Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
the whole bloody society is corrupt.. from the servants all the way to the businessmen to the army to whatever. if theres one thing the pakis excel at , its finding crooked ways to make money
the thing with pak army is they have so many business enterprises everywhere u look... theres no surprise some of them are gonna be very rich
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
mercenery2K,
then what exactly would you have done differently than Musharraf if u were in power?
Get the hellout of this deep$hit by announcing elections and handing over power to caretaker government and enjoy rest of life in Florida.
FARID
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Musharraf was a good leader, no longer. His current behaviour is worse than any leader since 1971. And talking about leaders since 1971 he is no where when compared to Z A Bhutto. The only leader he has been better than since 1971 is Zia. Not much of a compliment now is it?
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
True, no politician in post Liaqat Ali Khan era can be compared to ZAB. He had the right mind/ingredients and wrong fellows/advisors.
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
I see so many people are deeply affected by "charms" of papa Bhutto ,that they tend to over look his deeds.
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
ZAB sux he totally screwed up the country
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Matrubhoomi what are you saying? According to the latest transparency international report this Mush government is even more corrupt than BB and Nawaz
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
^ yesssssssssssssssssssss
Couldn't agree more
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
I see so many people are deeply affected by "charms" of papa Bhutto ,that they tend to over look his deeds.
He has done mistakes, so who didn't. He was hailed from post 65' era in which one unit issue was surging and water was already going over the head. Mujeeb-Bhutto episode could have been Mujeeb-Mian Tufael dual as well. Once the military establishement decided to sink Bengaliz in the river, no matter what interface you the end result would have been same. Same goes for 77' stint, it was the mob of worst advisor who made him ruining the elections and the negotiations with PMA (some characters in PMA as also to blamed for failed negotiations).
Nationalization was a big ideological mistake. It worked in many countries and globalization was not around at that time, int'l markets were not open as they are today.
As I see him, he was ambitious leader and wanted to do something for the country, he had a clear vision. The constitution of 1973, Lahore Summit, Middle-East employments for poor, Steel Mill and Nuclear program will remain the highlights of this country for decades to come. An agrlicultural country did see a dream and glimpse of progressive and growing Pakistan and the leader of Islamic Ummah.
Showman or a charismatic leader, he did have qualities and weaknesses.
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Many people believe that Musharaf is the greatest leader Pakistan has had since 1971, if not ever.
It has been said that under his leadership Pakistan has:
I think Mush has been lucky and thats all.
The economy situation ( inwards investment etc) is not because of Mush's efforts it is because of 9/11, Muslims staying abroad and Oil Rich Arab Countries have been transfering and Investing there money in India, Pakistan, China, Turkey, Central Asia and North Africa... this is the prime reason of Real-Estate Boom... ( i dont want to deliver a lecture on econmics, for short, i can say Mush is Lucky)
If mush has been sincere to Pakistan and Pakistani people he would have improved the situation of Justice and Crime.
No free media can sustain, no foreign reserves will last, no economy will groom is Justice is not done or delayed, if crime can not be control.
Sorry to say, with the increase of Foriegn reserves and Inward Investment, crimes has increased as well yet they have been doulbled, criminals have no fear of law. infact there is only one law in Pakistan, the POWER... thats it..
The leader who can deliver the justice to the common people of Pakistan will be considered as great leader no matter how he reaches to the CHAIR...
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Hi, My two cents :)
Yes there have been many improvements as far as i can see. Nobody is perfect and for sure we have to give him credit , lucky he is yes..
Good policies can also not be ignored. On the other hand, an unbiased analysis would be:
(+) Economy surely improved - no matter how but it did
(+) Media did become free - news media
(-) Media went over board and became unethical, in my opinion.
(+) We are not tora bora
(+) relations with India improved and if not normal are better than before
(-) we lost our strategic depth and a safe western border
(-) Democracy not actually restored
(-) Judiciary's condition deteriorated
(-) Image of the armed forces has deteriorated in the eyes of a common man (thats what i have noticed)
(+) Gwadar Port completed
(+) Major mega projects started
(-) Alienation of some in Baluchistan and Waziristan
(-) Inflation
These are the points i can think of.
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Musharraf was a good leader, no longer. His current behaviour is worse than any leader since 1971. And talking about leaders since 1971 he is no where when compared to Z A Bhutto. The only leader he has been better than since 1971 is Zia. Not much of a compliment now is it?
Agreed. Zia did many things wrong like his sham Islamisation drive (that was nothing but dikhawa, an attempt to keep his kursi intact) but he was atleast shareef - no affairs, not known to be sharabi etc. plus I give him the greatest credit for being faithful to his bhains jaisi biwi (no offence intended)
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Well said :k:
These sitting abroad,esp MQM supporters will support Mush, but those of us in Pakistan can see his corrupt and power hungry rule, and can see he is no better, and even worse than those he took over from
No use ‘debating’ it, they will support him and their Murderous Quami Movement no matter how much damage and how many innocent’s they kill
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Very well written letter from Dawn Monday.
The writer sums it up very well.
http://dawn.com/2007/05/28/letted.htm#6
Greatness squandered
IN October 1999 the masses of Pakistan accepted a military takeover with a sense of relief and optimism. Such was the state of affairs of our democratically-elected government at the time and such was the level of despondency with democratically-elected governments over the past decade that the people of this nation welcomed dictatorship. The feeling of optimism grew as technocrats instead of wadera-style politicians were inducted for policy- making and implementation, as accountability courts genuinely appeared to be going after those who had plundered national wealth, and as the public was promised fresh concepts such as devolution of power, grassroots democracy, and societal reforms.
If he had achieved half of what he had set out to, General Musharraf would most likely have gone down in history as one of the greatest and most revered leaders of this country. If Mohammad Ali Jinnah is referred to as the Father of the Nation, perhaps, at some point, historians might have referred to General Musharraf as the Saviour of the Nation or the Architect of Pakistan’s Recovery.
What a lost opportunity it has turned out to be. Instead of achieving a level of greatness very few have the opportunity to, General Musharraf finds himself firmly placed as one of the politicians this country’s citizens have come to despise and feel cheated by. With each passing day, especially in the last couple of years, his credibility has eroded to the level of the average shallow career-politician in this country.
By losing sight of what he had promised and what the public supported him for, General Musharraf has the distinction of squandering the best opportunity ever presented to a leader of this country to achieve true greatness – one that can’t be gained by writing expensive books, visiting the Oval Office, addressing the UN General Assembly, or flying kites in Lahore.
A. A. AHMAD
Lahore
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
^ My sentiments exactly.
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
^ me 2, nice sharing Haris
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
VIEW: How long will Musharraf last? - Rasul Bakhsh Rais
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\29\story_29-5-2007_pg3_2
*We do not have a clear answer to our first question, but what we can see over the political horizon are two words in bold print: instability, uncertainty
*This is a question on the mind of every Pakistani today; it is also being debated in the western academic and policymaking circles. Tagged with it are several other questions: how will Musharraf leave the political scene that he has dominated for the last seven-and-half years; will there be a lot of bloodshed in the streets of our cities, replays of the May 12 carnage in Karachi, before he decides to quit; will the evolving anti-regime movement, in its drive to restore democracy, cripple the state and make it dysfunctional; how big and blinding a political storm can we expect in the coming days?
There are no definite answers to any of these questions but the fact that they are being asked, debated and speculated upon suggests that a sense of political uncertainty about the regime prevails in the country. Nobody raised these questions before March 9, at least not seriously; rather, political parties and the civil society have looked forward to the general election at the end of the year. What has followed the filing of the reference against the chief justice has shaken the very foundations of the military regime and its allies.
President Musharraf had many good opportunities to correct the mistakes and make prudent and intelligent moves to recapture the political initiative but he lost them. It seems that he has also missed the reconciliation bus and fallen back on his professional instincts in deciding to fight back with whatever political weapons are left in his arsenal.
The emerging confrontation between the military regime and the political opposition is not in the best interests of the country, but it is real and it is happening. We have two visible political camps, one led by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the other by a multi-layered and multi-dimensional political opposition. The battle lines are drawn and fire being exchanged. The tragic events of Karachi show the two sides can resort to murder as well.
We have a historical record of political agitations slipping into open warfare. Political groups and regimes in the past have target-killed opponents — an old feudal practice. And our tradition of non-violent resistance both in our political thought and practice is weaker than many other nations.
The spectre of violence does not bode well for a country that is facing multiple internal and external threats. Our internal vulnerabilities accumulated over a longer period of autocratic regimes are too many and too complex to be handled effectively by military regimes. We must know that there will be no winners in the end if political agitation turns violent and the regime and its allies resort to the tactics of May 12.
What are the relative strengths, weaknesses and the capacities of the two sides in the emerging political confrontation? The c-in-c camp has lost a number of its political assets. The public or the outside world no longer sees it as clean, honest and committed to doing better than its predecessors. Unconstitutional regimes derive their legitimacy, if they care about it, from performance in improving governance, delivering better services and ending corruption. On these counts the present regime has miserably failed. A number of scandals, Pakistan Steel Mills and Karachi Stock Exchange crash just being the most visible ones, have exposed the hollow claims of honesty and integrity of high public holders. “Who is not corrupt” has become a common catch phrase to defend individual corruption.
The loss of hope to bring structural reforms in vital sectors of the state and society and pave the way for democracy and constitutionalism has faded from the present regime; its credibility is also irreparably damaged. Even those are no longer on his side who did not protest against his initial constitutional deviations in the hope that Musharraf might put the country back on normal political track after conducting accountability and arranging free and fair elections.
The fraudulent referendum and later the disfiguration of the constitution through the 17th Amendment should have provoked mass resistance, but it did not. The MMA sold its soul like many other parties in Parliament that have historically been committed to the restoration of the 1973 Constitution in its original form and spirit. The other factors were political passivity and lack of trust in the mainstream political parties that danced like helpless puppets in the hands of invisible forces and their autocratic leaders.
What is left in the political store of Musharraf: a tainted MQM with a withering support base, a fragmented PMLQ and some members of the feudal class, who change parties and sides at the drop of a hat? Musharraf’s is the only strident voice defending himself, his record and his political vision. His strong crowd of supporters has gradually disappeared from the public scene; they are quite reluctant to stand up and speak for him. They can see the ship foundering on the rocks.
The political movement is at its early stages. But it is vigorous, and there is a remarkable sense of consensus on parliamentary democracy and rule of law among all the players that are joining its ranks. It started with lawyers’ outrage over a fundamental national issue, the independence of judiciary. All opposition groups, civil society actors, media and now other professional groups and associations have gradually singed up for regular protests in major cities. They have political initiatives and rallied support around the poor record of governance, poverty, corruption, the subordination of legislatures and the assault on judiciary. If these were not enough, allowing slaughter to happen in Karachi, caught on camera, has added greatly to the political ammunition of the opposition.
Against so many odds, Musharraf is very keen to retain power. He may seek some reassurance in his natural constituency, the Army. Instinctively he would take refuge in the uniform, which he has aptly declared his “second skin”. Musharraf has been exploring alternative to this “second skin” to ensure his political survival; one tactic was the attempt to strike a deal with the Pakistan People’s Party, more appropriately with its leader Benazir Bhutto. There are quite a few signs of this happening and accountability cases and sharing power likely to be exchanged for supporting Musharraf for his election. If the deal materialises, the opposition in the absence of the PPP will be weakened.
This may seem unlikely and unnatural, but politics does force one to take on strange bedfellows when interests coincide. But such marriages of convenience do not last very long. If the PPP gets its wish of forcing Musharraf to doff uniform, the dynamics of Pakistani politics will change because of fresh political polarisations.
The fact is that the events of the last ten weeks have greatly diminished the usefulness of PPP’s partnership with Musharraf. We do not have a clear answer to our first question, but what we can see over the political horizon are two words in bold print:* instability, uncertainty. *
The author is a professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He can be reached at [email protected]
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Many people believe that Musharaf is the greatest leader Pakistan has had since 1971, if not ever.
It has been said that under his leadership Pakistan has:
ya after 1971 he is the one who can break pakistan! right ... did u see mqm terrorism in karachi on 12 may
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Matrubhoomi what are you saying? According to the latest transparency international report this Mush government is even more corrupt than BB and Nawaz
do u have a link or any more info on that
Re: Musharaf the greatest leader since 1971?
Musharraf was a good leader, no longer. His current behaviour is worse than any leader since 1971. And talking about leaders since 1971 he is no where when compared to Z A Bhutto. The only leader he has been better than since 1971 is Zia. Not much of a compliment now is it?
Yeah nobody could be compared to ZAB, --in the pakistani vernacular-- unless and until they've managed to lose half the country, pull off an epic economic disaster that has made the country that was fast on track for industrialization, a basket case...however full credit to Mush for atleast emulating some port of ZAB's ingenuity, the fascist totallitarian tactics with all the bells and whistles of secret police, political assassinations and murders and overall ghoonda gardi that comes with it..