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!
Shabaz Khan,
Everything from Liaquat Ali Khan’s murder to ZAB’s hanging happened long before Musharraf’s time. You have no right to blame the common man for these things?
Please understand that only the problems faced by the common man DURING MUSHARRAF’S REGIME are the fault of the common man.
So, there …
Mistri ji
oh ho, kiya mein nay arabi mein likh dia? ma
I totally agree with Mr. ME. It is and always has been the fault of the common man. The common man is responsible for everything from the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan to the hanging of Bhutto, and the countless “12 October’s”. All he had to do was to go to the nearest THANA and get an FIR registered. But he did not do so, and must now face the result of his misdeeds. He has brought all this upon himself, and it is extremely unjust on his part to blame anybody else for his plight.
There are Extremists (civilian and Army both) in our country who are itching to turn whole Pakistan into Talbistan as they already have strong hold in Northern Areas. I don’t like Army ruling the country as it makes our borders unsafe. But the way things in Pakistan are this is acceptable atleast Musharaff (moderate) is ready for BB (Largest Party leader) to come back and rule with him. This way our Nuclear program will be in safe hands and somehow we have a broken democracy.
As for economy it looks good but I hear Army is grabbing land every chance they get but what else is new. They are doing it since the creation of Pakistan. Only some strong civilian leader can put hold to them.
Social mistri, it has got nothing to do with DUMB LUCK. That’s jut word play on your part.
Like your stock market, my son has done exceeding well in school during the Musharraf years. That is NOT dumb luck either, its because of my son, not because of Musharraf. KSE has risen because of global market trends, NOT because of Musharraf. By the way, do you remember that in teh first Nawaz term the stock market had also risen by heady percentages. His stooges had also tried to give Nawaz the credit for thsi just like Musharraf’s mafia is doing now. Both are wrong and neither understand how markets work.
From my college years I remember this as the difference between CAUSATION and CORRELATION. Musharraf has not CAUSED the economic numbers (neither the rich getting richer nor the poor getting poorer) even if this happened to have happened during his time. Other similar countries are seeing the exact same dynamics. No its not dumb luck, its just unrelated and therefore irrelevant. What is related and clearly his job is managing the governance and there this sham election which is a joke proves it all. Since you seem to like talking about markets, if a company were to manage even the elections of its Board the way this election was manipulated it would be considered criminal action and the stocks would plummet. To the extent that the govt can influence markets I hope they do not try to do it the way they manipulated this election. That will get Shaukat and co. into more scandals like the one about insider trading earlier.
So, like Musharrf if you must and like you and the post author I do not get inspired by the others either, but lets not try to distract attention with unrelated nonsense about KSE rising. The US markets have all risen considerably during the Iraq war. But no one sane would suggest that they have risen BECAUSE of Iraq war. It is equally insane to suggest that KSE rose BECAUSE of Musharraf. It could not have, unless of course he was involved in some insider trading or such illegal deals!