Pakistan Paralyzed by Protests, Deepening Political Crisis

US support a prerequisite

Good articles on www.asiachroniclenews.com about this. Pakistan needs outside support (read US) in order to defeat the Taliban and to ensure reconstruction projects happen. If the US takes a more active role in the country then less of the financial aid will be taken by corrupt officials, but then the profile of the US will be higher. And the regime has difficulties when it demonstrates a strong link between the US and the Pakistani leadership. In any situation, there is no point just throwing money at the problem when it probably won’t reach the people who need it.

about situation in Pakistan

Why there are corrupt, because there are not paying taxes?

Pakistan's government machinery is corrupt, ineffective and morally bankrupt

Asif Ali Zardari himself is one of the most corrupt politicians on Pakistan soil. He has delayed re-installment of Iftikhar Choudhary as that may lead to opening of corruption cases against him.

The Army, the bureaucrats, government officials, police, politicians, land lords and feudal land owners are all corrupt and part of a corrupt system that does not represent the common man.

This is the reason why democracy is a sham and does not survive in Pakistan.

Pakistan is a failed state.

The only solution is for a revolution to restore the order and through the corrupt machinery out of power.

MILITARY HAS TO COMBINE ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY

Globalization started 5 centuries ago when European countries started extending world trade and world cultures. Now Arab and Islamic countries are joining the club and seeing that they have to find ways to merge their religion with modern democratic values. The focus for the moment is Afghanistan and Pakistan. And further down it is the Pakistan military and intelligence service. It is said that moderate Taliban will be approached to cooperate and stop attacking foreigners in Afghanistan. In Pakistan also, Taliban and similar groups need to see that sabotage is against the interest of their Pashtun communities. Very soon all Taliban, unless they are suicidal, will see that they are bringing more foreign troops to Pashtun lands until they stop. The Pakistan military will become "laboratory" for combining Islam and democracy so that both countries can be liberated from violence and need for foreign forces. Pakistan military is being forced to defend country by seeing that it has to stop violence and terrorism and will have to stop any Taliban or other groups who do not go along with national interest. European countries took centuries to separate church and government disagreements, but Pakistan has to do it immediately, even with suicide bombers in the streets and foreign countries looking over it's shoulder. Everybody will see what is going on and the military has to come through, just like winning a war.

Pakistan and its neighbours

Almost the entire breadth of South east Asia has been embroiled in a vortex of violence and chaos. The recent happenings in Pakistan will have severe ramifications for its neighbours. The recent terror attack in Lahore was barely 12 kms from the international border with India.

With India undertaking World's largest democratic exercise (Its General Elections) in coming months, the situation would surely become explosive. In fact India as to deal with violent disturbances in Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh none of which is of India's making.

The terrorist seem to follow a pattern wherin they attack a Government installation in Pakistan followed by an audacious attack on India.

The coalition politics of India coupled with ineffectiveness of military & diplomatic initiatives of the US ensures that the Taliban blitzkreig is here to stay.

Helping to Clarify

Mr. Retsos,

thank you for you commentary, which does shed light and perspective on a situation that is most baffling and obscure for most Americans.

In reading about Pakistan, it is hard for us to come to terms with the competing cultural influences and ever changing currents of political unrest there. The Taliban, in particular, is for us a scary and dark, almost barbaric entity. I think many Americans feel despair at the thought of abandoning any country or any part of a country to the extreme oppression and zealotry of the Taliban. On the other hand, rank and file Americans are very tired of wars of ideology. It seems to me they can never be won by either side. What started out for us as an understandable attempt to eradicate Osama Bin Laden has evolved into a war with all of radical Islam. If the Pakistani people actually prefer the severity of a cruelly religious government, I hope they will have the right to implement that in a democratic vote; and then I hope they will live in peace with their neighbors. It is hard to feel any confidence in that outcome, I am sad to say.

value

in democray public opinion should be respected. the ground realities are very much different. no even champions of democracy are voilating the human rights across the world. when ever we will try to steer the world according to our own wishes we can never see a calm picture of the world. if in fact we want to bring harmony and peace in this world we will have to tolerate and respect eachother values.

Pakistan Paralyzed by Protests, Deepening Political Crisis

What happens in Pakistan now is the result of George Bush's past failed policy, and Obama's green foot status that forced him to rely on Bush's defense secretary, and Bush's appointees general Petraeus and admiral Mullen on the issue of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

First, the U.S. wrongly supported Musharraf and alienated the Pakistani people until he was tossed out like a scrap by the Pakistani voters. Second, the U.S. decided before Musharraf's ouster to groom Benazir Bhutto to replace him on Bhutto's promise to serve the U.S. objectives judiciously. Musharraf then dropped criminal charges that were pending again the absentee Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari, and fired the Chief Justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court Iftikhar Chaoudhry and replaced him [and others not loyal to him] with his own loyalists [Chaoudhry was about to rule whether Musharraf's actions ware Constitutional]. And Musharraf's loyalist in the Supreme Court not only upheld Musharraf's earlier suspension of the constitution and his decrees as constitutional, but also deemed Nawaz Sharif and his brother "ineligible for office." No surprise here. Nawaz Sharif wanted to re-instate Chaoudhry and the other Supreme Court judges fired by Musharraf, and, if that happened, Musharraf's judges sitting now in the Supreme Court would have been thrown out of their jobs.

That possibility was terrifying to Asif Zardari because the Pakistani Supreme Court under the leadership of Iftikhar Chaoudhry would certainly invalidate Musharraf's actions as "unconstitutional", and then the quashed arrest warrant against Mr. Zardari would be re-instated! Zardari, known before as Mr. 10%, is despised by Pakistanis, and they call him "the accidental president." He received the presidency in on behalf of his assassinated wife. No one voted for him!

The U.S. deal with Musharraf the late Benazir Bhutto, and later with Zardari to lock out former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was a terrible mistake. Sharif was an outspoken opponent of U.S. airstrikes again Taliban in villages that have cause heavy civilian casualties, but the U.S. still continues the airstrikes with Zardari's approval. 15 dead on the latest air strike yesterday.

Nawaz Sharif told reporters today "there are forces [the U.S.] that don't want me government]". Therefore, Pakistan's deepening political crisis may look like a contest between Zardari and Sharif on the surface, but everybody knows that it is actually Zardari and the U.S. against Sharif. Sharif has told John Negreponte that he wanted to negotiate with the Taliban, and Negreponte replied: "You cannot talk to those people [the Taliban]." Obviously, the U.S. prefers them dead, and that's why Sharif is out, and Pakistanis are boiling. It is ALL about "negotiating with the Taliban" or "eliminating them with airstrikes." And, to add insult to injury, Obama wants to negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan! Nikos Retsos, retired professor

Poverty and its connection to political instability

Did you know that according to the Borgen Project only $19 billion a year is needed to end world hunger- a tiny amount compared to how much money has recently been spent annually on defense over the past several years. Most of Pakistans problems exist because of poverty- politicians are able to get away with whatever they want because the masses are more focused on meeting basic needs such as food, water, and shelter, and end up supporting political actors who promise them these things regardless of how corrupt they actually are.

According to the FAO, the global benefits of reducing the number of hungry by half would be at least $120 billion per year as a result of longer, healthier and more productive lives for several hundred million people. Furthermore, A study conducted by the U.S. estimated that if the World Food Summits goal of reducing hunger by half is met; it will lower the cost of peacekeeping and humanitarian operations by $2.5 billion per year.