A lot of foreign investment in telecom and other sectors to provide people with mobiles, land lines, a hell of entertainment channels… to provide people who are looking for water, food and shelter. These people can see a new hard year ahead. On the other hand, army has still got enough bullets and missiles to fire on innocent people of Balochistan and NWFP, and they too, watch a hard year ahead.
So there was nothing much special with last year:
Kill every person in Balouchistan who asks for a better life, water and food.
Don’t pay attention to (backward and ignorant) people of Sindh on any issue.
Kill any attempts to create political awareness in Punjab
Destroy the traditions of NWFP in search of terrorists.
Beg international banks and donors while you are making claims of BILLIONS of $ in reserve.
Army protects this country and any one who don’t agree with Musharaf is not sincere with this country and thus have no right to live in this country.
As a rule of thumb, army can kill any person or even destroy villages to keep its government and thus to protect this country.
Pakistan was formed to stay and shine. Lead (to its formation) by some of the best intellectuals of that time, another intellectual wrote its national anthem. Though Hafeez produced a lot of things to his credit but national anthem was the best of them. This anthem summarised the spirit of Pakistan. A lot of people criticize Pak for the lack of order and system. As the national anthem suggests:
Pak sar-Zamin ka nizam Quwat-e-Ukhuwat-e-Awam
(The order of this sacred land
Is the might of the brotherhood of the People)
Army has a well-defined role to protect the borders but that does not generate enough revenues for officers to get the best resources and establish empires. So army needs to kill the brotherhood of peole of Pak to start (disputed) projects that can offer them some commission. According to national anthem this country is not protected by army but by God himself.
Asking for a better life is fine. When you start destroying the country’s infrastructure like gas lines, rocketing government facilities etcm then you can expect the government to fight back rather than compromise
If the traditions of the NWFP impede hunting down people who set off explosions in Pakistan’s streets, then those traditions must be destroyed because they endanger the lives of Pakistanis.
If you think spending the billions in currency reserves that Pakistan has built up is a good idea, then you have an extremely poor grasp of economic theory. In short, currency reserves are need because Pakistan cannot buy anything outside Pakistan with rupees. Currency reserves are needed for trade - without substantial currency reserves, Pakistan could not trade at all with the outside world.
*]Anyone who’s damaged the national interest repeatedly as much as BB and NS have, frankly are better off outside of Pakistan. Under Bibi and NS, the mass looting led to virtual economic collapse.
You make it sound as though the government used Pakistan’s resources for entertainment, mobiles, etc. Which is an extremely misleading picture. All of that was done by the private sector; in fact the government made money from these.
How can you thus present this as a negative action by the government when none of the country’s resources were used for this?
ANd you made it sound as though the military’s targets were in fact innocent. Perhaps you overlook how the Balochis began attacking Pakistan militarily, or how the Waziristanis were hiding people who had planned and carried out attacks on Pakistan.
yes indeed Mush has made a mess of this ( you forgot the unreported mess that is going on in gilgit..the thousands of Pakistanis across the country who have been whisked away untried)..his power corruption and FOB (Friend Of Bush status) have made him both arrogant and made him promote more polarisation in a country that was already in a bad shape...the last chapter in this sad story remains to be seen..but i suspect we won't have to wait too long...
Totally agree, we have this mentality in our dictators that only they can do what is right for Pakistan. And appointing cronies, bombing their own people, arresting and torturing, are all good ways of accomplishing these goals.
Even if the goals are good, forcing them on people will still destroy Pakistan. In a ethnically diverse country, you cannot expect people to fall in line with an institution like the Army that is dominated primarily by one ethnicity at its core. And this institution has been involved in moral and financial corruption since long ago.
Quaid-e-Azam made Pakistan, but Army will destroy it. They already did so with East Pakistan. Even if the alternative to Army rule is worse for the short-term, that's a risk we should be willing to take for the long-term benefits of democracy and rule by people through representation.
This government is the best thing that has happened to Pakistan. The stablity is there and economy is ever growing. You are looking at the bad side only. Let me try to show you the other side of the picture.
-In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, Pakistan’s GDP growth rate was 8.4% which is (after China) the second-highest among the ten most populous countries in the world.
-Pakistan has moved away from non-agricultrual economy. Right now agriculture accounts for roughly one-fifth of the GDP.
-As a large country, Pakistan hopes to take advantage of significant economies of scale, and to replace China as the largest textile manufacturer.
-Pakistan is pursuing export-driven model of economic growth that was highly successful in China and South East Asia. We are not into doctrine of import substitution like India and Iran.
In 2005, the World Bank reported that:
“Pakistan was the top reformer in the region and the number 10 reformer globally — making it easier to start a business, reducing the cost to register property, increasing penalties for violating corporate governance rules, and replacing a requirement to license every shipment with two-year duration licenses for traders.”
Even if the goals are good, forcing them on people will still destroy Pakistan. In a ethnically diverse country, you cannot expect people to fall in line with an institution like the Army that is dominated primarily by one ethnicity at its core. And this institution has been involved in moral and financial corruption since long ago.
Quaid-e-Azam made Pakistan, but Army will destroy it. They already did so with East Pakistan. Even if the alternative to Army rule is worse for the short-term, that's a risk we should be willing to take for the long-term benefits of democracy and rule by people through representation.
Agreed
Most of the paper gains we see are a direct result of US/Western support because of the 'War on Terror'.
On the ground, crime keeps going up,inflation keeps shooting up and crucial indicators like the number living under the poverty line increase every year Mush has been in power.
In the meantime, the Generals fill their bank accounts with cash and 'perks'.
Days after the earthquake, the govt went ahead with a multi billion dollar deal for radar planes...then they expect us to believe they actually care about the people?!
Once the US dumps Pakistan,as it always does, it will be back to the begging bowl, no matter who is in power.
That was 2001, right now the growth isn’t U.S. gift, but a revival of investor interest. For example, proposed sale of 26 percent in state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Yes the poverty is high but you are ignoring a new middle class that is emerging. Also, the per capita has sugre to ~ $750+. Once we :insha: cross $1000 mark, we’ll be like a middle-income country like China. Come on guys, atleast appreciate the progress…
The damage was caused by Bugti tribes, and army cannot attack them directly (reasoning that is more stuff than a dozen books). Army killed people who were living in small groups (say 100-1000), in areas surrounding Bugti tribes, just to put pressure on Bagti. Many people who never opposed any national cause were left with no other option than firing back. This policy can be combined as: “STAY AS YOU ARE or GO TO HELL”
Those tradations were there for centuries and no government in Pak ever had problems with them, it is only now that army has access weapons and they don’t have any other way of using those weapons. Kill a few pathans and claim to have killed Al-Qaida members to gain more money and weapons. Those tribal areas were allowed to choose amongst Pak and India and (at that time) both governments guaranteed them of not altering their system. Now Musharaf and army seem to have forgotten everything. (But then this is in national interest )
Yes, anything will only be done for earthquake victoms if international doners will help. Otherwise we have enough money that can be used to build new (but unnecessary) army headquarters and to extend blocks of army’s housing schemes and forming Kalabagh dam compaigns to keep enough league members happy.
*]Musharaf can speak with MQM and any other party that accepts him as a leader. There is no issue of national interest. “Musharaf is Pak’s biggest interest at the moment”
Those areas were sold out to public sector to generate funds that can be used in national interest. "Sell out everything government has got". (This includes grounds, parks, ......) Where is all this money??????? Just appearing in papers or circulating amongst league members and news groups. NWFP and Balochistan are just getting bullets out of this money.
These economic factors will vanish the day Musharaf will leave power. It has happened before. We saw enough industrial development under Ayub and Pak was an asian tiger then until Bhutto provided people with a way to protest. Except for the factory owners, almost every person backed Bhutto against Ayub. The day Ayub left power, Pak was a poor country once again in almost all (international) economical magazines as American aid was stopped. Then we saw a hell of drammas.
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