Adil Najam
UPDATE: The picture on the left, published in Daily Times, comes with the caption:
“Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain and MNAs react to an announcement by the Election Commissioner (unseen), at Parliament on Saturday. President Pervez Musharraf won a landslide victory in the election but the official results will be declared after the Supreme Court verdict on his eligibility.“
Maybe our readers can suggest what some of the people here are thinking as they clap. Suggestively, some, you will note, are making too much of an effort to clap, and others too little! The picture is also a good compliment to an earlier one we had posted here.
ORIGINAL POST: It is neither a surprise nor really news that Gen. Musharraf just got himself elected. It was always clear that he would get himself elected by hook or crook; eventually it took a bit of both. The way it had to be done is sad – pathetic really – and no one has come out of this mess looking good. Gen. Musharraf got the votes he needed, but neither he nor anyone else is a winner.
Gen. Musharraf lost whatever little credibility he might have had as someone interested in Pakistan’s development or people’s aspirations. He also lost the ability to make the claim that he was any different or any less p
ower-hungry than his political predecessors. He is now, clearly, one of them and has lost the one thing that had given him a support base. Benazir Bhutto lost the principles her party and father might once have stood for. PML(Q) had little to loose and yet lost big, they may even loose the government. Nawaz Sharif had already lost out some weeks ago. Maulana Fazlur Rehman had already lost all credibility but now they can’t even pretend to have any left. The Supreme Court lost at least some of the public goodwill they had gained as an institution with last minute shenanigans. America lost too because instead of backing one bad bet (Musharraf) they are now backing two (Musharraf + Benazir Bhutto).
But the biggest loser here may be the people of Pakistan who – once again – lost big time. But, then, I guess we are used to it.
Frankly, there is little need or point in commenting on the sham elections today. This was not a news event, this was a scripted stage drama. The real question remains what will happen next. There, it seems, that all of the losers – including Gen. Musharraf – may be confronted with some unexpected turn of events. There, one continues to hope, the people of Pakistan may yet emerge as winners eventually. Whenever ‘eventually’ comes!
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Musharraf was fired in Oct 1999 by the civilian head of country, who used his legitimate right to fire an incompetent and a renegade army chief.
Mush is an illegitimate head of army. There should be a lawsuit on Musharraf for illegally and forcefully occupying the post of the army chief.
You are all probably right, army rule is not good…but seriously just think about it for a moment ……the alternative..Bhutto or Nawaz….you must be kidding..or we are so naive….No way in hell we want thugs and thieves back in the government who have raped Pakistan for years and have done absolutely nothing for Pakistani people……come on people. Please wake up…..put all these thugs and thieves back where they belong and bring in some new blood that would do something good for my Pakistan…
Pakistan Zindabad
General is now absolutely furstrated. Please check this BBC news item http://tinyurl.com/2q9qyh
where for the first time he has started to blame his own soldiers. There is also a good news in that at least there are some signs that this Army mafia now has internal rifts, I am expecting that when General refuses to doff his uniform after 15th November, this rift will surface more clearly.
General is also interested in the third term meaning he wants to be there till 2017 if not died before that.
kamal hay… abhi hua kuch hay nahien, and congratulatory pats on the back are liberally being sprinkled left, right and center as if muft kay miltay ho’n… but wait… oh… haan… muft kay miltay HEIN. Wellthen… Nevermind…
How has anyone “seen through the general’s alternate plans” when the alternate plans are nowhere to be seen other than as figments of a few folks’ imagination? When they unfold and begin happening in this world that the rest of us live in, only then are they the “general’s plans”. Right now they are just a clever concoction in someone’s upar-vali-manzil (i.e. bheja).
And speaking of the KSE, ahahahahaha! Maza aa gaya. All time high…. kand tap tay chummi laey!
Viqar, Brilliant analysis. Congratulations for being the first one to have seen through the General’s alternate plan.
I see a few impediments to this being needed.
First the SC with some coaxing & cajouling, and a fair mix of threats should return the verdict expected of them. The government only needs 6 judges on its side. 5 are already known to be with them. It should be easy to get a 6th one to agree. However like all good military planners, the general is prepared in case of any eventuality.
2nd, news from Capitol Hill is that the leading lawmakers are getting antsy with the General as according to them he is not doing enough. This is a signal that they are ready for a transition to “moderate democratic setup”. I think that the Republicans are still on his side. It is the democrats who have been wowed by BB, and they are increasingly making noises for her (yesterday’s House Armed Services meeting discussed Pakistan’s prevailing situation). I think that the current leadership did a poor job of engaging with Nanci Pelosi (when she visited Pakistan last year after her win), and BB jumped on the opportunity.
Last, we should not forget that the General is only a phone call away from going 180 on any previous policy decision.
So I am sticking to my previous thesis, that Q Leaguers are going to be the losers in all this, the General will stay on, and BB will get on with the job of turning the country upside down once again.
Viqar,
Sorry, your song misled me. I graduated much later but I had flunked a lot.
MQ,
Suppose the bucket, represent the Establishment itself. And if it cannot “hold” the water of the word – this bucket (er.. the Establishment) must definitely have a hole in it. If a nation is to change, the Establishment must first change, or better yet time for a change to a new bucket (i.e. a new breed of politicians and leaders).
Just a thought ….