As the news of his death broke, a lot many flashbacks of events from his tenure triggered in mind, and ofcourse it resonated around the tons of threads that were opened in his era.. although i joined 2008 here but lots happened from there till he left.
Now out of curiousity, whether you thought of him as good or bad, has the impression changed over the time? Why or Why not?
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiyoon
Dollar was at 60pkr, foreign reserves were $20 billion. They were $800 million when he took over. GDP growth rate was around 8%. Sweet times!
I suppose one can find more supporters of Musharraf among those who have a future in America, India or Israel, compared to among those who have a future in Pakistan. That's the sort of damage Musharraf did to Pakistan. I'm sure he's in a lot worse place now than he was during his last years, but it's only gonna get worse.
Good topic.
@krash your point is valid but atleast he found a way to keep economy stable for quite some time. Looking at all of the clowns that come in power after him, his economic cycle was strong and robust for quite some time. Remember he stayed in power for quite a long time.
Could he do more, yes for sure. But overall economy was not even close to as bad as it became later.
Curious, in what ways you think he damaged Pakistan?
Not that I disagree with you, i have my own list as well. Starting from selling off Pakistani citizens to weakening institutions.
Economy was stable enough in the next 2 regimes as well. It was in the last govt that things fell apart.
Pakistan’s economy has been stumbling forward for many decades. Govts have always been spending beyond their resources and accumulating debt and printing money. When things get unsustainable they go to IMF who imposes some austerity and fiscal discipline for a few years. When things get back under control they resume their spending spree and the cycle continues. The only difference in the cases of Musharraf and Zia was that they were able to sustain the spending spree somewhat longer because they had extra money to spend due to the services they were providing to the US.
What the last govt did was that it messed up the going to IMF. First it delayed the process, then failed to implement the terms while continuing to grow the deficit and borrow. The result was the govt was brought on the verge of default and IMF is now imposing even more drastic austerity.
I hate to go down that memory lane. Also, listing all the things that he did which damaged Pakistan will make this post quite long. In short, there were at least two dozen such things. Anyone who wished to Balkanize Pakistan could not have even imagined any one of them in their wildest dreams to have been done on purpose. From agreeing to be part of US war, to allowing US drones, to giving bases, to assassination of Akbar Bugti, to Lal Masjid and so much more make up my list.
But the mother of all crimes committed by Musharraf against Pakistan was abrogation of the constitution in 1999 to overturn his dismissal over Kargil by a PM who had two-third majority. The 1973 constitution is like the stem of a huge Neem tree. Cutting the stem didn’t have any immediate effect on the millions of leaves but after a while the irreversible damage began.
Not just economy, think of the f-16’s which to date india can only dream of. Think of all the things he’d say shutting indian media up like the little witches they be, never has there been one who’d annihilate the indian media as much as Musharraf did. Next in line is IK. Our debt ratio shrinked to 57% from 87-88% during his time. Had the boy stayed authoritarian Pakistan wouldn’t realistically be in the position it is in today, with all these patwaris and sindhi waderas wishing to crush the economy to its last remaining tippy toes
He was right about Lal Masjid
He was right in Kargil. Was 4-5km’s inside when NS being the wuss that he is asked him to return
His support to MQM wasn’t right, neither was his siding to the PMLQ. But it makes sense when you’re trying to bypass dynasties in the name of so called democratic parties
Media was free, 2 channels to 200 within your average chutki time. Internet became more accessible/cheaper. The IT boom started because of him. The only president to have assigned a ministry for IT. Ata ur rehman and his virtual university did indeed do wonders for some of us on ground
All of that in first few years of his tenure. And those first few years were great. I’m saying that while forcefully ignoring his way of coming in power because that was clearly unconstitutional and illegal. But lets not go there because the topic will get derailed. I’ve always been a critic of Musharraf but one thing i acknowledge is that he had a vision about Pakistan. I laughed when he assumed the position of “Chief executive” of country but you know he turned his vision into a mission just like corporate world and it seemed to start working for Pakistan. He introduced NADRA reforms and those were awesome. For the first time we had this Nadra system where we could know so much facts and data which was never that organized before.
But but but , like all previous military rulers, rest of the half was just to stay in power so all the vision and mission went down the drain. I wish these rulers can commit to themselves to not stay in power for more than 3-4 yrs.
Musharraf another general another Bikao Maal.
All generals were bikao maal.
In Pakistan you cannot be a General unless you are ready to sell your soul, your conscious and in turn sell Pakistan and Pakistani lives for Dollars.
Period!
bad....real bad......he planted seeds of some evil evil things to come........
Thread starter Bhaag Gaya Kia?:p
Thats a bold statement but then if its true, when did this tragedy start? Possibly from first martial-law, or second or third? or was it since the independence?
And then where does it end? In short, Jaen to Jaen kahan?
I think comments of @Sachaydino and @krash have the same point but I would say, may be they got lucky that the $$ were pouring in and that helped economy but look at it from a common man's perspective. Does a citizen pay a hoot how inflation is kept in check, if dollar is artificially frozen or whatever? No he wants things to be controlled and not make him kill himself.
Look at whats happening now. A democratic setup but the most incompetent rulers are failing to control the economy and this causing irreparable damage to the country
Bhai! Are you living in some other planet?