Sick of Musharraf lovers – a factual rant

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338 responses to “Sick of Musharraf lovers – a factual rant”

1. 

   Sajjad

   January 28, 2009

   FACTS NOT POLITICAL AND PERSONAL VENDETTA

   In 1999 Pakistan was on the verge of bankruptcy after a decade of civilian rule from 1988 to 1999.Both PML-N and PPP were chosen twice by the confused nationals. Both these parties were dismissed by their own civilian presidents and not by a military dictator.

   During the 1990s Pakistanis witnessed mismanagement, abuse of power, incompetence, corruption, personal vendetta and growth of certain individuals and not Pakistan. In PPP governments we saw Zardari becoming mega rich and using the parliament house for his horses, we saw cases against PML-N being filed and Mr. Sharif dragged across the streets of Lahore and of course Murtaza Bhutto being murdered, along with thousands of individuals killed in Karachi, we saw the PPP just talk about improving some women issues and some power generations.

   Then you had the PML-N more like the Sharif Family, once again it was individuals getting more powerful and rich, jailing and beating up your opponents, getting money for KURZ UTHARO MULK SAWARO and later using that money to build Sharif Palace in Saudi, getting millions of Rs of loans written off, clash with a Judge, JANG group, attacking Supreme Court & Army Chief.

   This was just a brief highlight, whilst all the wrangling went on in the 1990�s Pakistan suffered, its credibility and economy suffered and Pakistan was not respected by any nation that�s why their were so many sanctions on us. It was due to the 1990�s rule, that rule has to be blamed for all the sanctions and economy woes because in the whole process from 1988 to 1999 the Sharif family and the Bhutto family became mega rich but Pakistan was near bankruptcy.
   Economy after the 1988 to 1999 Civilian Rule

   1. Pakistan was left with a economy of – $70bn

   2. National Revenues were Rs 308 BN
   3. GDP per Capita Income in 1999: $ 450
   4. Pak Foreign reserves in 1999: $ 500 million
   5. Pak Exports in 1999: $ 8 billion
   6. Textile Exports in 1999: $ 5.5 billion
   7. KHI stock exchange 1999: $ 5 bn at 700 points
   8. Foreign Investment in 1999: $ 301 million
   9. Pak Development programs 1999: Rs. 80 billion

   Above are the facts and the figures are given by the government itself and the World Bank who monitor your economy, these figures are not made up by Shaukat Aziz.

   Economy Beyond 1999 to 2007

   Pakistan�s Economy Size: $160 billion Increased from $70 billion in 1999

   GDP Per Capita Income: $926bn in 2007 Increased from $450bn in 1999

   Foreign Reserves: $16bn in 2007 Increased from $500mn in 1999

   Pak Exports: $18.5bn Increased from $8bn in 1999

   KHI Stock Exchange: $75bn 14,000 points Increased from $5bn at 700 points in 1999

   Foreign Investment : $8.4bn in 2007 Increased from $301mn in 1999

   Pak Development prgrms: Rs. 520bn in 2007 Increased from Rs. 80 billion
   in 1999

   Critics lack of knowledge of the economy and their ignorance in acknowledging the development worked which has gone on in the country states that the figures are made up, well whose made up the figures than Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, Salman Shah, Economist, TIME, Washington Post, Financial Times, World Bank, IMF,Asian Development Bank, Foreign Investors, Foreign Countries, CIA Factbook?Well who than has made up all these figures if they don�t exist because they all state the above are correct and not a fiction.

   Well it�s the lack of knowledge of the biased Pakistani media, Nawaz Sharif, Iftikhar Choudhry, Aitzaz Ahsan, Lawyers, Mufaad Purusts and those who hide from reality.

   Pakistan From March 2007 to Nov 2007

   In the last 60 years of Pakistan�s history this period would definitely go down as one of the bleakest time. As the start of the lawyers movement for a individual Iftikhar Choudhry a judge whose turn was not next in line to be the judge but President Musharraf promoted him to that post, and guess what he was so honest that he did not care about the other judges who were next in line that he accepted the offer to do so, and take another guess, he was so honest and an expert of the constitution that he accepted the offer from a military dictator who had violated the constitution of Pakistan. So we had the lawyer�s movement started for an individual who not only accepted a military dictator�s offer, but also took the right away from senior judges who were next in line to be the chief justice.

   Than he took oath from the PCO a dictator issued, than he went onto legitimize every move and every step a dictator in uniform took for the next 7 years until he woke up when all the army generals cornered him in the army house and slapped him up. Well that�s the only credit he should get, a few suo-mottos and finally standing up to a dictator after 7 years. But that alone was not enough to give him the GOD status which the lawyers gave him. He certainly wasn�t someone with the personality and record after supporting the dictator for 7 years that the whole of Pakistan should be brought to a crisis. Personalities such as Abdul Sattar Edhi deserve this kind of treatment not someone who was brought in by a dictator and legitimised his rule.

   But that�s what happens in a society where a serious lack of common sense prevails, it was the lawyers turn like the politicians always have been doing to dance at the tunes of others, to destroy yourself and your family financially for an individual who backed Musharraf before March 2007.It was time for the lawyers to join the circus, as in Pakistan�s history they could not change the system with their intelligence instead they became a HUJOOM bent on closing their own offices, chanting slogans on the streets, disrupting daily life, using abusive language on streets, businesses suffered, policemen lost their lives in suicide attacks when on duty either blocking a road or protecting lawyers courts, political workers died during bomb blasts, lawyers suffered great physical beating their families suffered economic problems, Pakistan�s economy suffered, government focus shifted from work to stopping the lawyers, political parties jumped on the band wagon causing more disruption in daily life, the poorest, labourers suffered because of strike calls and road blockages.

   Iftikhar Choudhry, after enjoying office under a dictator for 7 years was once again enjoying the limelight by having chauffeured around the country and getting happy as the car count increased in his journies.All this as they ignored that the economy which had recovered and growing is getting damaged by their actions, the poorest don�t wake up every morning to see Iftikhar Choudhry wearing a black suite, sunglasses, sitting in a new car parading on the streets of Pakistan, the poorest wake up and hope for a better day, a day in which they can increase their earnings and support their family, bring roti to the table, they don�t want anyone to have the road blocked and strike calls to come in between them and the well being of their family.

   Success in an honest movement for an honest person does not take nearly two years and counting to achieve. If re-instated Iftikhar Choudhry could not have made Pakistan economically stronger or provide Roti to the poorer he would�ve taken more revenge on Musharraf and more suo-motto�s, the corrupt and hopeless 60 years of judicial system of Pakistan was not going to change by one man who had a record of being a PCO Judge and working with a dictator.

   The lawyers united for the judges, they ran riot on the streets, protests by blocking roads in the summers of June, July got beaten up by the police, policemen, political workers and lawyers died on the way, economy suffered, a government which was going good before March 2007, a fact which most people against Musharraf admit, that government was destabilised together with Pakistan.

   Achievements of the Lawyers Movement

   They achieved in destabilising Pakistan, damaging the economy, causing mayhem, cause of death to a lot of people specially victims of suicide bombings mainly the police, wheat crisis due to them as the focus shifted from real issues to controlling them.

   Main achievements have been the damage they provided in the reputation of the last government, Shaukat Aziz and Musharraf. So Credit to them, they also helped people elect ZARADRI as president, so well done lawyers your movement had to end somewhere and being major factors in damaging PML-Q and Musharraf they outcome was only going to be the PPP in power and ultimately ZARDARI the president.

   The 18 month movement has brought the best person in Pakistan to deal with your threat ZARDARI.As the same man has put the lawyers out of their misery and back to their normal life by buying the same judges they were destabilising the whole of Pakistan for, so what if a few like Iftikhar Choudhry has not been re-instated, a judicial system is not made up of one man, it includes all the judges and lawyers.

   A movement which started for Iftikhar Choudhry and I believe still is just for that one man, has been brought to a halt by ZARDARI.The lawyers insisted that the movement is for all judges not just one man (but we only see iftikhar being paraded around) so all have to be re-instated together, they insisted we are united and one force.

   But that was proved wrong after 18 months of drama, a lot of lawyers and most of the judges have broken away from the lawyers movement so have been re-instated. THAT SHOWS WHAT KIND OF MOVEMENT WE HAD.

   All that destabilising, strikes, getting beaten up, long car rallies, blocking roads, abusive slogans, suffering of the economy, suffering of common man, people dieing on the way has achieved Zardari becoming the president and most of the judges re-instated.

   November 2007 to November 2008

   This month was the end of time for the PML-Q government and also Shaukat Aziz someone I think should be credited for his achievements, as a man coming into Pakistan with no political background stayed in this very different environment to the one he was used to at citi bank and still achieved what he did and also survived a suicide bomb attack.

   The emergency rule was probably needed to restore a few things, I do not want to go in detail but the bottom line is that it did damage Pakistan and the confidence which had been built up in the last 7 years. As it was for a short time it did not do that great damage in terms of investors shying away and stock exchange crashing.

   February elections, the public ended up making the same mistake again. The same politicians who came in power twice and were criticised heavily and called corrupt and unable to run the affairs of the country were elected again.

   That really was a signal of Pakistan back to its worst. If they had learnt any past lesson and did not indulge in any false propaganda against Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz and the economy than things might have been different.

   Let�s say the economy was as bad as they say it was, than the first priority should�ve been to get the coalitions together and first choose the group of people who will start focusing on the economy from day one. But that was far from the governments intentions. PPP were so hopeless that they didn�t even trust their own Naweed Qamar and insisted on another discredit person Ishaq Dar of PML-N. But typical Nawaz Sharif had his own ideas, he was bent upon taking revenge from Musharraf for the humiliation he suffered by running in exile to Saudi, Nawaz didn�t care about the country as his mega rich himself and wont hesitate to run in exile again if needed to. Ishaq Dar came briefly tooled with Nawaz�s personal vendetta to damage Musharraf, so he came and started giving negative and false statements about the economy. Later he was criticised by the business community for doing so. As Nawaz�s intention wasn�t to help Pakistan he quickly made all his ministers resign and take the back seat as he always likes doing, shying away from trouble. The people who voted for Nawaz just totally wasted their time as he won a lot of seats but refused to be part of the of the problem solving.

   Back with IMF

   The present government has shown their ability which is non existence. The government of PPP and PML-N have been in government twice before but not a single lesson has been learnt from their past mistakes. No homework was done to make sure there is a swift transition form the previous setup to the new one. A lot of time was taken forming alliances, choosing ministers which has just been completed now after 8 months and even the selected have a lot of question marks on their ability in dealing with local issues let alone being able to cope with the national challenges.

   Along time was taken as if the government felt everything is fine in the country and internationally to settle in, their were waste less trips abroad to Dubai, UK and Saudi. Their were numerous declarations signed and time spent on discussing individuals rather than the awam and Pakistan.Whilst all this time wasting and politics on personal issues was going ahead economy was slipping back to the 90�s decade.

   Investors looking at the antics of the government and anticipating on who will become the future president of the country and the overall politics began to withdraw their money, the rupee started to depreciate and the stock exchange started to crash, the few investors left in the country ran away after the Marriot bombing, Internationally their were financial crisis, the food prices doubled and the oil price doubled. All this topped up with no strategy shown by the government and no money coming into Pakistan made even countries like Saudi and China feeling disappointed and disillusioned from Pakistan as the political scenario and the competence of the present government was exposing refused to assist us in anyway possible.

   When you have no clear plan in your mind, when all the above is happening and a government does not know how to deal with it and has no future strategies of how to get money coming into Pakistan than you have no option other than to beg your way out of trouble.

   As to survive every year Pakistan would need to do a lot of the stuff which Musharraf’s government was doing and also the things which they were doing. You have to:
   increase the tax revenue
   increase exports
   bring investors into the country
   have a privatisation policy
   stabilise the rupee
   focus on agriculture
   increase industrial production
   overseas remittances need to grow and all should be counted for

   and much more. I saw the last government focus on a lot of the above and was fair bit successful. Pakistan�s economy needs to be worked on every second of the day, you cannot hope it will do good if you over the last 8 months take your time and just hope for the best.Shaukat Aziz had a reputation he brought a lot of investment in Pakistan and worked hard over the last 8 years to bring it a growing mode form a bankrupt mode in 1999.

   If the present government blames everything on the last government than at least they should�ve shown some signs of dealing with it but instead they have done everything from signing various declarations, trips abroad, impeachments, forming alliances, strengthening their hold on power, campaign against the last government, everything except working on the economy. So the outcome had to be IMF.

   IMF is the only solution for the present government and always will be. The evidence so far suggests that until Mr Zardari and the present government stays in power be rest assured no country even China and Saudi would like to assist us in anyway.

   As in the 21st century no one likes to deal with dishonest, discredited, corrupt and incompetent individuals.

   SAJJAD – UK

2. 

   AK

   January 28, 2009

   Musharraf: Another Causality of War on Terror If this is claimed and proved that there is certainly a truth behind the war on Terror; that there are some stooges called Al Qaeda and Taliban operating from the safe haven created in the far flung and inaccessible areas of FATA and that earlier they carried out 9/11 Attack on US soil to strike the oppressor at his base and ever since they are trying to frustrated the plans of most invincible forces of the sole super power –US in the Middle East, in Iraq and in Afghanistan that Imperialist America occupy these country physically. If this is the plan of these dissidents that they want to see the sole super power be evicted from the sacred lands of Middle East or from Afghanistan; then on what accounts are all the atrocities, the killings of thousand and thousands of innocent people, infliction of pain, disruption, the mass exodus n displacement of people at the hands of the so called Terrorist-Taliban? On what account and what wisdom is being implied behind all this? They are serving whose cause? General Pervez Musharraf deputed by US to act as leader of the front state in the US war against terror had come on the scene of Pakistan through Coup and later owing to Pakistan’s involvement in 9/11 incident became the key ally in US. Hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda dissidents were hauled up by General Musharraf and handed over to US. Although the top notches of Al Qaeda and most wanted man Osama bin Laden, the head of Al Qaeda and his active team are still at large hiding in the same areas and reportedly they are all live and kicking but they were restricted to their FATA holes. President Musharraf a man with the nerves of steel; who knows how to remain stead fast in his resolve against all the odds has twice been savagely attacked by Al Qaeda for his assassination and happens to be the top enemy of Al Qaeda. Where as at the home front President Musharraf was facing a charge sheet floated under orchestrated nemesis by his opponents seen joining hands in the newly formed government to impeach him and see him go. These arrant and bald faced had only come in power with the blessing bestowed by General Musharraf under the provision of National Rehabilitation Order (NRO). They wanted to see him off the scene to have their free hand. Since this impeachment business was stretching too far and a state of anarchy and despondency was creating the instability in the country. The man had already transferred all the executive powers to civil government; so in the best interest of the nation he elected to resign from his post. Where it is being taken as good riddance by his opponents, it is also a big rejoicing day in the camps of Taliban and Al Qaeda. The top foe declared by Al Qaeda has since gone and General Pervez Musharraf becomes another causality of War on Terror! The show of the War on Terror goes on and Pakistan status as usual stays as vital as always to serve as US most important ally in the war against terror. Now US may look some other person to fight radicalism found spreading fast on Pakistani streets. But Pakistan has lost its loyal and a patriot son, sacrificed at the Alter of Feudalistic Pakistani boorish society perusing the power and their ego only. He preferred to resign in the best interest and stability in Pakistan. Were we looking for some one who would only betray us? [ Shaid tumhain talaash kissi bay wafaa ki thee?]

3. 

   Tahir

   January 28, 2009

   I don’t want to go into details of Iftikhar Chaudary. What you are talking is just the propaganda stories told in the channels. But Iftikhar Chaudhary who was always very close friend of Pres. Pervez Musharaf really went into conspiracy with the help of Rana Sanaullah(who is his cousin), Nawaz Sharif and Aitezaz Ahsen.The man who is regarded as hero of judiciary in fact is the worst Judge of our judiciary history. Literary he took the judiciary to behave like SHO and he used to enter into cases like any ordinary police inspector. There are hundred of such cases.He used to abuse senior lawyers in front of the court. He had made his own group which consisted of selected journalists, bureaucrats army personnels. He was involved into very commons things that to delay another English channel in favour of Geo english etc. Musharraf didn’t sell his own people but the people who were known international terrorists and they were not Pakistani nationals.People really forget that we are living in the modern society and we have to obey the international law. To harbor and protect the known criminals like Sheikh Khalid (British National)is crime itself.The other common notion that we are bombing our own people is completely wrong statement. Our army has only acted against the known criminals working in our tribal areas. I am myself from Tribal belt and ask you to go and see yourself. These so called Talibaans are not at all talibaans they have never been to any Madrissas. They are unknown to the areas where they are operating. People of places of FATA openly say that many of them are in fact not Muslims. Many of killed when examined the people were surprised to see that many were not even circumcised. These militants have taken the tribal people as hostage.These are large stories unfortunately our channels and journalist in spite of knowing these facts only have given wrong information to the common Pakistani just to destabilize the previous government. These are our standard policies and every government will follow these.Now ANP and PPP government is doing the same.

4. 

   Dr. Sachithanandam

   January 28, 2009

   There is great euphoria among Pakistani liberals over the presumed ‘return to democracy’. They are yet to discover Late Neo-colonialism. The manoeuvres against Musharraf bear uncanny resemblances to organised ‘people’s power’ the CIA unleashed during ‘colour revolutions’ and upheavals against Hugo Chavez.

   The widely expected victory for Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari in the presidential election brought to a high point the tortuous process of regime change in Pakistan. Anyone who has followed the ‘colour revolutions’ that installed pro-American rulers in Georgia (Rose Revolution, 2003), Ukraine (Orange Revolution, 2004) and Kyrgyzstan (Tulip Revolution, 2005) could surely not have missed the tell tale signs.

   The earliest foreboding surfaced in the backroom manoeuvres by United States (US) and British intelligence services to engineer panic about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. It was a repeat of the duplicitous hysteria they generated over non-existent weapons of mass destruction that Iraq allegedly possessed. A carefully worded article, co-authored by former State Department officials Richard L. Armitage and Kara L. Bue, signalled the shift in US policy. After formally acknowledging then President Pervez Musharraf’s many achievements, the authors continued: ‘much remains to be accomplished, particularly in terms of democratization. Pakistan must…eliminate the home-grown jihadists…And…it must prove itself a reliable partner on technology transfer and nuclear non-proliferation.’ And the denouement: ‘We believe General Musharraf…deserves our attention and support, no matter how frustrated we become at the pace of political change and the failure to eliminate Taliban fighters on the Afghan border.’ Translation: Musharraf has to go.

   Almost simultaneously a 2006 country survey in The Economist, titled ‘Too much for one man to do’, began on a jingoistic overkill: ‘Think about Pakistan, and you might get terrified. Few countries have so much potential to cause trouble, regionally and worldwide’. The following year a Carnegie Endowment report faulted western governments that ‘contribute to regional instability by allowing Pakistan to trade democratisation for its cooperation on terrorism’. Senior US State Department officials repeatedly accused Musharraf of ‘not doing enough’ to combat Islamists within Pakistan and prevent their infiltration across the Durand Line into southern Afghanistan.

   Sensing the way wind was blowing, then PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto redoubled efforts to convince Washington and London that, if she were to become Prime Minister, she would gladly do their bidding. She underscored her enthusiasm to serve and ensured her party was fully responsive to America’s Late Neo-colonialism. She summoned senior party members to Dubai on 9 June 2007 for a ‘briefing’ by a team from the US Democratic Party’s National Democratic Institute (NDI), ostensibly on the subject of elections in Pakistan. The ruling Republican Party’s International Republican Institute (IRI) had conducted the previous four ‘briefings’ in June and September 2006 and March and April 2007. Benazir leaned towards the Democratic Party in the last one no doubt as a hedge against the party’s possible victory at the forthcoming US Presidential Election.

   Even a cursory knowledge of US Imperialism’s standard operating procedure is sufficient to surmise at least some among the IRI and NDI officers were covert intelligence operatives; and that their ‘briefings’ went beyond ‘tutelage of natives’. Rather they have been grooming the PPP as America’s satrap.

   Benazir’s predilection to collaborate with the West has its roots in the Bhutto family’s micro political culture. Her grandfather, Shah Nawaz Bhutto was a minor comprador official in the British colonial regime. The British rewarded his ‘loyal’ services with the title Khan Bahadur and later appointed him President of a District Board and still later elevated him to knighthood.

   Her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s populist programmes did not dilute that legacy, which left a lasting impression on Benazir; she firmly believed the path to political power in Pakistan meanders through the Embassy of the United States, the current neo-colonialist.

   She promised to offer the International Atomic Energy Agency access to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to ’satisfy the international community’, an euphemism for the major powers; and to allow the US-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to operate inside north-western Pakistan. By the time Benazir visited the Senate in September 2007, she had convinced the Bush Administration of her unswerving loyalty; for ’she received a standing ovation from a select gathering of US lawmakers, diplomats, academics and media representatives. This contrasted sharply with her previous visits to the US capital when she received little attention.’ To deepen ‘Washington’s renewed interest in her, Benazir cautioned that supporting Musharraf was ‘a strategic miscalculation’ and pleaded ‘the US should support the forces of democracy’, which, of course, refers to her PPP.

   So, President George W Bush enabled Benazir’s return from exile by arm-twisting Musharraf to promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The NRO of 5 October granted amnesty to politicians active in Pakistan between 1988 and 1999 and effectively wiped the slate clean of corruption charges for Benazir and her husband Asif Zardari. Three weeks later Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made it appear the Bush Administration wished to bring together ‘moderate’ forces, implying a scenario in which Musharraf and Benazir would join forces as President and Prime Minister respectively; and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte corroborated Rice: ‘Our message’, he intoned, ‘is that we want to work with the government and people of Pakistan’.

   However, Musharraf saw through the US Administration’s transparent ploy to lull him into believing it would not remove him and install Benazir in his place. So, he swiftly invited Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), back from exile in Saudi Arabia to counter Benazir. But he could not consolidate his position, especially because he mishandled the judiciary, and was compelled to resign on 18 August 2008.

   In a nutshell, the reason for ‘Washington’s renewed interest’ in Benazir is Musharraf’s firm opposition to US Late Neo-colonialism, to its manoeuvres to occupy, pacify and ravage Pakistan. In the 19th century British colonialism waged the ‘war on piracy’ on the high seas ostensibly to bring ‘the light of Christian civilization’. But the British were the most successful pirates, as Spanish and Portuguese historians would gladly confirm. The ‘war on piracy’ was the duplicitous justification trotted out to dominate lucrative maritime trade routes that were in the hands of Chinese, Arab and Tamil maritime empires and to invade kingdoms and/or countries essential to control trade and plunder resources. During most of the 20th century heroic anti-colonial movements and anti-imperialist wars rolled back much of colonial rule, which in some instances however morphed into neo-colonialism. Indonesia after Sukarno, Iran after Mosaddeq and Chile after Allende are well known examples.

   The ‘war on terror’ and ‘promoting democracy’ are the 21st century equivalents of the 19th century British gobbledygook. American Late Neo-colonialism purveys them as moral justification and uses as political cover for intervening and, where necessary, invading resource-rich and strategic countries to overthrow nationalist leaders, install puppet regimes and savage the countries’ wealth. And of course the US is by far the most powerful terrorist force.

   It succeeded in Iraq (for now); but the CIA-organised regime change could not dislodge Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who rejected the neo-colonialist 1989 Washington Consensus and supported alternative nationalist economic models.

   Politically challenged Pakistani liberals — a motley crowd that includes members of human rights and civil liberties organisations, journalists, analysts, lawyers and assorted professionals — are utterly incapable of comprehending the geo-strategic context in which Musharraf manoeuvred to defend Pakistan’s interest. So they slandered him an ‘American puppet’, alleging he caved in to US pressure and withdrew support to the Afghan Taliban regime in the wake of 9/11 although in fact he removed one excuse for the Bush Administration to ‘bomb Pakistan into stone age’, as a senior State Department official had threatened.

   Nevertheless American discomfort with Musharraf’s government was palpable by late 2003, after he dodged committing Pakistani troops to prop up the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. When he offered to cooperate under the auspices of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), naïve Pakistani media and analysts lunged for his jugular, condemning him once again for succumbing to US demands. But in fact he nimbly sidestepped American demands: he calculated that diverse ideological stances of the 57 Muslim member-counties would not allow the OIC to jointly initiate such controversial action and therefore Pakistan’s participation cannot arise, which proved correct.

   Washington of course was not amused and the Bush Administration grew increasingly hostile to Musharraf’s determination to prioritise Pakistan’s interests when steering the ship of the state through the choppy waters of the unfolding New Great Game, in which the West — led by the US — is manoeuvring to contain growing Russian and Chinese influences in Central and West Asia. His foreign policy decisions over time convinced Washington that under his leadership, Pakistan would side with enemies of US and Britain in the New Great Game. First, he refused to isolate Iran; instead he vigorously pursued energy cooperation to build the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline in the face of stiff American opposition. Second, Washington was alarmed by Musharraf’s preference for deepening Pakistan-China bilateral relations and forging nuclear cooperation; and more so when he offered Beijing naval facilities at the Gwadar port on Balochistan’s Arabian Sea coast overlooking the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint through which passes approximately 30 per cent of world’s energy supplies.

   Perhaps the last straw was his success in gaining Observer Status for Pakistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Russia and China are spearheading the SCO, which includes four other countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; Iran and India are also Observers. The SCO is widely perceived as a rising eastern counterweight to western security and economic groupings and Islamabad drifting towards the SCO was simply unacceptable in Washington.

   To rub salt into its wounds, Musharraf refused permission to interrogate Dr. AQ Khan and firmly rejected Washington’s demands that NATO troops be allowed into the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his associates.

   By early 2006 it was clear Washington was looking for nothing less than a pliable leader in Islamabad, a firm political foothold in Pakistan and a Pakistani foreign policy that complemented US strategic aims in Central Asia.

   What perhaps angered Washington the most were actions Musharraf took to wind down the ‘war on terror’ within Pakistan.

   Immediately after taking power, he outlawed three Islamic extremist groups and, after 9/11, intensified military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.

   Washington would have gone along with Musharraf had he focussed on military operations to curb Islamists. Military action alone cannot defeat guerrillas; but it can kill many of them and in turn induce new recruits — well known points reiterated by William R Polk in Violent Politics (2007) – so that the so-called ‘war on terror’ would not end any time soon.

   That could supplement US Administrations’ assiduous manufacture of the ‘Islamic threat’ through the 1990s to launch an endless ‘war on terror’ — the New Cold War — to rescue America’s permanent war economy. For after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US economy (and by extension west European economies) faced perhaps its biggest crisis: the ‘Communist threat’ ceased to be credible; it could not be exploited to terrify the American people into acquiescing to rising military expenditure that keeps wheels of the permanent war economy rolling and to expanding the repressive security apparatuses.

   So the Bush Administration deftly replaced the ‘Communist threat’ with the ‘Islamic threat’, no doubt following Machiavelli’s famous advice in The Prince, that a wise ruler invents enemies and then slays them in order to control his own subjects. The apparently counterproductive bombings, arrests, torture, kidnappings and disappearances (sanitised as Extraordinary Rendition) carried out by US forces while the CIA covertly funded, armed and supported Islamists are intended not to eliminate the ‘Islamic threat’ but to contain it within manageable limits and to spawn the next generation of ‘terrorists’.

   Sometimes, plans go awry; ‘culling’ may not contain the resistance, as seen in Afghanistan from time to time. Nevertheless, the strategy is to ‘feed terrorism’ and simultaneously ‘cull terrorists’ so that the perpetual New Cold War oils America’s moribund permanent war economy.

   Musharraf, however, did not play ball. He complemented military force to defeat Islamists with political initiatives.

   He signed a peace treaty with tribal elders in North Waziristan (within FATA) to marginalise the Islamists. To combat the Islamists’ religious ideology, he promoted ‘enlightened moderation’, a veiled reference to secularism and tolerance. Musharraf’s vision of a secular Pakistan has its roots in exposure to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s legacy when he attended school in Ankara during his father’s diplomatic posting to Turkey. In fact, after taking power in Pakistan he often held up Ataturk as his role model. He planned to ‘wean away’ the people from the ‘extremists’ through education is how he described his approach to this writer. Towards this end, he introduced educational reforms and re-wrote school history text books; enacted laws protecting women’s rights and diluted Islamic laws against women; and he liberalised the media. To deny Islamists their traditional rallying cry — Kashmir — he opened path breaking negotiations with India to remove that arrow from the Islamists’ quiver.

   When Musharraf skilfully combined military operations against Islamists with a political front promoting secularism to ideologically disarm them, the US administration saw red. By secularising Pakistani society over time Musharraf would de-fang the ‘Islamic threat’ within Pakistan and extricate the country out of the contrived orbit of ‘war on terror’.

   That would greatly diminish Washington’s leverage to intervene in the country to distance Islamabad from Beijing and exploit energy resources abundantly found in Balochistan and, in the long run, perhaps derail US administration’s well laid plans to bring Afghanistan to heel and to dominate Central Asia and its oil-rich Caspian Sea basin.

   But Musharraf was in no mood to back down. So the Bush Administration slipped regime change into gear. Taking advantage of his missteps, the anti-Musharraf media blitz, NGO and student mobilisations, lawyers agitations, protests by political parties and civil society organisations seemingly coming from all directions in fact displayed a fantastic degree of organisation, coordination and financing clearly beyond the ken of the fratricidal activists and often ad hoc institutions and never witnessed before in the country. Very likely they will not be seen again either; indeed later the activists were singularly incapable of organising any significant agitation when three women were buried alive for defying their parents’ choice of husbands. The manoeuvres against Musharraf bear uncanny resemblances to organised ‘people’s power’ the CIA unleashed during ‘colour revolutions’ and upheavals against Hugo Chavez.

   The Bush Administration began reaping the rewards of unseating Musharraf within 24 hours of his resignation. Chief of Army Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani travelled to Kabul to meet NATO and Afghan commanders on 19 August. About 10 days later Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen informed a Pentagon news conference on 28 August that Kayani and his lieutenants held a ’secret meeting’ with their US counterparts on a US aircraft carrier, reminiscent of American gun boat diplomacy in Latin America and unthinkable in Pakistan under Musharraf’s watch..

   Mullen touchingly chronicled how he ‘learned to trust’ Kayani and bent over backwards to emphasise that Kayani is no American puppet, that Kayani’s ‘principles and goals are to do what’s best for Pakistan.’ But a few sections of the US media, weaned on decades of Pentagon-speak from the debacle in Vietnam to the illegal invasion of Iraq, saw through the verbal obfuscation. And when a reporter pointedly queried Mullen whether Kayani’s ‘goal for Pakistan also aligned a hundred per cent with the US goal’, the Admiral waffled: ‘[Kayani] knows his country a whole lot better than we do. And again, I just think that’s where he is, that’s where he’ll stay.’ Translation: US administration has got Kayani on tight leash.

   And to maintain there is no substantial change from Musharraf’s policies, Kayani’s spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas and Mullen alleged the meetings had been arranged several weeks earlier, when Musharraf was President, to facetiously imply he had approved the contacts.

   The import of ‘coordination’ between American, NATO, Afghan and Pakistan militaries will become clearer over the next weeks and months. For now the suspicion is unavoidable that the US Administration has at long last begun frog-marching Pakistan into the US-created Afghan quagmire to further destabilise the country and justify intervention.

   Musharraf had resolutely opposed precisely this eventuality. He rejected US demands that the Pakistani army assist NATO forces in Afghanistan. He underlined the country will not repeat the catastrophic mistakes of the 1980s when it got embroiled in America’s war in Afghanistan against the then Soviet Union, for which the Pakistani people continues to pay a heavy price. Rather, he insisted his army will fight only Pakistan’s war within Pakistan’s borders.

   The consequences of the PPP leadership following the US into the Afghan quagmire will soon be evident. Already, within 16 days of Musharraf’s resignation, US forces carried out the first ground assault in Angoor Adda area within Pakistan’s borders — which Musharraf had disallowed — with the connivance of the new leadership. Obviously there is more to come since the Bush Administration has eagerly caricatured the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as ‘The New Frontier’ in the New Cold War.

   For the moment, there is great euphoria among Pakistani liberals over the presumed ‘return to democracy’. The comments by Ayesha Tanmy Haq are typical: ‘We have removed a dictator by the citizenry showing that real power lies with them.’ The hapless liberals have yet to discover Late Neo-colonialism and its devious manoeuvres for regime change; they have in fact effectively legitimised them by opposing Musharraf. They are agonisingly unaware of the labyrinthine geo-politics and economic imperatives underlying the New Cold War. They are blissfully going along with the collaborationist leaders who are bartering away the country’s future for the proverbial pieces of silver.

5. 

   Salman

   January 30, 2009

   What to Say about Mr Pervez Musharraf .I will say to all the reader to visit Chitral you wiil khow l how much the common people love and respect him.thank you Mr Musharraf you are Mohcin e Chitral.Love Live Musharraf

6. 

   ABBU

   February 14, 2009

   and believe me she doesn't deserve more than 200Rs per night !

7. 

   Zardari

   February 14, 2009

   randi ki bachi tumhara choot maaron kutiya ki nasal bhen ki choot teri chinaal ki bachi musharraf nay tumhari maa chodi thi ya tum dono ko saath lita kar choda tha moo mein lund daal kar kutiya ki bachi nawaz sharif sey choot marwaney wali heera mandi ki chinaal shahbaz sharif ki rakheil iftekhar chodhry ki chudakkar kutiya bhen chod ki bachi 10-10 RS mein chudnay wali haraman !!!!!!

8. 

   imran

   February 16, 2009

   i think after Quaide Azam if pakistan had any leader that was Musharraf. He has fought two wars for his homeland ,what zardari or benazir had done,just looting and then running away. pakistanis are poor people , they cant even select their leaders so that traitors like zardari and nawaz sharif come to power.what musharraf has done in nine years they cannot do in ninety years becuse they want their money and nothing ,bloody looters. i feel sad when i see that mr 10% is the president of this country. poor helpless and illiterate pakistanis god help u

9. 

   enigmatic jibz

   February 17, 2009

   Fear of being lost is the primitive terrors aflicting human minds.

10. 

    Basim Ahmed

    February 21, 2009

    Excuse me MISSY! you HRCP worker.

    Try and answer this: http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id…

    Woman…with all your stats (which you have talked about, but not actually mentioned any! Oh please do post them, and PLEASE do not quote from your own HRCP and your Amnesty International. Post them from other sources which can be counter checked)

    Other than that…try and rebut this least bit of the "humanity" drama you guys have been beating-the-bush about. MS AFIA.

    Read the report lady, and get back to us with your reply. You Nawazoo League and Imran Khan's mouth piece 🙂

11. 

    Basim Ahmed

    February 21, 2009

    Oh and Mr Farooq,

    If you want Article 6 to be implemented, then you guys should be ready to see Imran Khan being lynched for Sita White Case, Zardari for murdering his wife…Nawaz for brining sanctions on our country, sacking COAS on his own will, attacking Supreme Court….and who else is left? yeah…MQM, JUIF and all the rest of those lots!

    I really want to see what you HRCP (Isreali :P) lot have to reply to this!

    Lets play fair 😉 get Imran Khan, Zardari and Nawazoo throw to the gallows too 😉

12. 

    Shahrukh

    February 23, 2009

    Hatred Speech wont give an impression of a healthy debatable article. This article is just a stack of hatred speech and nothing else.

13. 

    Salman

    February 27, 2009

    What a democracy ?The democratic brothers are kicking each other asses.Great man. Musharraf zindabad

14. 

    Salman

    February 27, 2009

    What a democracy ?The democratic brothers are kicking each other ass.Great man. Musharraf zindabad

15. 

    Ehsan

    March 4, 2009

    And i am sick of you , if you think you can blind yourself and hide the truth from yourself and by supporting corrupt democrazed leaders is a the way to go for Pakistan i think you are sick in the head !

    1. 

       Teeth Maestro

       March 4, 2009

       @Ehsan – lets get those facts straight – it was Musharraf who pardoned those "corrupt democrazed leaders" you talk so much about – it was the NRO – it was the absolute pardoning of their crimes that brought us to this state that we are in today. All this then lead us down the stricken path to have been forced to welcome A-Z –

       Im not a fan of A-Z and neither his election as the prez – but it was after all Musharraf to blame who lubricated his entrance into Pakistan despite having had the opportunity to condemn them forever – he then for his own skin and seat bartered the NRO – and on top of it nutured the Judiciary – which then too could not stand any chance in stopping Zardari's accession to the throne – so if you are so fond of Musharraf do have a look at the other side. end of story –

       I believe Musharraf is as much responsible for Pakistan present condition as PP and A-Z are now

16. 

    Pakistan

    March 6, 2009

    Your opinions clearly indicate you are filled with hatred of Punjabis

17. 

    Saira

    March 6, 2009

    @ Pakistan's comment – I am a Punjabi myself. I do not hate punjabis and I do not know why all of you are obsessed with such strong words. However I do feel that the Punjabis have been over compensated, over fed and over everything in comparison to the rest of the country. the others are our brothers too and deserve an equal share in governance, decisions, water, food, gas, infrastructure, attention and budget.

    if you disagree then there's nothing i can do about it. you're entitled to your opinion.

18. 

    Saira

    March 6, 2009

    @ Zardari's Comment – your foul language and your demeanor say enough about you, your mindset and your education. I dont need to be taking lessons from an illiterate, uncouth, sex maniac who wants to screw everyone. so keep your retarded comments and retarded leaders to yourself.

19. 

    Saira

    March 6, 2009

    @ Basim's comment – wow you really are one for conspirarcy reports. did you read the report you posted… I dont think you did otherwise you wont be questioning me.

    secondly HRCP is Israeli you say?? wow and what are you..a RAW agent?. you blame me i blame you. because you dont have an iota of proof for such shit allegations. stop getting your info from propaganda newspapers and from the pocket money the establishment pays you to say this.

20. 

    Saira

    March 6, 2009

    I'm amazed at how people are unable to hold a decent dialogue and are cursing and calling me an israeli sell-out. wow.

    talk about mass-organized blog-answering armies. I'm starting my own conspiracy theory.

    these people don't even bother reading the post and just check whether it agrees with their agenda or not. and then they write out utter crap.

    my god. this is the crony-attack!

21. 

    Pakistan

    March 7, 2009

    @ SAIRA:

    "Your opinions clearly indicate you are filled with hatred of Punjabis"

    I did not say that about you, I was referring to the poster of this article.

    If you go through his article, you will find him blaming corrupt Punjabis for all of Musharraf's ills.

    He blames Punjabis for all the greed that was visible in Musharraf's government.

22. 

    Azeem khan

    March 9, 2009

    the writer is absolutely right!
    these facts can not be forgiven nor forgotten!
    i get hypnotized just by imagining the pain of people whose beloved ones just disappeared some day and they never returned. they don’t even know if their fathers/sons are even alive or not…
    like the son got beaten by police because he wants to know where the F his father is..
    don’t have words to say anymore..

23. 

    mtbaloch

    March 13, 2009

    Almost all of Musharraf-lovers are the known or closet MQM-affiliated Muhajirs and Muhajir-zadas … for obvious reasons. We the Balochs, however, are ironically thankful to Mush for telling us 'clearly' that there is no place for us in Pakistan.

    mtbaloch

24. 

    Pakistan

    March 14, 2009

    That's why Q league won so many seats in Balochistan

25. 

    mtbaloch

    March 14, 2009

    The most popular Baloch-based parties, e.g., Nawab Bugti marhoom's JWP were banned for all practical purposes; the remaining, e.g., the NP and the BNP had boycotted the so-called elections. Also, the elections in Balochistan were heavily rigged AGAINST the ML-N.

    If you are so sure about the Qatil League and its allies' influence, let us have a free referendum in Balochistan asking a simple question: Do you want Balochistan to remain in Pakistan? YES or NO? You will see the results!!!

    By the way,

    LONG LIVE JUSTICE IFTIKHAR MUHAMMAD CHAUDHRY, the great Punjabi-speaking son of Balochistan.

    LONG LIVE THE SHARIF BROTHERS, the only Pakistani politicians who MAY reconcile Balochistan with Pakistan.

    MTBaloch

26. 

    Pakistan

    March 14, 2009

    you don't need to have a referendum, you will be free soon if all balochis want it.

27. 

    Buddy Mittar

    March 15, 2009

    The rabid anti-musharraf crowd is still in denial. I think Zardai's "phenti" (direct and indirect) will bring these people back to senses.

    The latest meessiah of these people is Nawaz Sharif whose career was started by Gen. Ghulam Jilani and who himself is one of "Zia's" baqiat

28. 

    Buddy Mittar

    March 15, 2009

    Sorry, I meant "Messiah"

29. 

    Tahir

    March 16, 2009

    I agree with Saira for what ever she has written as these are the bare facts.

    Ironically there are bunch of Musharraf's "Chimps" who are acting on a new quote of " see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil" if is is done by Mushi the Evil (as if he does it, its no evil). These are the people who have there sights,hearings and toungs locked and got their hearts sealed as mentioned in Qur'an.

    Do we need to mention what that Bastard has done, he murdered thousand of Muslims in Pakistan, helped in killing millions in Afghanistan. Handed over hundreds to US to get $$$. Killing of Nawab Bugti to help the zionist agenda of seperating Baluchistan from Pakistan. Artificial inflation in real estate and stockmarket, selling of precious Pakistani Assests to gain millions with his buddy "Shrotcut Aziz aka Condoliza rice lover" ….so on and so forth.

    The people who are favoring him are those "Kalay Angrez" who found their shamelessness flourshing in his vulgarity filled era, although his remote puppets Zardari and Taseer is still operting on the same grounds.

    May Allah bless Pakistan…..

30. 

    Farooq

    March 16, 2009

    I agree with comments by Tahir on March 16, 2009. And now i would like to offer my sincere condolences to the fans of "Dick"tator Musharraf… They and their favorite bastard have been rejected again by people of Pakistan. The person who dared to say NO to a mentally restarted General 2 yrs ago has been reinstated as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.. I am sure Musharraf and his lovers will most likely be hiding their shameless faces …..

    I sincerely hope and pray that "Dick"tator Musharraf is tried for treason and murder by an independent Judicial commission and sentenced to death for his crimes against Pakistan and its people ( I would personally favor that he is asked to take a walk in Main saddar Rawalpindi with out his 2 dozen escort and let people stone him to death or tear him apart)….. But i can only Wish

    Allah bless Pakistan…

    Pakistan Zindabad

31. 

    ismail khan

    March 20, 2009

    Assalam Alaikum

    I want to correct all of your record about Afia Siddique that she was not arrested in Pakistan, She was arrested in Afghanistan, so if someone is arrested in America, or Austriala etc and suppose he/she was a Pakistani living in that particular country then you will blaim the Pakistani Govt for the arrest of that person. So my dear friends Afia Sidique was also arrested on the land of Afghanistan, not in the Soil of Pakistan. And any body there can answer me what is Afia Sidique doing in Afghanistan while Govt has also released a notification after Afghan War that Pakistan Govt is not responsible for pakistani citizens caught/arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan will not accept and don't allow such those peoples to return Pakistan who have traveled to Afghanistan after Afghan War. So Afia Sidique and his politicians are politicizing and making you fool by false propoganda. So Sad if some one in Islamabad gets a beating of Police is highlited as a angel is beaten and one living in Sindh, Frontier , Balochistan got bulleted by same Agencies are termed Terrorist, Ghadar etc.

    Shame Shame. I just want to say that now every person Living in Sindh, NWFP, and Balochistan should understand what was told to them in 1985 that After Killing of Liaqat Ali Khan by Pakistan Army, Slogan of Pakistan also changed to Pakistan Ka Matbal Kia, Punjabi Establishment. Think on this again in 2009.

32. 

    AJAX

    March 21, 2009

    All haters and lovers of Musharraf should watch this video:

    http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/video-pe…

    It is worth watch and reveals so many secrets!

    A must watch for all Pakistanis

33. 

    Bruno Adams

    March 28, 2009

    Dear Friends… People who took birth in the laps of dictator ship are NAWAZ SHAREEF and MOLVIES…Zia ul Haq was the father of Nawaz.Zardari is the most corrupt person ever produced by Pakistan. People like Imran Khan, PLAY BOY, famous male pros in UK and what he has done in UK and lastly married to a JEW for money…a greedy and drunk man. who else..MOLVIES, u can buy them with only a piece of bread. No body cares about People of pakistan.. Ex-President PARVEA MUSSHARAF was the one who faced all the challenges after 9/11 and saved our neuclear assests and keep a safe custody of them. Iftekhar Ch a paid employee of Nawaz, who took oath on PCO twicw..a corrupt and drunk judge..he is an ideal PUNJABI…who can betray any time and any one for his interest. We all should appreciate Pervez Mussharaf and pray to God for his return..GOD MAY BLESS HIM>

34. 

    Khan

    March 29, 2009

    So now you will equate support for Musharraf with hatred for PUNJABIS – a nice ploy to win more support for Musharraf in Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP.

    It could work nowadays because its a trend to blame PUNJABIS for every ill of this country.

35. 

    Free-Speaker

    April 9, 2009

    solid links between isi and terrorists? what crap. do you even know who the terorrists are? the alleged links,which are as un-backed by evidence as iraq's WMDs were, are about isi and taliban. the afghans. If isi helps the afghan resistance by all means i say good going boys. isi does not, and will not help the cia/raw puppets like mehsud and fazlullah. that is fact. these people have killed many isi and army people. why would isi support them? i say either come up with some evidence or else you are just like the other yellow journilists and liers you say support mushy. i hate mushy too. but i wont be an idiot and accept everything cnn or bbc say (which funstion as extensions of american and british foreign policy)

36. 

    Free-Speaker

    April 9, 2009

    "People like Imran Khan, PLAY BOY, famous male pros in UK and what he has done in UK and lastly married to a JEW for money…" <— i am no imran khan follower but this is something i hear from all mush fans and it makes me sick. imran khan built the largest cancer hospital ever in the history of this country. some say its the best cancer hostpital in asia. he led his country team to a world cup. he personal life was he own and you shouldnt give a shit. why dont you cry about mushy drinking till he drops and dancing after being drunk? (many eye witnesses have seen it countless times)??? marrying a jew or christian is allowed in islam and marrying for money is not promoted but still allowed. so your personal opinions can take a hike because this is paksitan where the constitution says all laws should be from quran and sunnah. go change the constitution if you dont like to talk about islam when talking about politics.

    "he is an ideal PUNJABI…who can betray any time and any one for his interest" <— another thing common in many mushy supproters not all. anti-pujabi. blaming a group for a few peoples faults. wow. who is the extremist now? ill have you know that it was the army made up of majority punjabis and pashtun who fought and saved your arses in wars.

    as for afia siddiqui matter:

    "Govt is not responsible for pakistani citizens caught/arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan will not accept and don’t allow such those peoples to return Pakistan who have traveled to Afghanistan after Afghan War." <— bull crap. no ruler has the authority to disown the countries citizens. who the hell is mushy to declare that anyone in afghanistan will not be allowed to come to pakistan. first halping the imperialist attack your own brother, then stop the other family members trying to help him. wow….

    bay ghairat mush was not and still is not the representative of either the majority of paksitanis, or the representative of our great nations's ideology.

37. 

    Free-Speaker

    April 9, 2009

    NRO NRO NRO NRO

    answer this mushy worshipers? if you worship mushy you should love the mad-men running the country now too since they all came through NRO. we are being bombed by drones due to the NRO govt who lets it happen and doesnt allowe millitary to respond.

    NRO is the biggest spit on the face of pakistani people by mushy. dont come back with the bull-sh!t that "the people wantd it" … if the people wanted it you would have seen 90% turn out in elections. secondly, people wanted a change. no one asked for criminals to be pardones through NRO. dont twist the truth.

    answer NRO!!!

38. 

    Muhammad Asif

    April 12, 2009

    I am a critical Musharraf supporter too. Yes he did make mistakes and so did ALL of the previous or current rulers and so will all the future ones. The audacity with which my country men speak here against Musharraf is also due to Musharraf's grant to a more liberal media. This very media has at times factually revealed and many a times made up/hyped up stories about the the Musharraf government.

    The government tenures before Musharraf's era was simply not under such scrutiny. I am sure those who have thorough knowledge about the political, economic and security situation during the media-restricted eras would be able to see major similarities.

    I really think that this entire chat is about us as people and as a nation that really is majority of times a reaction to an external threat rather than a living commitment. The statement by FREE-SPEAKER "…if the people wanted it you would have seen 90% turn-out in elections." is an apt example of this loss of popular commitment to look after their own country. If the majority public was so against it I did not see them on the roads and infront of the parliament demanding annulment of the NRO.

    As they say "like people, like rulers". They are nothing but a reflection of our commitment to ourselves and our country.

    Lets first start behaving like a nation and then we can actually avert and rectify mistakes.

39. 

    Sami Ullah

    April 15, 2009

    Musharraf is gone, he is in the dustbin of history like Zia, AYub and Yahya.

    Prior to Musharraf era , no one knows about suicide bombing in Pakistan.

    I wish I could see his trial.

    There are three types of Muharraf lovers

    1) Bigot MQMers.

    2) Army chauvinist, who think army has the right to rule Pakistan.

    3) Overseas Pakiastani who don't know about ground realities.

    Just see the history of all developed nations, why they are here because they established institutions and system. They have rule of law unlike ours where we have LAW OF RULER.

    Musharraf can not put his foor anywhere in Pakistan without heavy security, whereas his enemies like AQ Khan , Nawaz Shareef, CJ and Imran can go anywhere without any fear.

    Musharraf is so good why HE IS THE MOST HEATERD MAN IN PAKISTAN RULERS leaving ZIA by leaps and bounds.

    Tell me one thing , if he is so popular why don't he make political party and take the throne in proper way.

    Just go to http://www.baluchvoice.com and see from your own voice, how he killed inocent kids by bombs.

40. 

    T

    April 18, 2009

    AoA Sister Saira,

    Looking at your article, it looks like you have done a lot of study and research. If you have so much proof, why don't you fight a case in the court? If you have not filed the case up till now, please share your reasons and if you have filed the case, please share your experience.

    Secondly, why are you sick of musharraf lovers? Every human has the right to love or hate a person. What are you trying to acheive by showing us your hatred?

    We all read newspaper, articles, blogs and this article of yours is not NEWS. Are you trying to convert the musharraf lovers to musharraf haters by this article?

    I don't know your background. If you are writer or a journalist, please stop discussing the personalities and try to bring to the table real problems, possible solutions and the key players who are responsible for making decisions.

    Thank you,

    -T

41. 

    Ansar

    April 24, 2009

    You opened a pandoras box. But you are right he was a curse and as corrupt as they come. But people have really short memories and lack objectivity. You will even find Zia lovers too.

    May God have mercy on Pakistan. Amen

42. 

    Imran

    May 18, 2009

    Im sick at the stomach that so many people are against musharraf. I havent come across too many educated foreign Pakistanis who are against him.

    I wish Musharraf was Punjabi or Sindhi because thats the only way anyone can get elected in Pakistan. How Dare a Mohajir tries to save the country from past leaders who have raped the countries economy over and over and over again.

    People who dance in the street when PPP got elected are crying over it now. lol.

    I hope Musharraf comes back. And if I have the guts to listen to all you whine about musharraf, you should have the balls to listen to my opinion too because in all honesty neither of our opinions count.

43. 

    Haqq

    June 2, 2009

    Majority of the allegations levelled against Musharraf are in his last fifteen months of Presidency. you need to look at the macro picture to see why all of a sudden Pakistan changed starting March 2007. If you keep an open mind you will see that all of these incidents are part of the same chain. Take a look at the following article to start with: http://www.wikimir.com/lawyers-movement

44. 

    Murtaza

    June 2, 2009

    batain cho_wa_on sirf pakistanio say :>

    hahahahah

45. 

    Murtaza

    June 2, 2009

    by the way i m also pakistani…:)

46. 

    Khan

    June 4, 2009

    Check out Musharraf Lovers!

    http://presidentmusharraf.wordpress.com

47. 

    Amin

    June 6, 2009

    @Saira: A good piece of writing and rightly pointed out some of the facts. You did not emphasize the massacre of Lal Masjid though.

48. 

    KK

    June 25, 2009

    Guys,

    Read nano and Royal before you make comment. I am not a fan of Musharraf at all. but What I am saying is He is one of the best we got in the lot of corrupt and stupid elite we have. But still a lot more to be done.

    I am a brother of guy sent to UK for PhD by Mush time, and all scholarship are cut by all those sent for PhD, and trust me 80% scholars came back.

    But I dont agree with Musharaf handling Terrorism at all. I think we could have done it better. They are misguided and brain washed people, they were not enemies, but we made them enemies now.

    But let me say again. By looking at who could be the powerfull men controlling Pakistan, He still shines way above all, no comparison, its not b/c he is better, but b/c rest all SUCKS,

    Excuse me if it hurts the feeling of someone.

49. 

    Royal

    June 25, 2009

    Musharraf's validation and endorsements by Supreme Court – a compilation by 'Afreen Baig'.

    http://presidentmusharraf.wordpress.com/about/

    1- On 13 May 2000, Pakistan’s 12 member Supreme Court unanimously validated the October 1999 coup and granted Musharraf executive and legislative authority for 3 years from the coup date. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of the judges that validated. (Link)

    2- On 7 October 2002, the 5 member bench of Supreme Court validated LFO and amendments to constitution. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of the judges that validated. (Link)

    3- On 29 Dec 2004, PML-Q government passed the 17th constitutional amendment bill in National Assembly, with 2/3 majority, also approved by Senate that allowed President Musharraf to hold dual offices. (Link)

    4- Constitution of Pakistan – Article 63 clause (1) paragraph (d), read with proviso to Article 41 clause (7) paragraph (b), allows the President to hold dual office.

    5- On 13 April 2005, the 5 member bench of Supreme Court gave judgment in favor of 17th amendment and President’s uniform. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of the judges that validated. (Link)

    6- On 28 September 2007, the Supreme Court cleared the way for President Pervez Musharraf to seek another five-year term, and stand for Presidential elections, when six of the nine judges, rejected a tangle of petitions against him and threw out a major legal challenge to his re-election plans. Presided by Justice Rana Bhagwandas. (Link)

    7- President Musharraf was elected President of Pakistan, on 6th October 2007, by a combined electoral of the Senate, National Assembly and the FOUR Provincial Assembles.

    8- President of Pakistan declared emergency on 3rd November 2007, as per Article 232 of the constitution.

    9- The 10 member bench of Supreme Court (SC) on 24 November 2007 directed the chief election commissioner and the government to declare Pervez Musharraf president for a second term. (Link)

    10- On 24 November 2007, the Pakistan Election Commission confirmed Musharraf’s re-election as President. (Link)

    11- President Musharraf won by 58% votes, declared in November 2007, as the constitutional President of Pakistan!

    12- On 28 November 2007, Musharraf relinquished the office of Chief of Armed Staff, as per November 2007 verdict of the Supreme Court.

    13- On 15 Feb 2008, the Supreme Court validated the proclamation of emergency of 3rd Nov 2007, PCO 2007 and oath of the judges. This full court judgment was written by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. (Link)

    http://presidentmusharraf.wordpress.com/about/

    1. 

       Ali Naqash

       April 1, 2014

       If someone as pathetic as a war criminal like Hitler can get validations from courts then surely a person like Musharraf can also get validations. If you read this article again, Mr. Royal, you would see for yourself, that behind this mirage of Mr. Musharraf lies the disgusting truth of kidnapping, torturing and killing of innocent citizens who had literally nothing to do with terrorism!

50. 

    Usman

    June 27, 2009

    I am sick of Bhutto Lovers.

    Bhuttos are a curse on Pakistan.

    Benazir used to give blow jobs in university.

    Fatima Bhutto is giving blow jobs to George Clooney.