News & Views … With Minimum Comments
By Mohammad Ashraf Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA
Exit Wound
Time, December 10, 2007: “Pakistan’s leader leaves the army, but his war on the constitution continues. …But regardless of what outfit he wears, Musharraf has left Pakistan with a tattered constitution patched with amendments and filled now with so many loopholes justifying his rule that it resembles a crocheted doily, ready to be thrown over whatever ugliness the next ruler creates in pursuit of power.”
Comments: “We understand our society, our environment better than anyone in the West (…which has an) unrealistic obsession with your form of democracy, your human rights and civil liberties… which you took centuries to (evolve), but you want us to adopt in months…this is not possible”. - President Musharraf.
The Next Cop in Kabul
In his article “Daughter of the West” Tariq Ali,writes at the end, “The generals who convinced Benazir that control of Kabul via the Taliban would give them ‘strategic depth’ may have retired, but their successors know that the Afghans will not tolerate a long-term Western occupation. They hope for the return of a whitewashed Taliban. Instead of encouraging a regional solution that includes India, Iran and Russia, the US would prefer to see the Pakistan army as its permanent cop in Kabul. It won’t work. In Pakistan itself the long night continues as the cycle restarts: military leadership promising reforms degenerates into tyranny, politicians promising social support to the people degenerate into oligarchs. Given that a better functioning neighbor is unlikely to intervene, Pakistan will oscillate between these two forms of rule for the foreseeable future.”
Who Appeared Most on the Title Page of India Today?
India Today, November 19, 2007: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf can’t stop making news. India Today did 15 cover stories on him in the past eight years, making him one of our most featured leaders.
Comments: Bhutto senior died yearning to appear even once on the title page of Time, while General Zia appeared more than once. Gandhi, even though recommended twice for the Nobel Prize, yet could not get it, though now they repent for the lapse. The people of Pakistan rejoice at the singular honor accorded to President Musharraf by India Today.
