May 12, 2008
Quite angry and sad at the present state of affairs in Pakistan. It seems that the politicians are up to their old games yet again. Do these people ever learn I ask myself? Their lack of vision, indecisiveness, putting personal interests before that of the country and political blunders is what makes many except the dictators when they come marching in. People feel relieved despite the evils of dictatorship.
Anyway, here’s a very recent article by Javed Chaudry which relating to the “deadlock” on the Judicial crisis. JC is an excellent columnist and one of my favorites.
May 31, 2008 at 7:15 am
Nice article
May 31, 2008 at 9:01 am
The type of problems Pakistan faces are so uniquely complex that we may not find them elsewhere. Where the hell could you find issues like Red Mosque and the restoration of judges. It’s easy to blame these problems on Musharraf and of course he should be blamed for them. But that does not help because problems caused by his predecessors Ayub, Zia and Yahya did not stop haunting us after the troublemakers themselves left (or were removed) from the scene. The personalities are not as big a problem as the mindset. As long as we continue to look for quick fixes and don’t start believing in the rule of law, Pakistan will have many more Musharrafs.
Our national life is nothing but a reflection of our personal lives. I am not suggesting that each and every one of us puts the self interest above the rule of law but yes, a vast majority of us does. That’s why, we are still unable to understand that whether we face hardship or have a comfortable life, in order for us to become a successful nation, our institutions have to be strong. The minute our politicians start making mistakes, we waste no time in looking for a savior in the military uniform.
The problem with our national way of thinking is that we have different standards for ourselves and different standards for others. Are we as successful in our personal lives as Bill Gates or Tiger Woods. If not, then why we expect our politicians to be as brilliant and visionary as the politicians in the West (or India for that matter) are. Of course they should be honest and selfless but if they are not, we should not accept a military general with a hope that he will fix the problems Pakistan is facing. The idea was never a good one and after being tried for so many times, the idea should never be entertained. Nations do learn from their mistakes and so can us.
I have no hesitation in saying that the major political figures in today’s Pakistan such as Sharifs, Zardari, Khan, Hussain, Rehman, Chuadris and some others all have skeletons in their closets and since Feb 18 this year their performance has not been up to our expectations but we should not be impatient. It may take us several elections and many more missteps before we could even begin what we can call a real political process. No system is perfect and neither is democracy. What we need to understand that after centuries experiments and mistakes the world has reached the conclusion that democracy is the best way to govern.
When we trash our politicians we make the mistake of equating them with democracy and then compare them with a military ruler who makes the nation in believing that he is the real deal. But the time has proved that he has not been and can never be.
So, I would urge those saying that this is the last chance for the politicians. What we should as a nation should be determined to do is to make sure that Musharraf was the last military ruler we welcomed. This by no means an attempt to give a free pass to the politicians. Of course they should be held accountable for their wrongdoings. But by the people of Pakistan, not a general.