So Pakistan is run by Military and Civilians with Military being calling the shots. This is quite serious. As usual any ****ups by military, Zardari has to bear the responsibility. Perhaps he does not know that he is sitting on a pile of dynamite, which can explode any time.
Mush should have been behind the bars what he has done to Pakistan.
Eric Margolis — FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
BEHIND MUMBAI LIES KASHMIR
Eric Margolis
Pakistan bowed to US pressure and arrested Lashkar’s leaders. Pakistan is bankrupt. Its cash reserves were stolen during Musharraf’s dictatorship. Pakistan now subsists entirely on American money, a humiliating comedown for a nation founded as a beacon of good government, justice and Islamic rectitude
Pakistanis were outraged by this double betrayal, calling Musharraf an American stooge. Now, President Asif Zardari’s feeble new government is continuing the same policy under US pressure, to the anger and contempt of many Pakistanis. He is seen as being even more subservient to Washington than his hated predecessor, Pervez Musharraf.
**Pakistan has two governments: civilian and military. The generals and ISI have never abandoned their goal of a Pakistani-dominated Afghanistan, or continuing the Kashmir jihad. Both are seen as vital national interests. Pakistan’s generals look with derision and distaste on Zardari, who is dogged by accusations of gross corruption and malfeasance. **
Washington has rented 130,000 Pakistani soldiers to wage war against Pashtun tribesmen allied to Taliban on Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier. The US pays their salaries and provides them with food and transport. These rented soldiers, or `sepoys,’ as the British Raj used to call its native troops, detest their mission. The once proud Pakistani army has become a mercenary force.
Few Americans understand the growing radicalization of Pakistan caused by Washington forcing its rulers and soldiers to go against the sentiments and interests of the nation.
Instead, the US keeps listening to the westernized Pakistani elite, less than 1% of the population, and left-leaning `experts,’ like Ahmad Rashid, who keep telling Washington what it wants to hear, rather than hard truths.