Musharraf’s New Ordinance Hoopla

"The army in present-day Pakistan is like the Church in medieval Europe. All they want is your land and your money! "

Very well put!!

The argument that army is a true representative of the middle class has also been put forth by several croonies of military from time to time. However even Christina Lamb in our book Waiting for Allah has endorsed this argument. Although i do not endorse this point of view but the problem why this argument is having some takers is becuse our current voting system is skewed towards the rich and powerful particulary in the rural area. Consequently our legislatures are full of people who are apparently voted by the people but in reality are not representing their interests. I think we need to take steps to reduce the influence of local influence in the rural poliics. Mind you majority of the seats are in rural areas and there it is the ifluence of the candidate not the ideology or manifesto of the party which really counts.
For democracy to be realy representative we need to reduce this element.

The argument that army is a true representative of the middle class has also been put forth by several croonies of military from time to time. However even Christina Lamb in her book "Waiting for Allah" has endorsed this argument. Although i do not endorse this point of view but the problem why this argument is having some takers is becuse our current voting system is skewed towards the rich and powerful particulary in the rural area. Consequently our legislatures are full of people who are apparently voted by the people but in reality are not representing their interests. I think we need to take steps to reduce the influence of local influence in the rural politics. Mind you majority of the seats are in rural areas and there it is the influence of the candidate not the ideology or manifesto of the party which really counts.
For democracy to be really representative we need to reduce this element.

Re: # 1 How can you comment on something without getting to know the actual thing? donot look at army as if it comprises of only those persons whom you see in the paper or media. there is more to it than those. there are people who never think of corridors of powers and just continue to do their daily business. thanks

re: Mohammad A Shaikh

Interesting article.

The British army did stage a coup against the English Parliament, when Oliver Cromwell dismissed it in the 1640s and then ruled England as the "Lord Protector" and Puritanism reigned supreme. When Cromwell died, the parliament restored the monarchy in a period of English history known as the Restoration. Then, they dug up Cromwell's body from its grave and tried him for treason against the state, for dismissing parliament and ruling England without it's consent and then dragged his corpse through the streets of London and after which, they hung his decayed body in a public square.

The message was, that parliament is the supreme law making body in England and no one is above it or would be allowed to rule over it!

The Reconcilation Ordinance will incite a backlash, because though politically it may make sense to those who have a stake in the politics, the common person on the street will think that it is a "deal amongst thieves".

It is always a good idea not stir silent waters...

Ciao

guys it is simple: Mushy has a one point agenda: what must i do to remain in power for as long as possible. THat's it. Everything else is just tactics.

Mohammed,

You are totally wrong when you say,

"These issues come about because there is no respect for separation of powers. This affects common-man issues like consumer rights, health care and food price inflation (because the junta/ establishment knows there is no competing institution that may take them on)."

The problems of pakistan are much more deep rooted. Take the kargill, war, the officers of pak army are supposed to be educated at the most respected institution in pakistan, many are trained in the uS and UK, still they went for the war, which now many claim was wrong. What happened to the so called educated, what did education provide to the pakistanis, simply put it did not provide them with a rational thinking process, it simply schooled them.

One can see the same process in the chowk interactors, they are all educated and here is a case of YLH. He maintains that the traouble in waziristan is caused by the followers of gandhi and in that process he absolves the pakistanis and the madrassas of any responsibility.

It is this lack of understanding of the reality and the refusla to take responsibility for the situation in pakistan is the root cause. For every thing, the responsibility is ascribed to some one dead gadhi to zia, or to some one outside pakistan the US or afghanistan.

There will be more such ordinances, they are all the signs of a society collapsing on itself, large regions declaring their own laws, the streets of karachi ruled by teh criminals.

Murder and other crimes,

When Samia Arawar was murdered a few years ago, no one was charged with an offence, because no crime was comitted.

It is reasonable for benzir and others to ask the same question, if murder is not a crime, why should stealing money from any one be treated as a crime. My dear pakistanis, think about it, and do not blame Mushy, he is only extending a widely accepted notion of pak society.

Read thsi from dawn of today, and feel easy



"Another amendment stipulates that all cases that were registered by the National Accountability Bureau in or outside Pakistan against holders of public offices during the period in question would be deemed to have been withdrawn. Furthermore, such persons shall not be liable to any action in future as well for acts done in good faith before the said date.

Yet another amendment — in the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898 (Act V, Section 494) — calls for withdrawal of cases registered between Jan 1, 1986, and Oct 12, 1999, by the federal or a provincial government against any person, including an absconding accused, found to have been framed for political reasons. The law will be applicable to only those cases in which no court has given a judgment."

Author,

In short we have a lot going for us in terms of constitutional development and corporate governance.

... and a lot more. It is the collective mindset of the clique of gora boot-licking kanjaRs who are contemptuous of this country despite eating from its plate (the plate-pisser phenomenon) and regard the ordinary non-kanjaR fellow Pakistanis as regressive and backward and ignorant, and continue to betray them at every occasion after having taken their votes. Of-course the reference is towards the maha-kanjaRi BB.

Though I have no respect for Government spokesmen, Dr. Salman Shah had an excellent point at Geo yesterday. When asked as to how the thieves and plunderers in the words of musharraf himself for no less than 8 years were now granted immunity? His answer was "... there are always huge crowds behind thieves. if the people didn't vote for thieves and plunderers in Pakistan, no one would have to make deals with them."

This is the reality. If BB has votes, musharraf has an easy choice in continuing with this kanjaRpana. This time it is the withdrawing of court cases in return for election support, next time it will be something else. The cloak and dagger stuff will continue and both sides will keep collecting something or the other to blackmail each other with for prudential insurance.

#8 Posted by jayp,

Yaar I think the people who stole money from the coffin purchases of their war dead have no right to make these statements.

Zeemax 10,

Murder, corruption, theft..they are there every where. But pakistan is the only country where murder is not a crime due to TNT version of sharia, theft is not a crime due to "teh doctrine of necessity".

What is unique about pakistan is that teh society through the legislature and teh supreme court makes the crime as non-crime and hence legal. This is done with teh support of teh educated, the legal fratenity, the officials in the ministries, the so called highly professional military...you name it and endorsed by the ilks of tahmed and ylh.

You will never hear it in pakistan what you have quoted about india, corruption charges against military..Pak military is never corrupt, ask roamir.

Mohammed rip van winkle,


"During Musharraf reign Pakistan has digressed in so many ways. This ordinance will further allow this country to totally divorce away the concept of accountability."

You are totally out of touch with pakistan. The entire notion of accountability in pakistan was provided by Mushy with his NAB, mohammed, it stands for national accountability board.

What Mushy gives, mushy taketh away, ...have you not learned pak history, MAJ after spending years on preaching TNT, that muslims cannot live with people of other religions, finally in one speech took away the entire notion of TNT. The same here with Mushy, NAB was created by him, and now he has destroyed it.

"His answer was "... there are always huge crowds behind thieves. if the people didn't vote for thieves and plunderers in Pakistan, no one would have to make deals with them."


...I think this was consensus statement in that Debate, that Laghari Guy too said something similiar, and Sheikh Rashid too said something similiar..... only that PPP lawyer iqbal Haider , said something about 10 years of fishing for proofs ,....etc..etc..etc..

bytheway...

with this so call RECONCILIATION Ordinance ,which has laid grouds to pardoned anyone and everyone from 1986-1999 ,whether he is a Killer,Terrorist,Bhatta Khoor, Looter, Plunderer,Rapist, Hijacker...etc..etc Pakistan has Officialy announced , that there is NO LAW in the country....provided he belongs to any Political party and claims victimization......... Period.

mughal #4 you write "there are people who never think of corridors of powers and just continue to do their daily business". This is true, and at the individual level the vast majority of military people are fine, honorable people.

However, the problem is that as an institution, the military is indeed like a church (as per this article), which watches out for "its own" rather than for the nation it serves. Thus, the church is spending $600 million to pay off those abused by gay priests, and in Pakistan the military allows one dictator after another to get away with flouting the constitution.

The day a dictator is court-martialed in the military for abusing the trust a nation places in its armed forces and for conduct unbecoming an army officer (making a mockery of the electoral process being surely on top of the list!!), that day the military will start being seen again as a national army that is there to protect and defend the nation and the rule of law, not to trample over it.

Re: # 14

tahmed,

......... stop pissing in the wind, it is getting you all wet ........

...... as far as i am concerned it is a pretty good idea to get as many thieves as you can under one tent to cut down on the noise and get on with our lives ....... with bb, maulana fazloo, altaf bhai, the thieves of gujrat and mushy all toghether in bed, it should be one big orgy ...... the only people left on the sidelines playing with themselves will be qazi sahib, imran khan (party of one), nawaz sharif and the taliban .........

....... things are beginning to look up ....... the big question is if my cousin will get a ministership out of this deal ........ musharraf zindabad!

.... the unwashed masses of pakistan seem to have given there verdict, it is time for the 'talking classes', specially the expats who do not have a dog in this fight, to shut up !

"Opposition parties did not mount any protest and a call for a general strike received a lukewarm response in the capital. Only two dozen protesters gathered to protest outside the parliament, shouting, “This election is a fraud” and “Go Musharraf, Go.”

....... and someone should slap these 'two dozen protestors' for making a fool out of their families ........