Sunday, February 24, 2008

A Pakistani Soap Opera

This week witnessed the climax of wat cud only b described as the most melodramatic political shenanigan in recent history. no i am not talkin abt the controversial release of Jodha-Akbar but the outcome of the pakistani general elections. after the 2 main opposition parties cried themselves hoarse abt how rigged the elections wud be the outcome saw them emerging with the majority while the rulin front was pushed back to a distant third. while the world is hailin the results as the 'victory of democracy' it wud be gud to luk at the facts n history n determine wat impact this wud ve on the ppl of pakistan nd more importantly its implication on our country.

Gen(retd)Musharaff, though among the most hated men in the world along with bush,olmert,laden etc, is by far the best leader pakistan have had from the indian perspective.from the time of its creation, no pakistani leader ve done nethin to control cross border terrorism let alone stop it.trifling as it is,musharaff is the only person to ve done something.no other leader have had to face such bad-blood from the muslim fundamentalists in pakistan which clearly indicates that his steps have atleast made a scratch on the monster called terrorism.ofcourse mush's efforts whr not out of benevolence to the indian ppl or respect for our country.it was just a pretext for receivin pecuniary benefits from America for suporting their global war on terror.it is also true that of the millions of dollars tat they received only a very small portion have been used for fighting extremism.major chunks have gone into the proliferation of weapons which wud no doubt be used against india the first opportunity they receive and for fattening the officials pockets.all this being said, something is better than nothing,nd mush continuin in power wud ve ensured the continuation of his paltry fight against terror.

his real troubles began abt an year back after his spat with the judiciary.prior to tat his major problem was the extremists nd thr occasional attempts on his life which he continued to escape.ofcourse ppl wud ve been dissatisfied.discontent is an inherent property of human beings.it is true 4 ppl arnd the world.that is why in the last few decades no single party have been able to hang on to power for two continues tenures in our country.neither grp is better than the other nd yet v always c the grass to be greener on the other side nd keeps oscillatin btw the two fronts on successive elections.so u can imagine discontenment of the ppl being under the rule of a single man for almost 10 years.the lawyers takin the fight to the street gave the drive for the ppl to show their unrest.

till an year back noone cared abt whr bhutto n sharif was n wat they whr doin.all of a sudden u ve bhutto as the "savior of democracy", "the hope of the pakistani ppl", "the daughter of pakistan" etc nd sharif,though overshadowed by bhutto, is the male equivalent of bhutto.everyone suddenly forgot thr impressive records wen they whr in the highest office.bhutto possibly has the unique distinction of being the only PM to get herself thrown out of office twice.she never bothered abt terrorism,she least cared abt the common man.all she did was improve her bank balance.on both occasions she wasnt overthrown by a coup.usually in a coup the corruption charges levelled r fictious n the real reason is unrest in the army nd a power hungry leader leadin it.sharif was overthrown in a coup which shud ve given him more credibility.but america saw the more westernized bhutto as the better option nd brokered a deal btw mush n benazir.all of a sudden the corruption charges that whr levelled against her r dropped nd she is welcomed to pakistan.

this leaves a couple of questions

1.wat abt all those ppl who r in prison 4 petty corruption charges committed durin the same period.ll they b released?
2.if bhutto was accused of genocide wud US ve brokered a deal absolving her of those crimes.if yes then wud all other murderers in prison for crimes durin tat period be released?

the irony of the pakistani ppl is tat they want to get rid of a dictator nd thr only option r two leaders who r so tainted they shud b lukin 4ward to long prison sentences,nd the choice among those two is made by the americans whom the pakistanis hate as much as the indians.

To be continued

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