Re: Pakistan’s economy grew as strong as India’s in 2002 to 2006: Indian magazine
Aalsi,
Read full article. It talks about 2002-2006, where as Mush took over in 1999 and continuing till today. .....
** After 2006, Pakistan's economy went down the drain.** Pakistanis' don't want Mush to bring the country to further collapse.
Guys why can't we take the quoted article at its face value? If Musharraf couldn't bring down the things from 2002-2006 (4 years), then it is not possible to "go down the drain" in 2007 (just one year), unless you are talking bout the Jihadis going down the sewer.
Coming back to the topic! William Dalrymple is a respected author, who is familiar with South Asia. Poor guy is not passing a judgment for Musharraf or against India. He simply talks about few things that are better in Pakistan. The thing is that some of these "things" were better than India even before Musharraf.
- Better roads.
- Better airports.
- Free (relatively) media.
- Overall better living conditions -
A typical Westerner may not know about these "superior" aspects of Pakistan, but ordinary Pakistanis and Indians do know about it after their very first visit across the border. Do google on Rediff and you will find plenty of Indian visitors going gaga over Pakistan's relative prosperity and cleanliness.
The reason Pakistan has been able to outperform India in these aspects is simple! Pakistan followed pro-West and free market policies. While India suffered under communist-socialist rule and pro-Soviet policies.
It is the same thing (albeit much exaggerated) between the two Koreas. South Korea! because of its free market economy is an Asian tiger, while the north is suffering under communists.
Thankfully Indians have gotten rid of the communist yoke (the yoke died just 15 years ago). Everyone knows that since the U-turn on poor Russians, India has progressed by leaps and bounds.
p.s. BTW the author talks about good things in Pakistan, and rightfully laments about the poor perception. Unfortunately he fails to point out that Pakistanis are far far behind Indians in one particular aspects. And that is "hospitality" and "tolerance" shown to the Westerners.
Mild mannered Indians were the crown even in the dark days of pro-communist rule. Not many Westerners were threatened just because of their political or religious inclinations.
Mother India was always smiling at the goras coming in the country. We in Pakistan have gone back to the dark days of Arab or Pashtoon tribalism where Westerners have to run for their life at least most of the time.