Watching Poverty Grow

RIAZ SAAB In a country where police,judiciary,army are corrupt will have corrupt leaders like NAWAZ=ZARDARI-ETC too.

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Re: # 183
The judges are paying Sharifs back for their support. So much for the independent judiciary.

The Transparency International surveys indicate that Pakistani Judiciary is the third most corrupt institution after Police and Customs. And there are very broad and sweeping laws permitting the judges to hold any one in contempt of court with few, if any, legal and constitutional mechanisms to hold the judges accountable.

According to Transparency International 2007 survey, the judiciaries of India and Pakistan fare badly, with 77 per cent and 55 per cent of respondents in the two countries, respectively, describing the judicial system as corrupt.

http://fcpablog.blogspot.com/2008/02/disorder-in-court-last-call.htm l
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Nawaz cleared in chopper case...what u guys think about this,seems like all the thugs and criminals are getting protection from courts.

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Re: # 173
Partly driven by the need to pacify the West, a dictator like Musharraf had a keen desire to acquire legitimacy of democracy with a parliament where only the feudal lords can get elected in large numbers in Pakistan. Besides, he wanted to be liked rather than be feared by the people of his country. So he liberalized the media and allowed freedom of expression and criticism that ultimately pulled him down.

And he chose to do it the way Zia and Ayub did it before him. He got some of the PML politicians for hire and formed a civilian government under him that was legitimized by elections.

But I think it was a mistake. Instead of hiring these politicians, he should have emasculated them by taking away their lands and demolished their feudal power to rid the rural poor of their biggest tormentors.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 180..I am not saying that another General should take over country,we need new generation to make their political party and reject old politicians and their families,we had some hope from imran khan but he came out as big failure and disappointment,hope no one else becomes imran khan,but like I said there are talented,educated,liberal,progressive people in Pakistan,hope one day they change this system.

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If history of Pakistan is any indicator, this revolution they are talking about could be no more than another miliary coup. The people will be made to suffer and the country could break-up.

Khudah nay aaj tuck oos qaum key haalut naheen budlee, na ho jis ko khiyal upnee haalut kay badulnay kah. (Lord Almighty has never changed the condition of any nation, ever, which did not come forward to work for it.) Everything in this world is possible, but the biggest deficiency that our nation suffers from in this regard, today, is that, instead of each and everyone of us becoming restless in organising to come together to change our condition for the better, "collectively", no doubt, we always leave almost everything to be done by the almighty government or for Lord Almighty. Nothing will change, never, not until each and everyone of the nation will care and come to work for that change.
Education is the most important tool in any nation's progress,but you still need one IRON HAND to impose that change.The day Pakistani nation reject all those criminals who are still steeling nation's money,that day will be day one of Pakistan's rebirth.

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Abay Khyber, kya bak raha hai, you do not
need revolution bevolution, you just need
people with right priorities working hard,
day after day, not obsessing over Kashmir but obsessing over education and Industry
and technology. There is no easy way, it is
all hard work.
In these days, revolutions do not happen, and to make revolution, you have to be brutal than the entity against who you are
rebelling. That is why revolution will not
succeed in China and Iran unless those revolting are crueler than the ruling class/cabal.

Re: # 176..That is true and I agree....what we need is a revolution in Pakistan, a sincere revolutionary who can get rid of feudal lords mullhas,mafia,feudal families and politicians...how to get rid of them....shoot em all..we need educated,liberal and progressive people to run the country.

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Re: # 175
Khyber
I can attempt to answer that in my own imperfect way. Military in Pakistan uses all resources of the country to strengthen itself. Millions of Pakistanis live in abject poverty. A military dictator finds it important to make alliance with feudal lords and mullas, who defend the military from the public outrage against plunder.

Re: # 173malik... Why does a dictator with absolute power needs such help?...Thats something i don't get.

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Re: # 172... RIAZHAQ...I agree and thats what I been saying like you mentioned,'' Musharraf's biggest mistake was to accept the fig-leaf of democracy by recruiting the notorious Chaudhry brothers to create the illusion of democracy under PML(Q) banner. ''
I think he was welcomed by liberals,educated people,who were getting fed up with the system,thats what I hate about him that when he took power he claimed he loves ATTA TURK...ETC ETC and then he screwed up by joining typical corrupt politicians like Chaudhry brothers,there is talent in Pakistan and he could get help from educated liberal and progressive minded class in Pakistan but he did not,he had a good chance to clean the country from corruption etc,I even e-mailed him and mentioned to him that he has a good chance to kill all the politicians,mullahs..well I am sure he did not read that but I think he missed a good opportunity.

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Re: # 172
Mr. Haq
You said the inclusion of PML(Q) was a mistake by Musharraf.
I repeat my question. Why does a dictator with absolute power needs such help?

Re: # 171
In hindsight, Musharraf's biggest mistake was to accept the fig-leaf of democracy by recruiting the notorious Chaudhry brothers to create the illusion of democracy under PML(Q) banner. His second biggest mistake was to liberalize the mass media, proliferate the cell phones, and make the uncensored Internet widely available, all of which proved to be his undoing.

I guess he was too keen to be liked by the people. He should have preferred to be feared rather than liked by Pakistanis, particularly the bad guys. But, as Stephen Cohen put it, Musharraf was not ruthless. He was too tolerant of his critics, even debated with them often.

“Musharraf is widely viewed as a military strongman who should be pressed to hold free and fair elections this year. Both the characterization of him and the policy recommendation are misguided,” Cohen said in an op-ed piece titled The Pakistan Time Bomb in The Washington Post in July 2007. “Musharraf’s problem is that he has failed to act swiftly and ruthlessly to set Pakistan’s politics on a proper course, and he knows that given the complexity of the internal problems, the holding of free and fair elections might not check Pakistan’s drift toward extremism.”

He should have ruled with an iron hand, abolished the feudal system and curbed public expression and protests by the middle class and put his entire focus on economic growth and uplift of the poor, particularly the rural poor who have suffered greatly under feudal and tribal chiefs. He should have put much greater focus on reducing poverty, increasing literacy and improving health care.

But I still think he is going be judged as a "good, benevolent dictator" by historians of the future.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 170
Your admission of time-line for the onset of the current economic crisis in Pakistan gives me hope that we could straighten out some differences.
Do you think PML(Q) are better compared to other politicians? Why would a dictator seek participation of some corrupt politicians instead of others? Is there anything inherently absent in a dictatorship that makes them rely on corrupt political stooges? If so, what is it?

Re: # 165
By the end of 2007, NRO had been signed under pressure from the US sponsors of BB, and full-blown political turmoil had engulfed the nation hitting every aspect of the economy.

Job losses had started, transmission lines were being destroyed, power theft was in full swing because of the political patrons, the IPPs were not being paid by KESC/WAPDA and they had started cutting back power generation, the wheat crisis was blown out of proportion, etc.

In other words, politics had overtaken the truth and common sense. But things were still significantly better than they are today. It was the election of PPP and PML (N) thugs that has brought total economic disaster.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide