Adil Najam
Speaking of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani’s upcoming trip to USA and meeting with President George Bush a politically astute and well-connected friend in Pakistan said, “Its going to be a meeting of two lame ducks. George Bush is a lame duck because his tenure is about to end, and Yousuf Raza Gillani is a lame duck because his tenure never really started!”
For those who wish to see real democracy in Pakistan such comments instill a certain sadness. Yet, as a recent The News editorial highlighted, there is an increasing, palpable, and disturbing concern amongst Pakistanis about exactly who, if anyone, in in control of the government in Pakistan.
We thought maybe we should put exactly that question to our readers in this ATP Poll: Who do you think calls the shots? Who is really in-charge of Pakistan’s government today?
Of course, one could make this broader and more abstract by adding the Allah, Umreeka or Army responses. But our interest right now is on the daily governance of the country and who is calling the shots there.We woudl appreciate if the responses and comments also focus on that.
An amazing comment by Mr. Altaf who says ” swear to God a large majority in this 39% has done that only because you haven
Bhai Adil Najam sahab whats the use of this meaningless poll … This is not a normative comment…instead please treat it as a criticism on the design of your survey. I propose to you to put the name of Umreeka as one of the choices … You’ll be smiling on the results … Until 1516 hrs 28 Jul 08 when I took the poll 39% had resulted as “No one” (so had I chosen) … I swear to God a large majority in this 39% has done that only because you haven’t put the name of the real ground ruler of Pakistan in the poll …. secondly the 34% who voted for Zardari and the 13% who voted for Musharraf–when they see the real ruler’s name they’ll unconciously select the same … Seriously, do try this in one of your next polls (may be with a diff theme) and you’ll get the credit for statistically documenting the pulse of what Pakistanis believe about involvement of USA in Pakistan … I can tell that you’re smiling as you read this message… whats the point in turning a blind eye towards the truth sir…? Please don’t take my message as a criticism on US … it is my positive stance of a statistically existent ground reality … It might at least lead to few persons revisiting how they think about our country’s political mix… and actually whether we (Pakistanis) are “INDEPENDENT & SOVEREIGN” …. :)
Try putting in a couple of more options, for example :
“Pakistani Military Intelligence”
“State Dept of USA”
These will give the other 5 a real run for their money, as most Pakistanis in general believe that these two entities have a major role in Pakistan politics.
The correct answer is the American neo-cons. So add that to the poll because Pakistan has become a slave nation subjugated to the pentagon and whitehouse. So let’s send our soldiers to die for the war on terror. Pitiful.
I voted for “No one”. The PPP government is supposed to be in-charge, but the way things are worsening day-by-day, there is nothing to prove that this is correct.
My prediction is that another month of this chaos will result in a much-needed backlash, either from the Army, the honorable President or from the masses. Whatever you might say about Musharraf and his regime, things were a lot better under him than any of the past or current governments.