Pakistan Elections 2008 - An analysis

Re: # 208

mohar mian,

..... i don't understand why any country would want to allow a sizeable muslim minority to remain part of the nation when they know that the ummah des not recognize the nation state and sooner or later they will become a major pain in the posterior ......... you hindoos are stupid - if i were you i would let the kashmiris secede and become part of pakistan ......... in the long run you will be better off ..... as a matter of fact, i think you should also move all the muslims into up or hyderabad and let them set up an independent state - somewhere down the road it will happen in any case .......... just so you don't feel that you are being picked on, i am also suggesting the independence of manchester, uk and dearborn, usa......

musharraf zindabad ! (that was just to bother tahmed)

Re: # 207 hamid
[...horrible hindoos going to do about their own taliban and ninja-chic problem ??]

How about canadian visas for the ninja chicks?... Indian Army is good at that, if nothing else... have done a lot of practice in last 15 years... (evil grin wala icon)

.... forget about the election in pakistan for a moment, what are the horrible hindoos going to do about their own taliban and ninja-chic problem ?? !!!!:

SRINAGAR: A Kashmiri Muslim women’s group raided restaurants on Thursday to prevent young Muslim couples from meeting on Valentine’s Day, an event it denounced as “anti-Islamic”.

“We have formed a number of squads to educate young couples that Valentine’s Day is a Western conspiracy to involve Muslims in vulgar activities,” said Nahida, a member of Dukhtaran-e-Millat, or Daughters of Faith, as she took part in a swoop on a restaurant in Srinagar. The women’s group, all covered from head-to-toe, did not encounter any resistance as couples patiently listened to them and left restaurants.

Nahida said such “peaceful raids” were being conducted across Srinagar. “Thanks to Allah, no one sold Valentine’s Day cards in Srinagar this year,” she said.

Last year dozens of activists marched through Srinagar and burnt Valentine’s Day cards.

“As long as everything passes off peacefully we will not intervene, but if they (women activists) use force, we will act,” said police officer Pervez Ahmed. afp

Re: # 204

Hamidm sahib:

You may have a point, in Musharraff Zindabad. Yasser's numbers based on fair and free elections, put PML-Q + MQM in the same league as PPP with the seats. If ANP is bought, Indian style, into PML-Q + MQM + ANP, it is over fair and square. In India, the price for Aaya Ram / Gaya Ram MPs/MLAs, as they were called, was Rs. 2 crores in 90s. Fudging, Playing and Timing with elections is the game played everywhere. With Rs. 100 crores he would be able to fix the numbers post elections. There is no need for him to mess around and temper.

Musharraff must have seen, what Yasser wrote in Nov., and must have said who really needs a BB, he is already married.

Re: # 204

those are good slogans. thanks.

.... it has been a couple of hours ... i have been busy

..... musharraf zindabad !

........ let's hope everything goes well on monday and we can all go out and have a drink to the return of democracy to pakistan - so what if it was a 'chulroo' election, we are electing churloos in any case ........

...... taliban murdabad !
...... mullah omar murdabad !
...... al-qaeda murdbad !
...... urstruly murdabad !

Pakistan columnist doesn't know the meaning of fear

For decades, Ardeshir Cowasjee has been an outspoken critic of politicians, developers and the religious right.

By John M. Glionna

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer



February 11, 2008



KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Perched in the living room of his sprawling villa, security guards posted outside, Ardeshir Cowasjee is feeling a bit cantankerous about the future of volatile Pakistan .



Another leader has been killed. He considers his president a pawn of the United States and accuses him of sponsoring the kidnapping and torture of citizens. Massive vote-rigging in the upcoming parliamentary elections appears certain, he says.



Worse yet, his beloved Karachi , once such a civilized city, has turned murderous and macabre, darkened by waves of religious militancy, suicide bombings and perverse political intrigue.



He thinks people should head for the border, and do it now.



"Pakistan is going to break up in the years to come, and everyone who can should pack up their bags and leave," he told a recent gathering. "Pack up and leave if you can. There's no hope for this country."



When Cowasjee sounds the alarm, people hear it. Nearly 82, he is often referred to as the grand old man of Karachi : a veteran columnist for Dawn, the nation's largest English-language newspaper, and one of Pakistan 's most outspoken critics.



In a country where press freedom is transitory and perceived enemies of the state are often jailed, he continues to agitate.



Cowasjee is a Parsi, a follower of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions, which has roots in ancient Persia . His is a stubborn non-Muslim voice in this nation created as an Islamic homeland, refusing to be silenced.



Attempts have been made. His life has been threatened so often the government has provided him with 24-hour protection.



A frail, erudite man who takes comfort in the company of his two lap dogs, Cowasjee comes out of hiding each Sunday, as he has for decades, with a new column challenging the nation's political and religious institutions and advising on its future.



He doesn't have to write. Scion of a wealthy shipping family, the widower and longtime philanthropist provides for educational and environmental causes. He values his privacy, his reading and painting. "I don't do it for the money," he said, pulling on a gray woolen shawl against an afternoon chill. "What they pay me wouldn't even buy this tie. It's an exercise of the mind. I do it to be sane. Because nothing works with logic in this place."



He regularly lampoons land grabs by developers, and blows the whistle on illegal building projects. He has exposed government corruption, nepotism and incompetence. He has blasted what he calls Pakistan 's insane nuclear arms race with neighboring India .



He's been summoned before Pakistan 's Supreme Court for calling the panel corrupt during a radio interview. The powerful military establishment here is rumored to dislike and distrust him.



"I go on the theory that a bully is a coward and a coward is a bully," he said. "I take my risks.



People here don't believe in finesse. If they want you killed, they'll cut you up and stuff you into a gunny sack.



If I feared fear, I couldn't live in this place. Still, I could be shot on my way out today."



The newspaper is flooded with response to his columns. "He annoys everyone," said Zubeida Mustafa, an editorial page editor at Dawn.



"People expect him to speak out. He takes on the land mafias, developers and builders encroaching on land. Some illegal buildings have been demolished as a result of his columns."



Cowasjee writes about the nation as "this moth-eaten country of ours" and "the floundering Islamic Republic of Pakistan," and about his city as "the battered and abused city of Karachi ."



One recent column carried a typical headline: "With Disgust."



Part gadfly, part muckraker, he takes on Pakistan 's high-profile personalities. His columns refer to President Pervez Musharraf as "the best of the worst" and dismiss his administration as an "unthinking, muddled government that speaks with forked tongues."



He calls assassinated ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto a corrupt "notorious international criminal" and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister, "the stupidest" in the history of Pakistan 's "stupid leaders."



Yet he pleads for tolerance in a volatile nation where Islamic extremists battle government forces in the country's far-flung mountain reaches and suicide bombings are commonplace.



He has angered Muslims by describing a traditional garment as a dishcloth. The calls, letters and threats came pouring in. But Cowasjee won't back down. It's not in his nature.



"I am convinced life is a gift of God, not to be spent all the time in prayer," he said. "If a man wants to pray 10 times a day he can, as long as he doesn't disturb me.



"If a woman wants to wear a ninja hood she can, as long as she doesn't insist that my wife and family do the same thing. I'm a tolerant man. I come from progressive people."



He says Pakistan has become an intolerant land that confuses religion with religiosity. Readers often lash out.



"I tell them, 'Fine, hold your opinion, but let me keep mine,' But they get angry," he said. "I have credibility because I don't write nonsense. If you don't have logic, how can you reason? If you don't reason, what do you do?"



Many Pakistanis say they don't pay attention to Cowasjee.



"He writes in English, not Urdu, so his readership isn't very big," said Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party. Dawn's circulation is 138,000. "His political views are controversial, but not because of what he says about Muslims."



Critics poke fun at his name, which in the Sindhi language of his home province is similar to the word for latrine.



"But he really cares," said Shershah Syed, a former general secretary of the Pakistan Medical Assn., who says his life was threatened after he reported what he found to be government corruption. "When people attacked me, he called me and asked me if I needed money, or a ticket out of Pakistan ."



Cowasjee has long been outspoken. He was born in Karachi , home to a large, vibrant Parsi community, before the Muslim refugees began to arrive in 1947, when India was partitioned. In 1976, while serving as tourism chief, he was jailed for 72 days by Benazir Bhutto's father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, on what he calls trumped-up accusations of conspiracy.



Laughing sadly to himself, he displays letters his late father wrote the government to help secure his release, pleas that were ignored.



Years later, after Zulfikar Bhutto was executed, he sent a letter to Dawn. Editors liked it and invited him to write a column. Since then, he's been a harsh critic of the Bhutto family.



"People think I'm a Bhutto hater, they think I'm vengeful. I'm not," he said. Still, he adds, "Bhutto was an evil man."



He calls Benazir Bhutto "a CIA cipher."



"Am I glad she was killed? Of course I'm not glad. But Benazir is dead. The file is closed."



The remaining Bhuttos dismiss Cowasjee. "It's important that Pakistan media have its good, bad and ugly -- and he certainly is one of those," said Fatima Bhutto, the niece of Benazir Bhutto, a poet and columnist who has been estranged from her clan.



"But he has used his column as a platform for personal assaults. I understand it's important to hold public figures accountable while they are alive. But once they're gone, why continue the attacks?"



Confidantes have advised him to lighten up on Benazir Bhutto, who is considered a hero by many Pakistanis. And to steer clear of confrontations with the religious right.



Musharraf remains fair game. And Cowasjee has challenged him over the growing number of missing Pakistanis that many believe have been kidnapped by the president's security forces.



"Does he, as head of state and de facto head of everything in it, not owe some sort of explanation to the distressed, to the hundreds (if not thousands) of mothers, fathers, wives, children, sisters, brothers of these citizens of Pakistan who remain on the 'missing persons list'?" he wrote.



He jokes that he's still ignored by the former general, who took power in a 1999 military coup. "He hasn't put me in jail," he said. "He doesn't read, thank God."



Despite his years, Cowasjee remains ferocious. "I could find a hundred things to write about every day," he said, "and they'd all be true." And he's humble about his accomplishments: "Maybe I've saved a few ballparks, a few open spaces, nothing more."



But he knows he won't be Pakistan 's most outspoken critic forever. "I've lived a full life, I'm ready to go," he said. "Just don't ask me where."



His advice notwithstanding, Cowasjee would never leave his beloved Pakistan , a country that has both maddened and amused him.



"I'm an ordinary man," he said. "My critics can come and call me anything they like. And I'll just say, 'Fine, have a cup of tea.' "



john.glionna@latimes.com

#200 Posted by Urstruly,

True. Well said.

#197 Posted by pavocavalry,

Yes the Punjabi population is fickle. They brought into power a great Sindhi PM and then hanged him using the army. They brought in another great PM, this time a Punjabi, and distributed sweets when he was removed, again by the army. I can't say why Punjab does that. Do you have an explanation other than the simplistic 'hopeless' ? :)

Re: # 198

So in other words, it is the proverbial honor among theives for now, until one of them blinks - right?

anyhow with great respect and highest professional regards to my friend Zeemax and all others i am out of this discussion now . i have made my points.Goodnight to all.

#192 Posted by Urstruly,

Urstruly, it's the money. Bush trusts musharraf, and the army eats out out of USA's hand. If musharraf goes, it will take time for US to develop trust in another armyman to whom to hand out the billions.

The Corps Commanders and Kiyani know that very well. This is why musharraf still occupies the COAS house. It's the money tap from Bush which the army cannot jeopardize.

Re: # 194 Mohtaram the sad part is that nawaz tried failed and the punjabi population proved hopeless.

somehow he was percieved by the punjabi army generals as not a safe bet.and he had promoted two very hated army generals akram and saleem haider in place of aziz and mahmud.even zia butt was not the ideal choice.

in this case mush is now playing his USA card ...that is USA's best bet , a man with Solomon's wisdom against the Islamist dogs

in this case mush is now playing his USA card ...that is USA's best bet , a man with Solomon's wisdom against the Islamist dogs

#187 Posted by pavocavalry,

I agree with this post. But the fact remains that a Punjabi PM did confront the army, succeeded first time around with Janjua, failed with Musharraf. But that too was because of timing. He could have bided his time and moved when the Corps Commanders were compromised (several ways to do that) instead of that silly charade of pinning pips bought from Raja Bazaar on Butt and diverting a flight from the air!

Is Mahmood happy now? Last time I heard he was busy in tableegh! That person was easy.