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!
Social Mistri,
I have no interest in getting into pointless name calling with you. I had made the comment, that you refer to, in passing to make you at least think, if not realize, that it could happen to anyone of us – including yourself. I do have cousins and uncles who have paid the price that I also referred to – some more than once.
As for me, I do relax else where. And hundreds from Pakistan risk their lives every day, illegally, in suffocating tankers and leaky boats in oceans , hoping to make it to a better life. Many never do, but this seems not to deter anyone from trying to make the statement that they would rather be elsewhere if they can.
This is my last post to you.
The following two excerpts from a couple of more credible social engineers, lend credence to the true state of affairs – rather than the mumbo-jumbo from the Mush Potatoes:
Excerpts from Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s article “Misplaced liberalism”
Is it that liberalism is just an elite issue or is it an existential issue, which must bind people across the social-class divide? There is a huge distance between these people who have wealth and “contacts” and the man on the street who has to find alternative sources to challenge the law made by the elite.
Is it possible for these people to appreciate the concept of political liberalism at all? Or to realise that extremism is not just one single category in which religious zealots challenge the way people dress up and conduct themselves? How about other kinds of extremism such as kidnapping and killing of people or denying them what is their right in the form of food, clothing and shelter? How many times did the [Pakistani elite] protest in support of the people in Balochistan where malnourishment is a huge problem and where people have died as a result of the battle between the nationalists and the government of Pakistan? Or how about Thar where poor people die of drought and malnourishment? I suppose the majority of the elite are liberal in style and not in spirit. The elite has failed to hear the cry of the common man …The poor and the dispossessed of this country do not see any method to negotiate power within the existing political system.
Aasim Sajjad of PRM underlined that this government’s claims to have revived the economy were also identical to those of Ayub and Zia before it. He said that if there was growth it was based on massive amounts of aid from the US and IFIs, as well as large remittances. He asserted that most experts have now acknowledged that this growth is anti-poor and inherently unstable as it is based on investment in unproductive sectors such as real estate and the stock market.
This sad news from Karachi has a message in itself.
KARACHI, Oct 6: At least 15 people, including four children, were injured on Saturday when a truck loaded with firecrackers exploded after a live cracker fired by jubilant political workers in Korangi area set off a fire, police and witnesses said.
They said the explosion occurred as workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement escorted the truck in Korangi 4 area after President Gen Pervez Musharraf was unofficially declared re-elected on Saturday.
Social mistri sahib, Pakistan “burra” nahin hai. Bohat acha hai, iss he liyee hum sabb all things Pakistan khailtay rehtain hain.
Musharraf “burra” hai. Pakistan nahin.
The day that Musharraf and his supporters realize that Pakistan is actaully much biger than and much better than Musharraf, maybe that day some of Pakistan’s goodness will also rub off on him. Until then his colonial mindset will force him to put his own interest and his own power above the interests of Pakistan. That is what he did yesterday. He said to all of “I am more important than all of you and what is good for me is more important than anything you feel or want.”
So, please, don’t confuse Musharraf with Pakistan. That is what he wants us to do and we are not buying any more. He is only intersted in staying in power, KSE or no KSE, Pakistan or no Pakistan. This is all about power, not about Pakistan.
Lahori saab, then we can agree to disagree. I am not interested in convincing you that Musharraf personally caused the KSE to go up. Macro conditions are created that allow a market to accelerate or decelerate. In Pakistan’s case, much more so than in the US, these maco conditions have to do with decisions made by the President of Pakistan over the last 5-10 years. What IF Musharraf had decided to support the Taliban? What IF Musharraf had decided to pursue a Mubashir-Hasan-like nationalization policy? What IF Musharraf had NOT been involved in the kind of hectic diplomacy he has done on multiple fronts? What IF Musharraf had made a hash of the 2002 deployment? What IF Musharraf had decided to spend all the available forex buying cabs from Daewoo rather than building more roads than any Government has in the history of Pakistan? What IF Musharraf had decided to follow the previous Governments’ agenda and NOT increase Science and Tech funds by a factor of thousands, or Education funds in larger percentages than even in the history of Pakistan?
Yes, he is not personally responsible for the rise of every share on the KSE, and thinking that I implied this would be quite ridiculous. However, he has maneuvered deftly and has played the cards given to him very well so that the macro conditions today are enabling the growth and economic progress that is taking place.
As for Viqar Minai, your comment, Sir, is a rather petty one. Implying that I “will pay the price” sometime in future is rather mean-spirited and is making this unnecessarily personal.
It appears that some people apparently suffer from a vicious itch when they see Pakistan move forward. Perhaps subconsciously they’d rather sit and pooh-paah everything, criticise left and right, sip tea and welcome another drawing room criticism session the next day. Well, to each his own. Pakistan will prosper despite such people, as it has in the past. Kissi nay jalna hay to jalay. Sau Bismillah.
Pakistan itna hi bura hay, itni hi revolutionai’n aanay lagee hein idhar aur itna khoon kharaba honay laga hay to phir kahien aur ja kay relax kar lein. Spare those who want to stay back and improve their lot as well as the country’s, the vitriol and ceaseless whining.