Mountain of Evidence Marshaled against Musharraf;
US Refuses to Back Elected Civilian government
Dawn says that the parliament in Pakistan has prepared a mountain of documentation in its push to impeach President Pervez Musharraf. Senate leader Raza Rabbani said that if all the documents they have on Musharraf's misconduct were dumped in the Ravi river (which runs through Lahore), it would cause it to flood. The opposition to Musharraf has firm control of the lower house and can easily impeach him there. The Pakistan Muslim League (Q), which had been supporting him, is stronger in the Senate. But Dawn reports that the PMLQ deputies are abandoning him.
One of the only things Musharraf had going for him in Pakistani public opinion (which in polls is down to about a 25% approval rating for the president) was a reputation for personal probity. de facto PPP chairman Asaf Ali Zardari is accusing Musharraf of massive embezzlement of public funds. Zardari himself is widely viewed as extremely corrupt, so it is an index of how far Musharraf has fallen that he is on the receiving end of such charges now.
The Bush administration is refusing firmly to support the elected civilian government against Musharraf who came to power as a military dictator in 1999 and has never contested a free and fair election in which he had an opponent.
posted by Juan Cole @ 8/11/2008 06:54:00 AM
|
Facebook
3 Comments:
The opposition, insofar as I understand it, is corrupt too. I have heard and read many Pakistanis say that. They are also probably a danger to us, not in some abstract sense, but relative to the already-existing danger under Musharraf.
Sure he's corrupt; but regardless of what side Bush is on, functioning, transparent democratic governments don't just happen. And they certainly don't happen because of a power turnover. From a humanitarian standpoint, what reason is there to believe things would improve for Pakistan under this opposition? From an American security standpoint, the U.S. and allies need to keep the nukes out of Islamist hands, and Musharraf does that, as well as maintain a stalemate with Al Qaeda. Both of which are also humanitarian goals, since nuclear holocaust and to a lesser extent terrorist attacks kill people.
The principle American politician who demagogically pretends to think otherwise, who puts ideology ahead of pressing interests in speech to get elected, who persistently denies a calculus of probabilities in world affairs in favor of a hard-line 'principled' view, is Barack Obama.
If such a person can make himself popular mouthing blatantly dangerous idiocies in a successful and long-standing democracy, what probability can we assign to a Pakistan safe for either Pakistan or the world under the supposedly freely elected opposition? The times are too dangerous for us to pay homage to pious ideas of democracy always and everywhere having positive results.
I think those who consent to the point that Iraqi democracy is neither necessarily for real nor likely to improve anybody's life if for real, because they voted a few times should be willing to concede the same principle in other cases. Foreign occupation is one, but not the only, condition under which elections are less than free and fair, and even free and fair elections are capable of having deleterious consequences.
While I do agree with you on a lot of points, I don't believe this current Pakistani government, or any future government for the foreseeable future for that matter, will do any good. Pakistan's democracy and the vision set out by Muhammad Ali Jinnah was destroyed when the people that are now against Musharraf, and in some cases, their forefathers and friends, got a scent of money and power and turned the democracy into a democracy-by-name-only. I was born in Pakistan. I still have a lot of family in Pakistan. And almost every week since the GEO tv channel was turned off in Pakistan they have told us that the people dont really care for GEO, neither were they that much bothered about the lawyers. On the contrary, now the laywers are back, people are again being locked up in jails for no reason whatsoever and told that their case will come up next year or whenever. There is a whole city that has fabricated cases running against almost each and every citizen with the threat of jail. This is the state of the Pakistani judiciary, something which you dont report on that much. There is a reason that the lawyers are known as some of the biggest criminals in Pakistan by the Pakistani people. You think they are doing good by impeaching Musharraf? He was the only one that stood up against them in a long time. They're angry. Someone challenged their ultimate authority. Authority they use to kill whoever they wish. Authority they use to incarcerate whoever they wish. Authority they use to outlaw whoever they dont agree with. This is no step forward for Pakistan. It's 2 steps back. And no, these people don't know anything about going 2 steps back to go 1 step forward. Theres no money in that you see...
It was reported that Cheney was eavesdropping on Bhutto's calls. Any reason not to think that Cheney didn't pass on sensitive information to Musharraf? Even information to help one to eliminate one's opponent?
Post a Comment
<< Home