Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Musharraf has his supporters and critics. One thing that will remain a stigma would be his non-democratic status even though he would justify that. As unfortunate as it is, it is a reality and its the politicians themselves who are to blame for the military rule. They have invited the military into politics since the early days of Pakistan, now they have to live with it. So often they would use the military to weaken the political opponents. The hope is that, as education becomes more and more prevalent, some of these issues will take care of themselves.

Musharraf’s good steps include recognition and support of education. He was saying boldly at George Washington University that Pak needs to gather more education, and he has put more schools so that they get minimum elementary education.

In his tenure education has got a big boost and Higher Education Commission of Pakistan is a really rich entity. The chairman of that is a very well established scientist of international stature. He is also a minister.

Also check this for women

http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/23/top5.htm

Speaking at George Washington univ, he said this is first time in Pak history under him that there are 70 odd women as MPs.The big quota for women in Pakistan is not even in a European Parliament. These MPs and such success stories are common but I always question their motive. Our societies sometimes work to impress others. I am for grass root revamping of the society but I suppose that’s not easy.

Also he said even if it is with force he will remove laws which are against women in the constitution. He said if the extreme forces will try to come on the streets he gives a rats ass, and he will take care of them.

He also cleared another misconception about Medrassahs. Most students he said go to proper schools in Pakistan where they teach only science and technology. Only 5% are educated at Medrassahs, These medrassahs are just there to take in the deprived of the society.

Recently the Chief Justice over turned the decision of the government to privatize the Pakistan Steel Mills. and this shows that the judiciary works.

If Musharraf is doing what he says he’s doing, I think he is well-suited for Pak.

Watch the joint press conference here:

Now Musharraf may not exactly be a saint but I just think that he’s a million times better than the likes of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif

just my opinion

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

Can you elaborate how Musharraf is better than Benazir or Nawaz, i think he is as bad as the two or may be even worse.

Pakistan is spending 2.5% of GDP on education, is that what u call supporting education? Did u see the recent documentry on GEO, "miseducation in Pakistan".

And the same old corrupt people who were with Nawaz/BB are now sitting in his lap doing the very same things they used to do before. Sheikh Rasheed, Faisal Saleh, Humayun Akhtar, Jatoi etc

Plus every tom, dick retired military officer, who had been eating up Pakistan in military have now after retirement become chaiperson or regulator of some civilian institution.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

This is exactly my point, these same people were on these same posts during bb.nawaz time, only now the most corrupt and the best of best have joined hands are in 1 govt now. 4get the gdp, mushi says we have no external threats, then why is our defence budget like 70-80 % of the overall budget, and education spending like 2%? is that empowering of the people?

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

Musharraf can do even a better job if these radical Islamic dont have popular support of the people of Pakistan...

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

If you are part of a military family, or PML,MQM supporter, or part of teh many involved in teh various scams, then yes he is doing a good job.

However if you are an average Pakistani, prices are so expensive, corruption continues out of control, and many other bad points. Without Sept.11, Pak would be worse off than tha rule of BB/NS

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

"Our defence budget 70-80% of the overall budget"

"We have no external threats"

Yaar thora hath houla rakhain

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

the problem with Musharraf is not his non-democratic status but rather his democratic status.I think he should have followed the arab model of governance like in U.A.E,Egypt and Kuwait where dicatorships are successful in bringing stability and peace to the region...and nobody is fighting nobody there.You can't have democracy in a zoo,it just does'nt work and it never has in Pakistan..the best way to have economic and social stability here is to keep people under check.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

I agree When these corrupt politician talk about democracy in Pakistan they are really referring to more venues and opportunities to steal from the public. The more layers of government, the more corruption there is.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

I don't know why everyone is jumping on me. I never said Musharraf is doing a great job, just that he seems slightly better than Bibi and Mian Sahib (ok my million times was a gross exaggeration). I was merely asking for your opinions. And please don't ever compare Nawaz Sharif with Musharraf. Mian Sahib is really thick. Even if he turned his head upside down he could never handle the foreign media and press the way Musharraf does. It's like comparing Inzamam with Imran khan.

Pakistan is spending 2.5% of the GDP on education and I agree they should be spending a lot more on health and education but if I remember correctly they were spending only 1% on health and education during Sharif and Benazir's tenures. And that 70-80% on defence is exaggerated, it's more like 30-40% but still a bit too high for my liking

I agree some of the people in Musharraf's cabinet are the same old corrupt faces and people like Sheikh Rashid and Faisal Saleh Hayat should never be in government but then some degree of nepotism and favoritism happens even in Western societies

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

How much should he be spending? 3.5%? 5%? A whopping 50%!!!!?

You people ( and I don't mean you goldenAsif, I think you are post is reasonable) criticize w/out providing alternatives solutions. Bhai lohg, may be there is a reason that education gets 2.5% of the budget instead of 1% (or less than 1%) as it was getting in the past administrations.

Pakistanis are extremely cynical and pessimistic people, and it's no wonder that is getting nowhere fast.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

From where have you got this figure that BB/Nawaz were spending less than 1%, gimme a reference or a link. I think its just a product of ur mind.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

I think Mushy has done a far better job then the democratically elected leaders in my life time.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

yes he is light years ahead of BB and NS. its an insult to put him against those 2 thugs but i think he made his mistake by acting like a politian, he should have stayed as a controler and worked on kicking out the criminals from the goverment and let someone else run the country but him becoming presidant has made him weaker.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

how do you blame musharaf for that? he is not responsible for brining those people in the gov., they have been voted by the people.

and defence budget being high is good and very important, especially in todays time when there are threats from the west and india, what is the point of having education when they can get bombed tommorow, first we must protect ourselfs,

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

So wat is ur objection? Isin't it democracy? If ppl of pak want islamic parties well i guess then they gonna be there. I don;t understand this charge, radical islamic parties, should i call Musharraf and his allies Radical liberals?:P

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

you really don’t believe they were properly elected? many of the sarkari league people couldn’t win from their villages without army support.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

the problem being that these people are basing their judgements on uneducated assumptions...

a democracy never works properly if people are not educated...

look at USA, they elected Bush based on false information....

But in Pakistan's case its even more dire

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

such as?

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

wheter they had support or not, the people elected them.

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Re: Musharraf - Is he doing a good job?

Such as Pakistan joining the US War on Terrorism and turning against the Taliban. Almost the entire country was against this and it made the job of Musharraf very difficult.

Instead of thinking rationally on why he chose this course of action, people were demanding his head.

But know most people realize it was the proper thing to do even though the Islamic Parties are still against this.

And now look at all the benefits. Our Economy is growing, foriegn investment is up, millions have been lifted out of poverty, etc.....

I supported Musharraf's decision to do this from the very beginning....but unfortunately many people in Pakistan didnt....