A Friend of Feudalism

Nothing much new in this article, though I agree with his description of the cause of the Pakistani political scene, the lack of a muscular middle class, except for the so-called muhajir. A visitor to Pakistan cannot but wonder at the low ratio of scooter-motorcycles and even buses to cars or of the poor condition of railway/bus stations to airports.

Fatima Jinnah leads a popular broad based people's movement and almost brings the dictator down.... she unites East and West Pakistan on one platform. That is "monarchial" succession according to Masadi.

Then you have Zulfikar Ali Bhutto- a toady feudal from rural larkana... who bends over backwards to rig the elections of Ayub Khan... helps the dictator "win"... and later Mr. Bhutto refuses to accept the decision of Pakistan's majority in 1970... destroys the little popular base he has in the 1970s... develops a fascist force called FSF and rigs the 1977 elections and he is some sort of a democrat. Brilliant.

Saima shah writes "The common guy would be the saddest person to see the stability and freedom that came with Musharraf's government go"

Which freedom are you talking about? The freedom to go hungry while repatriation by TNCs go up by 900%? Or the freedom that comes from not being able to buy equal amount of rations you were the previous month? Or the freedom that comes from dying an early death (over 50K or more do) due to sky rocketing pollution? The common man has suffered under Musharraf immensely while the rich have become richer and due to his economic policies the country has been sold at pennies to the dollar with runaway inflation. That more than the bells and whistles of "free media",(how many can afford TV sets or cable for that matter) or the expensive skimpy and luxury goods that flood the market? Don't be taken in by this BS distraction, you are smarter than that. It was a sorry excuse for defending an anti-people pro-imperialist dictator...

Regarding the 6 point plan you cannot survive as a nation-state in the Pakistan context with a weak center and state autonomy given the neighbourhood. That was just a trick to get India into Pakistani affairs, now I am against what MAJ did, he weakened the Muslims of India and sold out to the colonials but I'm equally against the dirty-play by India, and ZAB was the main if not the ONLY factor that the West survived as Pakistan, otherwise thanks to the MAJ and the damage already done, Pakistan and the Muslims of Pakistan would now enter the union as third-rate members. What is done was done, it was evil but it cannot be undone after the history that has passed. Mujib was part of that effort, and the ZAB was very far-sighted in what he did....I don't blame him one single bit

Majumdar writes "What decision, what honour? The free and fair elections, the only one so far were held by Gen. Yahya Khan. Had ZAB been an honourable man he would have allowed Mujib to take power himself."

Wrong Answer. It is not as simple as that. The division was not only total between East and West, regarding people's opinion, one person ran on the 6 point plan that he wanted to implement country-wide, and he ran on ethnic boundary building (like the MAJ and the partition). The other difference that you are overlooking in your comparison with India, is that in between the North and South of India there isn't "enemy territory" who want to play on ethnic division to do away with a nation state. On the other hand you have ZAB who ran on social justice and people power issues, not on ethnic division. Further he knew that the local elite and the military would never stand for the "free and fair" though devoid of any context elections were Mujib to be allowed free reign.

Finally, you have conveniently overlooked the FACT that Bhutto was willing to compromise and he only asked for a delay of 120 days, the Mujib man wasn't willing to negotiate at all because the ethnic power of number ONLY was on his side. This is neither the purpose of democracy nor how it can be made viable in the East/West Pakistan context. The civil war was started by Mujib, helped by India, Fukced up by Yahya (the war criminal), while the country was saved by ZAB.

Try and argue with these facts now fool.....

#21 Posted by VRV on September 4, 2007 7:19:55 pm

this's i/o this's not

saima,

In global terms, teh stability that mushy offered is not sustainable, simply because pakistan has so many jihadis and they are being pumped out to support taliban in afghanistan. Mushy had to take on the tribals, because of the historic factors, essentially TNT. Blaming the US for jihadis is simply wrong, the US came in when the society was filled with the hatred created by TNT, and now without govt and the US support, it is sustained by what you call as the common guys of pakistan. They are the ones supporting the madrassas, they are the ones donating money to the collection boxes in every mosque.

Hatred is endemic to pak society, it is created on hate, the TNT.

William Dalrymple needs to take some much deserved break from his idiotic writings.

Much bigger things are at stake here, feudalism for whatever its drawbacks is very much part of Pakistan that the author has failed to understand. BB is by no stretch of imagination a feudal as defined by the indigenous feudals. She may behave like a feudal, but then again who doesnt in Pakistan when given the opportunity, take any army general for example.

Issue here is of restoring some balance in Pakistani politics, for too long the religious right has completely monopolized political and social debate, secularists or liberals have either been hounded out or silenced. Musharraf made some timid attempts in restoring the balance but now needs to pass the responsibility to a political party with national stature. The only political party with such credentials is PPP and the Bhuttos are an integral part of that political setup.

Having said that, those opposed to such changes will use everything in their armour including suicide belts and ethnic propaganda. Success or failure of this change will require resolve, patience and sacrifice from all liberal minded political parties, failure is not an option.

For that matter Pakistanis are equally un interested by Nawaz Sharif. If you ask me, the whole controversy over Musharraf is media generated placed by the super elites who couldn't get power in the current scheme of things. The common guy would be the saddest person to see the stability and freedom that came with Musharraf's government go. Sadly, Pakistan has two spectres to fight against. One is Islamism--the influence of tribal Islam is hard to fight for most people because for the last several centuries Muslims have not had an open dialogue WITHOUT violence to reflect on what Islam really means to them. In that void, tribal Islam is becoming more powerful. The second is unequal distribution of wealth because of the way the country has pursued modernization and industrialization. These are separate issues, but because of the difficulty that Muslims have (after centuries of not thinking in specific and concrete terms) in constructing arguments, they have been mixed into an abstract fight for identity and Godhood. Pakistan is the most dangerous place on Earth right now. Is anybody listening? Alas, no. They are too busy defending their mediocrity.

Actually, that's not really true. Pakistanis aren't afraid of her 'westernization' because Madam neither speaks Urdu or English very well. Pakistanis are stunned by her incredible stupidity and lack of sincerity towards the common man. The fact that her husband is the greediest man on Earth, is also a factor. But the biggest disappointment is her sheer incompetence. Ms Bhutto is no where near the calibre of her father and alas, she has no principles of ANY sort. That speaks louder than any veneer of sophistication.

Masadi sahib,

(Bhutto saved democracy in Pakistan in 1970 by his decision, and he restored Mujib to his rightful position like an honorable man.)

What decision, what honour? The free and fair elections, the only one so far were held by Gen. Yahya Khan. Had ZAB been an honourable man he would have allowed Mujib to take power himself.

(it was setup for failure if the East was allowed to rule the West, because the entire setup was non viable, and it was not really any win because the PPP and the Awami League had not a single seat to contest in the East.)

A similar thing happened in India in 1977. The JP won a clear majority of 295 seats (out of 542) but barring 1 each and every seat came from North of the Vindhyas, while th INC got 158 seats almost entirely South of the Vindhyas but no one argued that JP had to share power with INC or that troops had to crush the JP in North.

After the elections, it was a well-known fact that ZAB used inflammatory language like “Idhar Hum, Udhar Tum� and threats to break the legs of every legislator who attended the NA to break up Pakistan. His behaviour never changed after he became the PM. He ruthlessly muzzled dissent, in bhari sabha (ie. in National Assembly) he threatened to kill the Leader of Opposition, he had a leading JI leader and his son tortured and sodomised (if my recollection is correct) and blatantly rigged the 1977 elections apart from torturing and incarcerating dissident members of his own party.

And for all his so-called love of socialism his family remains to the date, one of the largest landowners of Pakistan. The whole of PPP has always been dominated by feudals. So much for land reforms.

And what about the blatant pandering to Islamicists- declaration of Friday as the sabbath, hypocritcial Prohibition, declaration of Ahmedis as non-Muslims, the retrogessive aspects of the 1973 Constituion as my friend YLH keeps digging up from time to time.

(Yahya was a war criminal, he should have been hung at the very least.... )

So why wasn’t he? Cudn’t ZAB do that.

And who asked him to make an idiot like Zia ( a person who was once deemed unfit for promotion to Brigadier) as the COAS superseding senior officers.

Regards

Pakistanis should place their money on Imran Khan, he seems more sincere then the others

“Benazir's brother Murtaza…….in a hail of police bullets, yards from his front door. Many pointed the finger of suspicion at Benazir, and her husband was later charged with complicity in the murder.�


I will refrain from commenting on this article. This guy has read 20 articles in Pakistani papers and has put together this article of no use and thinks of himself as some kind of a scholar.

He is parroting the army line that Benazir is responsible for her Brother’s murder. What a silly thing to say.

“She speaks English fluently as it is her first language.�

Her mother was Iranian and her father was raised in Bombay so he, too, barely spoke any Sindhi until he lived in Larkana in the 50s.

She has a horrible Sindhi and persian mixed English accent. She probably spoke some Sindhi with her servants in Karachi. At home, the Bhuttos used to speak English.

Maybe we should invite the Narayan Murthy and Azim Premji pair from India to handle Pakistan politics for some time. They would concentrate on technology/economy and also curb the overwhelming interference of the military in civil affairs. Premji can be the prime minister and Murthy can be the President. And no, the suggestion is not as outrageoous as it sounds. These guys would gain immediate trust from US and India. They would cause strengthening of democratic insstitutions. They would not indulge in corruption and loot. BB & NS on the other hand would only act on predictable lines with "Twenty percent" etc.

I got this idea when I read about someone pining for a "noble Sayyid" or "any decent Arab" as a leader for Pakistan.

Give it a thought folks.

For a momnet we must forget that this's not written by William Dalrymple but by a reporter.

Benazeer is a democrat in London and Washington but not in Karachi. Period.

When I recollect the mega articles in British press abt her property dealings and export of antiques from Pakistan, the feeling is anything but shame.

I still wonder why - forget abt Pak awaam - even Musharraf is enamoured of her as the saviour and the face of democracy in Pakistan?? Why not Ms. X or Mr. X from the existing un-evicted Pakistanis as the 'leader' or a potential PM?

Re: # 17 Please to not bunch up mr. Altafbhai with bunch of thugs BB, president and NS , Altafbhai never takes goes to usa begging. Above three should consult pakistani people than USA foreign minister and its disgusting when USA elites give little favor they look likes dog and dog gets happy and wags his tail happily when american elites throw discarded bone.