The Election Burp

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*thumbs up*...great read as always...while there are some things i was a bit confused about in your piece i have to agree with one thing...the people who didnt go and vote have no right to complain that the mullahs are coming to power...one of my relatives, he did the same thing...refused to go and vote because he didnt want a nishaan on his thumb!!! later on he was acting up about MMA winning...i told him very nicely to put a lid on it cuz he didnt vote...his opinion simply does not count!!!!

that`s the problem with us...we`ll let just about anyone do us...ravage us beyond recognition...but we`ll still let ourselves be screwed cuz we`re just too darn lazy to go out and make ourselves heard....sensible people??? where??? show me plz and ill show u a cow tht can fly!!

rgds,
samina

//....you should never have been afraid of .... backing down on Kashmir. //

Sound advice from Saima. The general has one more chance now - to back down on Kashmir. Kashmiris have expressed what they want - through a very legit and successful democratic process. Kashmiris have voted for peace development - they don`t want no more paki/afgan/arab jehdis running around in their backyard. All that the general has to do now is declare innocently that he accepts the verdict of the people of J&K and slowly walk away from the kashmir`s jehadi mayhem - with his dignity in tact. He don`t have to accept defeat or the fact that so called Pakistani Ideology and TNT have failed miserably - the policy of ``thousand cuts`` has boomeranged badly.

He has the proverbial fig leaf now. He should grab the opportunity now.

This should not be too difficult for him - He has already done this once not long ago - when he walked away from Afganistan - under guise of protecting nuclear assets and Kashmir ``cause`` where as the reality was yet another of the paki foreign ``policies`` have boomeranged badly. Twenty years of investment in blood and money for some elusive ``strategic depth`` went out of the window in just two minute - all it needed was a phone call.

Kashmir ``cause`` is dead. Has the general enough grey cells to grasp the reality now. Judging from the past behaviour - I don`t think so.

``...I enjoyed poking fun at the sacred cows of Pakistani political priorities.``

hai tuabah!....I`m still shaking ten minutes after reading that...

PAKISTANI NATURE,

One thing good about romair is that he is the quetessential pakistani. He is educated was in the military, has been in the west. Only a few weeks ago he was proud that jihadists got only 3 percent votes, that was the rpoof that pakistanis are not jihadists. Now he is proud again because the same jihadists have won power, now thay are the liberal democrats, creatings jobs for the pakistanis. Again he is correct, the jobas are jihadic jobs, to become shaheeds so that the arab money flows to the families.

What is learned as part of the curriculum in the schools can manifest as chamelean, always jihadist at heart.

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re: faisaluno

thanks. just to clarify, the article is tongue in cheek and a satirical look at Musharraf. In his own eyes he has come to the rescue of Pakistan.

re: romair

really enjoyed your critique. It is a brilliantly pragmatic analysis...and I hope you are correct that Mullahs will be better than Feudals. In the meanwhile though, I enjoyed poking fun at the sacred cows of Pakistani political priorities. As for the critical part in the article being Islam vs. Secularism, I dont agree--My point is that Pakistani society has so far not raised its Collective Voice for equal opportunity, jobs and a better economy. And that is why I call it a magic kingdom.

enjoyed reading your article and completely agree with your description of south asia. however dont share your assesment about the architect of kargil. dont forget this is the guy whose actions directly resulted in the death of at least a thousand people and who has now conspired to hand the reins of the country to the worst elements of pak society; the jahil mullah and the feudal. dont think pak army is the sort institution that would take chances with something as unpredictable as the elections. if mush was really concerned about building a tolerant and progressive society, he would have taken at least minimal steps to insure some continuity after the elections. at minimum he could have insured the independence of ptv so that there was some checks on the new government. the fact that ptv continues to escape reform says something about the relationship between the rulers and the masses. there can be no better testimony to the mentality of our godfathers than their belief that they can continue to fool people through khabarnama.

also think you give mush too much credit for newfound openness found in pak society. it was n.s who started the ball rolling by taking on the mullah over the changing of the sabbath. i am also optimistic that pakis will not give up on their freedoms. we came through zia and we will come through this. and eventually we will find our khatami.

Oh Saima, in case my post wasn`t clear, I really like this piece-its just taking me some time to absorb it. It looks daring-so I`m excited!

Don`t understand all this ``captain`` baazi. Understand even less about the ``brave`` captain. But then, these lessons are not for me to learn.

{Overall, things may not be that bad. The military and the mullah - two natural allies and the ultimate sources of each other`s strength and legitimacy (or idiocy) - are far more likely to work together (as they have for the last tweny years) than the military and anybody else. Ideologically, the two legitimated institutions of ultimate coercive violence mirror each other; hence, at least in an administrative sense, some public validation of their cooperation may be a good thing for Pakistan. So long as the military remains scared of the US, mullahs are unlikely to cross certain boundaries. If that happens, Pakistani people may still come out ahead at the end of the day.

Even a faulty democracy in which the military disenfranchises 98% of the population, imprisons and expels 1%, and keeps the remaining 1% on tight leash is better than pure dictatorship. At least this may lead some people to develop the confidence that they can make a difference, that they don`t have to be eternally occupied by the people they themselves appointed to form their military. That belief is a powerful thing. When it arrives, nobody will need any brave captain to continue enslaving his or her nation. On this optimistic note, let me order bottles of mythical champa gi ni for everyone, the mullaists and the militarytes on one hand and the secularites on the other.}

ladyAna: just knew I had got the spelling wrong...thanks!

This was very well expressed Saima. I esp. enjoyed the poem.
(Just a minor aside - I believe u meant the Mullah`s cry of libertarianism).

``In this background, India and Pakistan fight for Kashmir with men, weapons, budgets and international image. Without world approval, neither one can win Kashmir. ``

Correction: We do not have to ``win`` Kashmir. We are happy with what we possess so we have already ``won`` it.

The article hits the nail on the head. Mush tried to please the Mullahs and the Americans. Should have made his choice and gone with it.

As I have said before, no power in Pakistan is strong enough to fight the Mullah and India at the same time. Join the Mullahs and fight India, or give up on Kashmir (the Indian part only, you don`t have to give up what you have already) and give the Mullahs a kick on their backside.

Your choice!!!

I am still waiting for the day when (us) Pakistanis stop looking at everything and every solution as a debate between Islam and secularism. It doesn`t make sense to paint every Pakistani problem within these boundaries. It certainly doesn`t make sense to paint every Pakistani solution within these boundaries. This is why people whose whole life revolves around some religion or some lack of religion scare me.

In a national survey carried out by Herald magazine, the top problem according to Pakistanis was unemployment. Threat of war with India was second. Kashmir was around sixth or seventh. Return to democracy was ninth.

There is no perfect solution for Pakistan, nor is there a perfect problem-solver. Countries at such infant stages of development go through repeatative phases of lesser evils (or at least lesser problems), until they find the correct solution. It is obvious the common Pakistani doesn`t really care whether he is ruled by a religious govt. or a secular one. He just wants one that can give him a job.

Hence the debate should be around which govt. can give a poor Pakistani more jobs. Not between which is more or less Islamic. The unfortunate part of all discourses on this website is that it is carried out by Pakistanis, who basically have everything in life, regardless of what kind of govt. Pakistan has (including me). I wish there was equal interaction from Pakistanis who don`t have anything (unfortunately they are illiterate and have no Internet connection).

Comments like, ``The others went off to protect Islam at the polling booths`` are actually a way of insulting such poor and common Pakistanis. I don`t agree with whom they have voted for, but I do understand where they are coming from. They did not vote for religion. They voted against the status quo, which has made their life hell (regardless of how, ``open`` it was for us Internet Pakistanis).

Our criteria for supporting govts. should not be who can make TV more liberal, but who can at least provide TVs to the poor (even if they are forced to listen to azaan the whole day).

People need to have some faith in the poor common voter. He/she loves Pakistan more than all of us, since Pakistan is all that he has. He cannot even migrate out of it. At the very least, respect his/her views. He has initiated a process of kicking out the status quo politicians. If the new ones do not deliver, he will kick them out as well. Anyone looking at this process as a negative, in an attempt to bring back the same BBs and NSs of the world, just because they allowed more entertainment on TV, is completely missing the point of democracy, and is being very selfish, and is greatly underestimating the intellect of the poor voter.

For the first time in my lifetime, Pakistan has a Naitonal Assembly that is less than 50% feudal. I never thought this would ever happen. If the % chunk has been taken by the maulvi, it is no big deal. Consider it a part of the process. Pakistan is not a Taliban or maulvi country. Believe me, the maulvi is a much lesser evil than the, ``liberal (or non-liberal)`` feudal. If for no other reason then because it is much easier to get rid of the maulvi, through a democratic process, since he can only motivate his voters to vote for him. He does not own the land they live on, and hence cannot force them to vote for him.

Musharraf doesn`t need to do anything now. Any major attempt from him now will only cause problems. He does not need to become the Captain of anything. He has done whatever he needed to, and I give him a lot of credit. Now, he should just move into the background, and let the elected folk run the ship, while keeping an eye on their corruption. The Captain of the Pakistani ship should be the poor common folk of Pakistan. We must respect their wishes and their vision, even if it may make our social life more difficult. Hopefully it will make their life a lot better. And in the end, we will all benefit.

im one of those 70 percent who didnt bother to vote. reading this i am feeling deeply ashamed