The World Is BUT are We Ready for a New Pakistan?

Mubashir Butt:

It is a crisp article.

I have always been saying that in the near future the political arena of Pakistan will only comprise of an alliance of Mullas under MMA versus an alliance of moderates under President Musharraf/PM Jamali. PML N has already almost disappeared, while PPP has been relegated to a party only winning from its staunch feudal constituencies. (As the time passes, PPP will erode more and more at the leadership level. Reason is that there is a considerable frustration in the upper echelons for not having shared the associated benefits of being in power since 1996. Therefore, it is becoming easier for the rulers to allure them to power positions.)

The MMA will push for Islamic emotionalism based mainly on issues of pan-Islamaism and anti-Americanism. Otoh, the ruling alliance will increasingly push for an agenda of economic growth. Since unfortunately Pakistanis are an emotional people and will rather opt for religious rhetorics rather than prosperity, the economic performance of the ruling alliance has to be something that is beyond a miracle in order for them to succeed.

Both the sides are desparate for retaining and gaining ground in public support. Thus MMA is making big issues out of non-matters like WANA operations and the ruling alliance is making desparate attempts to cascade the benefits of improving economy to common man e.g. President Musharraf himself chairing the meeting with Association of Developers for boosting construction that promises more jobs.

It seems that the ruling alliance has already comprehended that Pakistanis will make emotional rather than an intelligent decision when the time comes. Imho, this is also the reason why some Ministers and the President himself have alluded to continuing with uniform for some more time. To me, that will not be a bad choice.

Musharraf did the best he could. Do i think he is the best leader for Pak. No not really, but in the current time Yes he is adequate. I would be immensely disturbed if a qazi or mullah becomes the leader of Pak. Imagine the meetings between Bush and a mullah Pak preasident. Put your imagination to work in terms of what he would wear. It would be odd in my opinion, because at home he would be against all things West and abroad would be embracing the west. Hypocritical too.

Mubashir Butt aka mubakr:

You had stated in your article and I had asked, the MAJOR economic commitments. Those small investments are good of course- beggars can`t be choosers after all.

In your opinion, why is foreign direct investment- the ONLY criteria for indication to development used by ANY third world country without an industrial base, declining so rapidly? Because this is a cocern. If after all the major macro-changes, FDI won`t arrive, and poverty continues to rapidly increase, what are we to assume?

By how much has EU increased Pakistan`s quota? Last I read (about a month ago), UK had slapped 15 percent duty on bed-linen from Pakistan and EU was to follow suit.

Yes we are littered with unkept promises and forecasts gone awry of politicians. But they can at least have the chance to suffer the consequences of broken promises through electoral system. A chance there is at least. You had mentioned accountability. It begs a question. Who will hold the present regime accountable for pushing 18 million more people below the poverty line?

Daily jihad news,

At last some one is listening to this lone voice on chowk. Al quida #3 was found in the house of a major in pak army. What is the rank where the uno will be found. After bombing the rocky cliffs of Wana, and after the latest tape, the americans are asking the same question, will he be in islamabad or rawalpindi.

Today in Australia a pakistani has been arrested a trained lasker e toiba person. All terror roads lead to pakistan.

The moroccan investigations ahve identifed hashis link to jihad. Religion is the opiate of the masses. Opium is the fuel of jihad.

Mushy has declared that there is no terror in kashmir, it is freedom struggle. The same views expressed by the military men like romair on chowk, little do they accep that war on terror is war on islamic terror, it is war on jihad. If jihad and killing of kafirs is the central tenet of islam, it is a war on islam.

mubakr,

Thanks for the enlightened response, if you are a pakistani, you are one of the rarest.

Regards

Jay

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Dawn of new islam,

Events in iraq points to the period of revival of islam. The present war on terror will result in slow and steady denial of economic improvement opprtunities for islamic countries, the most dangerous are jihadists from educated technically advanced countries. Hence the central theme of the war on terror is the technology denial for islamic countries.

There will be travel restirctions, less from islamic countries will study in develiped nations, less wil travel to the islamic countries. The isolation and deprevation of the islamic countries will increase, and evenetually there will be congruence of the ideology of the book and the life style that germinated the book.

Once the congruence is attained, it is time to rewrite the book, there will be islamic reformation, there after islamic countries will slowly progress.

Iraq is the dawn of a new era for islam, it is the dawn of an internationally coordinated response to improve the jihadic mind set, it is the start of a decline and hence the dawn of a new tomorrow, may be another 50 years down the line.

The educational dilemma



In recent days, the report by an NGO, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), about educational structure and possible reforms has triggered off debate in academic circles. It throws light on the prejudices shown in our textbooks towards minorities, anti-Hindu sentiments and undue emphasis on jihad and makes recommendations to reform them.

There are some among us who oppose such changes, thinking it to be an imperialist plot to rob our children of their identity and heritage. However, the authors of the report and those who favour its recommendations, call these allegations baseless.

Amidst all these controversies the most neglected group is the one which is the most affected, that is, the students. I, as a student, wish to write against the two extremes.

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Above is from dawn of today.

There was a time on chowk when the ylh and the tahmeds denied the xistance of k for kafir education. Now that seem to be the truth season, may the yaks have put ``truth cirum`` into the water supply, all are talking about k for kafir education. May be the thinder of daisy cutters have woken the pakistanis from the persistant delusions.

hmmm...it`s not about being ``butt-ready`` under the ``U.S. orders.`` there`s more to it. conceived and formed as a reaction nation state in 1947 by breaking off the bigger india namely for the muslims, the deep rooted sense of insecurity`s always been there. too bad for pakistan that indians were already friends with russia and thus they couldnt trust the russians and headed to the u.s.

this image of being an ``at your services sir`` generally is a perceived reality which is slightly different from the reality itself.

and hey, i am also a butt...so be careful here :)

hmmm...it`s not about being ``butt-ready`` under the ``U.S. orders.`` there`s more to it. conceived and formed as a reaction nation state in 1947 by breaking off the bigger india namely for the muslims, the deep rooted sense of insecurity`s always been there. too bad for pakistan that indians were already friends with russia and thus they couldnt trust the russians and headed to the u.s.

this image of being an ``at your services sir`` generally is a perceived reality which is slightly different from the reality itself.

and hey, i am also a butt...so be careful here :)

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Pakistan has always been butt-ready when it came to changing directions under US orders!

# 5 Arjun_m

you quoted abdur rasheed ghazi saying that osama is our hero and that poll would reveal that bush is our enemy. frankly, you cant label one`s comments as the psyche of the whole nation. we all have extremists in all societies of the world - no matter how strong systems there could be. the great gandhi once said that ``mullah and pandit think the same and so does sufi and sadhu; one divides but the other joins.`` AND you quoted a MULLAH here...try searching for sufis too :)

# 6 Rozaiba

USAID is pouring in 100 million USD for the education sector reforms only via Education Sector Reforms Assistance (ESRA) and Ministry of Education (MoE). yet another 40 million USD are administered via Natinal Democratic Institute and Internation Republican Institute for the political reforms and training. some 10 million USD are for the time are reserved for direct help to the small scale educational enterprises. now touching the econimic commitments, US recently increased the taxtile quota from Pakistan by 3.7% which is expected to bring a boost in our economy by around 65 million USD and frankly, what else could we export other than garments etc. EU`s increase in, yet again, taxtiles is expected to bring around 49 million Euros rise. Europeans are also actively donating in the educational sector too. one scandanavian mission is extremely actively involved in madrassah uplift.

# 8 pmishra2

the issue is not the individuals here; the issue is the state and it`s policies and the people running the show. ``freedom fighting`` is not the only way of achieving the ``goals.`` search and you`ll find many. the support that these ``freedom fighters`` were getting in 2000 was around 89 million USD from the people behind the curtain, if i may quote a journanlist here! children are dying hungry and women becoming prostitues because of poverty and we are waging jihad in other lands.

# 9 Inquirer

i agree with you in principle but the historic phenomena are impossible to reverse and what jamali said at ndc had a background of state`s failing to provide ANYTHING to its inhabitants (note: i am not using the word citizens here). the feeling is that people who live in the state of pakistan are the subjects; not the citizens.

# 10 arjun_m

i cannot brush aside this story in daily times; there could be some substance to that but it would be interesting if this becomes the starting point of banning hizbul too as an act of CBM towards india. in that case, i am the biggest advocate of that...and hey partner - trust me - that a majority of people in pakistan never endorsed the kashmir policy from the very beginning.

# 11 jay

yes. pakistanis are NOT ready for the new pakistan. also true that what musharraf`s been doing, it`s mainly because of the international pressure otherwise this very same great general said on kohala bridge on february 5, 2000 that a certain kashmiri song (kario band-e-jiggar) brings ``tears to my eyes`` and aslo waved his fist as a gesture of solidarity with kashmiri people. but what`s the starting point here? allow me to subtly disagree with you here to start ``ridiculing`` the pakistan`s ideology - frankly, i`ve never believed that religion could play a part in forming a seperate state etc - but such a frontal strategy will bring back a frontal lash. rather a covert and indirect approach of educating the people`s mindset could bring them to such a point where they could start thinking of jihad in SOCIAL terms rather than the bombs and guns. the synthesis of the indian (not pakistani) independence movement painfully reveals how gandhi was ignored both by congress and the mulsim league. at one point gandhi agreed to have either of the prime minister of president from a minority community i.e. muslims. mirraculously jinnah agreed too but nehru didnt. the personal chemistry of jinnah and nehru was based on hatred for eachother. jinnah was more blunt and non diplomatic saying that ``we shall have india divided or we shall have india destroyed.`` in both cases, it was destruction. gandhi said that ``india will only be divided over my dead body`` and THEY killed him soon after. nehru was more subtle and polite - the way he was - in telling gandhi that he wont accept jinnah either as the pm or the president. but now comrad, done is done and historic process cant be reversed. pakistan will have to understand today or tomorrow that an air of hatred will only breed hatred from all sides. getting rid of it is better today than tomorrow.

yes. these figures are correct thou the government still says it`s below 40% - 37% is what they claim it to be. now, the way poverty is defined is - to put it at the least - hilarious: a family of five making two dollars (Rs. 114) a day is not poor. below that is poor. my god, just imagine if a family can live in 3,420 rupees per month.

itnay kay to bachon kay pampers aa jaatay hein!

now, committing to economic growth is different from the trickle down effect to the masses. there we would need to develop a mechanism to ensure it happens; something for the government to do which ironically and tragically doesnt seem much interested to develop.

our political history is littered with the false promises and then backing out. do we still remember the tall claims by the then finance minsiter, SARTAJ AZIZ in Nawaz-II, that ``economy is about to take the turn and will take off soon.`` later this man was made the foreign minister and now is the vice chancellor of the Beaconhouse National University. these contradictions will continue till the fear of accountability is not there, which is not!!!

According to studies by Agri. Development Bank and the institute named after the renowend former World Bank employee and Pakistan`s former finance minister Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq Human Development Center, the percentage of those below the poverty line in Pakistan before Musharaf took power was 32% (year 1998-99).

The forecast for year 2003-04 is 44%.

This shows that under Musharaf poverty has increased by 12 percent.

I was surprised to read these statistics. Are these figures correct?

Mubashir Butt, how should we explain this?

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