclear weapons out of the reach of terrorists and fundamentalists, Bolton said he was not defending Musharraf.

"But I am here to say that an appreciation of Pakistani history doesn't give much reason for confidence that a civilian leader can keep the military under control and keep the nuclear weapons secure," he said.

Bolton resigned as the US Ambassador to United Nations following stiff opposition from the members in Senate which was unlikely to confirm him to the post. He now works at a Washington-based conservative think tank, American Enterprise Institute.

Bolton said the highest strategic interest of the United States should be to ensure that weapons of mass destruction remain secure. He wants the United States to learn from the experience of enforcing elections in Palestinian territories that resulted in the victory of Hamas.

tango 33,

Give me a break, you mean to say that there are areas in karachi where there are no school going children with a birth rate of more than 3.

Re: # 26
How does this news mean that missing kids are in madrisah? Its not the only school in area. Most of the government schools face the problem that the number of students is too large. I have been teaching at a college and the strength of one section in 2006 in first year was 125 and there were a total of 16 sections. Everey year thousands of applications are rejected in our college and all of those kids come from schools.
I sometimes feel ashamed how our intellectuals manipulate situations or atleast try to manipulate for their vested interests

I agree to #14 by VRV

I agree. One such essay is, "Emergency:What Lies Ahead For Pakistan?" It only has 9 hits. Here is an excerpt:
------------------------------------------------
"Once again Pakistan is in a state of emergency, this time imposed by the Chief of Army Staff who also wears the hat of the President. A PCO has been declared by the Army Chief and the media gagged. The conclusion of this modes operandi is simple and needs no thesis. In Pakistan, political power flowsfrom the barrel of a gun. The politic body, already decimated, raped and largely turned into a mob of opportunist has yet again been put on the dissecting table for surgical procedure by butchers.......

Having divided itself in 1971, West Pakistan now faces its gravest challenges. Warlords and Islamic militants rule the FATA and PATA. Balochistan is beset with insurgency. Counter insurgency operations are not producing any results. Even routine movement of armed forces in settled areas is dangerous. Moderates and nationalists are isolated and excluded. Religious rightists are on the rise. Gun running continues with impunity. Supporters of some political parties are armed to the teeth. Civil society is left with no space to operate. The military is isolated. The entire landscape is grey patrolled by agencies.

So where do the latest events lead to? If past military interventions were a measure, my immediate reaction is nowhere! A PCO flowing out of the barrel of a gun cannot put the train of democracy back on the track. The ghost of 1935 has grown in power and the mindset behind it is at best self serving. In this gloomy picture, even ‘Nowhere’ implies a status quo.

Are we heading much beyond; towards a disaster?

http://www.chowk.com/articles/12888
------------------------------ ----------------------
Though I did not comment, which I normally do not do, I found most of the heavy weights missing.

Gill writes "Who will break this quandary or how can Pakistan escape from this quandary is not clear yet."

Nothing is clear to you because you have half baked, tape-recorderesque, summarizing without understanding type of "knowledge", and waste your time and ours in producing article after article when you could be doing something better to fill you time "THINKING!".

Solutions cannot be imposed like a magic spell to fix things over night such are the hypocritical claims of military dictators and thier rule shows how miserably they fail to fulfill their hypocritical promises; change at first needs to be mandated into law (the means to law cannot be unlawful) to make it habitual, institutions develop over time, but the mandate needs to be "people centric" and not ulterior motive centric to protect the turf of thugs, both the lower (army) and the higher (the US elite) and an insitutions (army) whose corruption easily eclipses the well advertised corruption of the civilian prime minister and presidents, ten times over I might add.

A good article which takes a middling view and does pose some questions...
However, I do think that our focus is often too much on corruption and individual politicians....
Democracy is not an electoral process only...
It should be viewed as a complete framework which has strong institutions dedicated to playing their role in the society...
The role of Judivciary, Parliament and President may be reviewed in this context....

"In the meanwhile, official quarters are trying very hard to brush aside the impression that the decision pertaining to the general elections without much delay was taken as the result of the US President George Bush’s ‘frantic’ telephone call on late Wednesday evening."

From jANG OF TODAY,
/////////////////////////////

I recall the the quote by YLH from teh speech by Jinnah on 13 august 1947,

...now you are free..you can have any govt of your choice as long as you obey the phone call.... The enemies of islam I have demolished from this land of teh pure...they can only make phone calls and obeying them will not diminish the freedom...

Loved the piece, Mr. Gill. Voice of rationality among the chaos. :)

We have heard that so many times on chowk, in pakistan children are sent to madrassas because there are no govt schools. The people of pakistan want their children to study science and other kafir subjects...blah blah

Here is the proof that the pakis really want theor children to be jihadis

rfrom jang of today


More teachers than students in school
Saturday, November 10, 2007
By our correspondent

Karachi

A government school in the city is running short of students with the result that the number of teachers is larger than the number of students admitted in the school.

Mehnaz Government Boys Lower Secondary School is situated at Keamari, near the shrine of Pir Haji Ghaib Shah. The school in question operates in the second shift.

The number of the total staff deputed here is seven. Out of seven, five are teachers, one is a peon and the other is a watchman/guard.

Interestingly, the number of students here is just four. Only two students are regular in their attendance while the other two remain absent sporadically. Sufiyan, Waqas and Azhar are students of class seven and Faisal is a student of class eight. Azhar is very punctual in his attendance and so is Waqas.

Maldives suspects 'in Pakistan'
Map of Maldives
Police in the Maldives say 10 suspects in a bomb attack on foreign tourists in September, which wounded 12, are on the run in Pakistan.

A police spokesman told Reuters they were seeking support from Interpol to arrest the fugitives.

Eleven suspects are already in custody for the 29 September attack near a mosque in the capital Male.

From bbc of today.

Where is the center of terror

Something more odd happened just a day after the trashing of the Constitution: the hush-hush release of over 20 men on Nov 4 accused of planning suicide bombings, and their handing over to the militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, in return for the release of over 200 captured army personnel. Included in this number was Sohail Zeb, Mehsud’s cousin, caught allegedly with a suicide jacket on. How would this help the fight against terrorism?

The above is from Ayaz Amir in dawn of today.

This is a clear indication that the emergency is aimed at saving the pak military from the jihadis.

Now the jihadis have a free hand in pakistan and more are being sent to kashmir as the pak army cannot deliver shehdad to their own.

To the Author,

I am so glad that people like you and Nadeem Paracha exist.

I am so sick of these champions of Pakistani Rights...the so called Judiciary of Pakistan and the lawyers constantly screaming murder at President Musharraf and the army....

Yes, Military rule is not the greatest thing....but I would take Musharraff over Mohtarma and Caliph Nawaz Sharif any day......

Both Mohtarma and Mr. Shariff should be barred from taking part in Pakistani elections...

Yes, we are at a loss as a People....

Yes, we are a failed state.....

and if not Musharraf, then whom?

Could it be someone who is a political moderate.....An enlightened being who would do away with the ills plaguing Pakistani society....

perhaps a prayer at this time,

"O Allah, You do not change the condition of a people who do not change themselves, but still, I beseech thee so that you may cause a great leader to rise up from within the ranks of our ailing society in great pain."

"O Allah, Create compassion within us as a nation"

"O Allah, Let us fight towards justice for the weak, the poor, and the downtrodden"

"O Allah, Let us be guided by your infinite wisdom and have mercy on our nation and our people".

"O Allah, We ask you to heal our spirits, and mend our psychological wounds, and we ask your forgiveness for our transgressions against each other".

"O, Allah! In your holy name we beg for your mercy. Grant us Peace everlasting".

you know you've hit rock bottom when even lobbyists think you're a lost cause..remember..these are the people who will sell the benefits of smoking..


Share this story! del.icio.us digg Reddit Furl Fark TailRank Ma.gnolia NewsVine Simpy Spurl

Pakistan embassy tries to put good face on cancelled lobbying contract

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: In an effort to put a good face on the cancellation by Cassidy & Associates of a $1.2 million lobbying contract because of Musharraf’s government being ‘unsellable’ and the situation in Pakistan, the Pakistan embassy has stated that the contract was in a “trial” stage cancelled by mutual agreement.
However, the facts are otherwise. Cassidy acted honourably by saying that it was no longer in a position to deliver on the contract in an effective manner and hence it was pulling out.
Here is the text of the Pakistan embassy press release issued on Friday, “Responding to questions related to the withdrawal of Cassidy & Associates from the contract, the Embassy spokesman said that the contract for one year was still at the trial phase when during the course of the first month of association, both the Embassy of Pakistan and Cassidy & Associates, came to the conclusion that the latter could not effectively implement the contract as lobbyist. As a result, Cassidy & Associates asked for withdrawal from the contract that the Embassy has accepted, the spokesman added.”

Home | National