The Good Monster: Musharraf's Cultural Legacy

hey nadeem,

your best in a long time.

cheers,

shandana

NFP - very correct - and there are not many who can see this. Indeed, there are not many on chowk itsself who have seen this development.

Mushy has been good for the chattering classes, and the artsy-pansy types. BUt they themselves have risen to bite the hand that feeds them.

maybe Zia had it correct afterall, and the mullahs (who hate the artsy-fansy types and would like to hang them all in the name of religion) have the correct idea - atleast from a self-preservation point of view...

Can’t really predict the kind of legacy he will leave, but we owe it to him to name some of our national landmarks after his highness. Naming a Rape Denial Center after Mushy will be a good sign of expressing our National Pride in him, just as we have honored our previous dictators by naming our Motorways and Airports after them. In Sargodha right next to our house is a Zia Barbar Shop. Near Bomb wala chowk. Culture my ass.

....musharraf's biggest achievement was appointing competent financial experts in major areas, and then giving them the freedom to operate.....which kept pakistan from falling off a cliff.....

......in the area of culture, all he did was to not re-implement zia's policies, and not control the media......the media and society in pakistan had matured to a point, where the freedom of press would have burst out anyways.....

......the tv. channels etc. are actually not a part of media independence....people don't set up tv channels for th love of freedom of information.......they set them up to make money.....they are businesses......as are newspapers etc.....as are fashion shows, for that matter......

........so the tv channels etc. were an off-shoot of a good economic policies......

........unfortunately, musharraf has over-written all of this with what he has done to the judiciary......countries with strong judicial systems are successful, always........countries with a lot of cultural events, are neither here nor there.......

the day pakistan has a strong legal system is that day everything will prosper.......it almost happened......perhaps it still can happen.....

DashDot #18 "BUt they themselves have risen to bite the hand that feeds them."

I think you are confusing cause and effect - Mush was given his uniform, monthly pay, and soldiers to command by the Pakistani nation. It is this scoundrel who turned and bit the hand that fed him.

Re: # 20

Romair:

Musharraff has done more than get competent experts. He has dealth with the U.S. much better than any other Pakistani leader of the past (Jinnah not included). He struck a balance in Islamic traditions and empowering women. Neither war on terror, nor pressures from the U.S. and the west crushed Pakistan. He bore the brunt. For example, the U.S. would want A. Q. Khan, which would have been disastrous internally. He took the pressure. Like it or not, he also help change Pakistani mindset away from Kashmiri issue. Although, neither he, nor Shaukat Aziz could deliver MFN to boost trade and commerce.

I would give him A as a leader.

Re: # 22

Anil, good to hear a voice of reason in all this madness.

I have already alerted people to the grassroots movement in Pakistan to have Musharraf become prez for life. Please see the following article on AllVoices.com that confirms this.

http://www.allvoices.com/rumors/28277

Re: # 23

Thinking Storm maulana sahib:

Aap tou lagta Thinking Storm nahin, Thinking Hurricane hain. Paun zameen par hi rahne dijiye. Aage apki marzi. Mushkil ho gayegi bahut, agar apka rumor wala Thinking Hurricane shuru hogaya.

testing...

The miserable chowk staff had banned me again, they think that by censoring me they can make their own BS more credible, they are sadly mistaken.

Now, regarding this retard Paracha who is comparing ZAB with the sob Musharraf, a people's prime minister with a tin pot dictator, we should certainly be outraged. But outrage can be shown against people who have half a brain and this dimwit, whose "liberalism" goes just as far as sex and rock and roll knows next to nothing about culture and legacy. Musharraf's legacy is the same as that of the Zia ul Fcuk. Both are submitting to the cultural demands of the US elite as they submit to them. Zia's era required the Jihadis to be seen as freedom fighters therefore the entire culture had to be molded to achieve that end, now fighting the "war on terror", they are to be seen as backward barbarians and so we see fake claims of enlightenment and "freeing" the media as if people talking their mind is some kind of privilage that only Musharraf and Chowk Staff can allow and disallow (and we found how fake it was recently when all segments of Pakistani society were treated as dogs and pigs by this son of a swine who parades around as an 'enlightened moderate'. Those who support this sob, Musharraf (who is now quite powerless compared to the past) are themselves dogs and pigs.....

anil: a leader inspires others. musharraf inspires only contempt with his self-aggrandisement, constant lies, and irresponsible behavior.


as for the rest of what you write - how do you know an elected leader would not have done better? zia had the US dancing to his tune e.g. - contemptuously rejecting amounts offered by the US government as "peanuts" and getting much better terms in the afghan-soviet war. does that make zia a "leader"? i dont think so!!

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

in #28 read "as present that as if" as "and present that as if "

masadi: bhai aap kaan or naaq say har waqt dhoonaN kyoon nikalta rahta hai? you'll give yourself a heart attack - that is all you'll do with your constant anger.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Musharaff is the prototypical PAkistani contradiction - he loves hindu pagans , yet would like to be a kafir hater momeen....he would attack indians in kargil.......and see the futility of the kafir hatred the next day....