Musharraf: Excerpts from an Interview in NYT

Hamid,

I can speak for myself. I don`t dislike Mushy ruling all your tushys. I happen to believe that you all DESERVE Mushy ruling your tushy for the next 5 years at least.

Long live and rule Musharraf.

Hope your dreams come true....

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

just heard Mushy`s speech in UN. Kashmiris can now say good bye to paki support dont know i should rejoice or cry.

#18 by nikki7777 on September 22, 2004 8:10am PT
`while he had a breakfast meeting with Manmohan Singh alone!!....`

Manmohan Singh would be so sore in the ass by now.
It is humorous to see Indians commenting on Musharraf. Indians save your own little pathetic country first and then come and comment on Pakistan and it`s rulers. Pakistan is much happy under Musharraf than India under a Sikh. And trust me Musharraf would be a thorn in your side for a very long time. The best thing about the chap is he is not afraid to put troops on border whenever there is some tension. He is brave and a good politician. And no matter what you Paki-bashers and others say he is in Pakistan. He is in Power and Pakistan is moving forward. Much to your disliking.
Pakistan Zindabad. Long live and rule Musharraf.
May Bush win again!

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

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

#20

This IS hilarious.. ;-)

..i think this is definitely one of those acquaintance thingies

You got it Omar. It is the damn Paki-Bashers...THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! Be afraid Omar. Be very afraid ;-)

I can now understand why so many ``educated`` people in Paki-land thought it was the Mossad that was responsible for the WTC attack....

...i think my flirtation with chowk is about to end permanently...

Oh, boo-hoo!!! you are breaking my heart Omar....We will miss you. It was very entertaining as well as enlightening to see your crusade on the ``Paki-bashers``. Oh yes, they are quaking now...

Please take care of yourself and don`t let the door hit you on your a$$ on your way out...

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

omar #19
[ what the hell is chowk up to????]

...the usual..old chap! the usual...;)

#23,His Excellency:
Thanks. I stand corrected. I am from India and, therefore, naturally do not know the detailed developments. We did hear, in US, about the anti-Indianism of Bhutto regime in Pakistan as a reaction to the formation of Bangladesh. However, the gross developments in Pakistan hit the international scene only during Zia`s regime. This may very well have been due to Bhutto`s US ties.

THE PRIMARY CORRECTION OF ATTITUDE IN PAKISTAN LIES IN TREATING PROBLEMS BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN AS STATE RATHER THAN RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. TILL PAKISTANIS - GOVT AND PEOPLE BOTH - REDUCE THEIR OBSESSION WITH RELIGION, I DO NOT SEE HOW CAN SITUATION GO BUT DOWNHILL.

This can be seen by your quotation of the five principles. No modern and enlightened state in the world today so grossly favors one religion over others. This constitution eminently declares that no one is welcome in Pakistan other than Islamic people. When you do this the various sects of Islam will become mortal enemies of each other. This so because it is impossible to define what Islam is. That is exactly what has led Musharraf to realize that ``fundamentalism=terrorism`` needs to be nipped. The goal can not be reached till Pakistan develops into twentieth century atmosphere and dissociates itself from Seventeenth Century.

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

#17 by Inquirer on September 22, 2004 8:10am PT
”#2,HP: Agree the topic could be more descrptive. Disagree with your comment about ``out of context,`` this is the time to review the crises in Pakistan and the roots there of. The shortsightedness - of Jinnah - I referred to was the neglect of the best interest of the subcontinental Muslim population for the sake of becoming head of a state to wjose population he did not belong as jas been amply proven by the abandonment by Punjabis and Sindhis. Liaqat Ali Khan met the same fate.”


Allow me to point you to the Jinnah board(FV), where the issue that you are trying to bring to the fore was exhaustively discussed by many posters, both Indians and Pakistanis. I doubt that I saw any post of any substance from you on that board.
Your comments above are subjective as they ignore many factors within the community and political relations in pre-partition India. People on the Jinnah board have also argued that Mr. Nehru reject the last hope of a united India because he wanted to be the Prime Minister of India!

If you feel so strongly about the issue, I recommend that you write something about it instead of trying to push your agenda by way of commenting on an interview that was designed for the audience in the US. The worst part is that you chose to discuss Mushy’s interview selectively.

I think overall your article and style of comment is in bad taste and should not have gotten any space on some respectable journal. I may be second guessing the editors of this site but the way to discuss issues is to state them clearly and unequivocally instead of hiding behind a frivolous attempt to comment on an interview. My analogy- of a redneck trying to talk about politics after couple of browskies have done him in- still stands.

Whether you like to hear it or not, your comments were out of context and showed your subjective analysis and understanding of the situation in Pakistan or even the state of affairs in the pre-partition days of the united India.

re: Inquirer

+++
By pre-Zia normality I meant that it was OK to have non-secular Pakistan (It was not called Islamic Republic of Pakistan.)
+++

This is not true.
Pakistan had already become an Islamic Republic before Zia seized power. The 1973 Constitution, architected by Bhutto/Hafeez Pirzada, and unanimously passed by parliament included the following provisions:

1. Pakistan shall be a Federal Republic to be known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.


2. Islam shall be the State religion of Pakistan.


3. The President and Prime Minister shall be Muslims


4. The State shall make teaching of Holy Quran and Islamiyat compulsory. The State shall also promote unity and observance of Islamic moral standards


5. The State shall secure proper organization of zakat, auqaf and mosques

FYI, Zia added the 8th Amendment to the constitution which basically created a Majlis-e-Shoora, Federal Shariat Court, Council of Islamic Ideology, anti-Ahmedi laws, zakat laws, and the notorious Article 58-2(b) that helped him sack Parliament. To return to pre-Zia days, Pakistan simply needs to neutralize/mitigate these Ziaist institutions.

This will preserve Pakistan`s Islamic character and keep fundamentalist Deobandis at bay at the same time.

#20 by omar_r_quraishi
Omar,

“i think my flirtation with chowk is about to end permanently”

That is your choice but I think it is a bad idea to drop the whole thing off permanently. Barachota is in Istanbul and would be joining back soon. This site still has one redeeming feature that provides people of Pakistani origins to interact with each other and gauge the trends-political and cultural- amongst the immigrant as well as in the community in Pakistan.

We can see the shortcomings of the editorial staff-as they lack the experience to manage a magazine- but we can certainly improve the level of discussion by improving the quality of our comments despite the uncertainties of the editorial policies.
I don’t buy into the non sense that the Asstt. Editor of the Dawn should always be an editor. Your contributions as an individual brought a qualitative change to this site.
Continue posting.

Inquirer #17: ``Though I do not claim any great familiarity with Pakistan but DO concern myself with the Indian Sub-continent and so between the two possibilities in your second paragraph I would gravitate towards the first!``

Does this mean you have neither lived in Pakistan, nor even visited the place. If that is the case, then don`t you need to study the place a bit more, and actually, at least spend a second or two there, before making such bold predictions like:

``pre-Zia normality,``
``the last opportunity to restore civilization in Pakistan``
``Pakistan`s woes will not go till it becomes secular - at least in effect.``
etc.....

Being a Doctor, you should understand that before forming even a hypothesis, much less a conclusion, one needs to have at least have some first hand knowledge about the speciman. Even Indian journalists who have been commenting on Pakistan, for ages, living only one hour from the border, get the shock of their lives when they actually visit the place. You are much furthur distanced from the country.

So, while any constructive criticism is good, yours may end up in the same category as Dr. Sumit Ganguly`s, if you don`t establish and show stronger credentials.............

It`s funny how Indians love to say Pakistan is the US`s lapdog, but they go into raptures everytime the US acknowledges them. It`s like the smartass kid in class who keeps raising his hand up but never gets noticed, and when he does, can barely control himself.

Must hurt for you guys that a country so much smaller than yours gets just as much importance in the world. But hey, life`s not fair.