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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Pakistan: A Reality Check On Five Years Of Army Rule. |
| 2004-10-12 |
| From South Asia Analysis Group, an article by Dr. Subhash Kapila, an International Relations and Strategic Affairs analyst. Pakistan completes five years of military rule by the Pakistan Army in October 2004 under the dictates of general Pervez Musharraf. It was on 12 October 1999 that a clique of Islamic fundamentalist generals who staged an 'in-abstentia' coup in favour of General Musharraf. Sadly enough post-9/11 under United States pressure, General Musharraf had to do away with the very Generals who brought him into power. Pakistan, at a first glance of five years of Army rule (the Pakistan Army does not 'co-opt' the Air Force and Navy) gives a picture of a nation far more internally divided than it was under civilian rule. Vast sections of the Pakistani Society view general Musharraf as an American stooge who has bartered away Pakistan's self respect for his own continuance in power in Pakistan. This view is widely shared in the Islamic world all over, whose leadership Pakistan has always tried to claim. Much elaboration, ending with this conclusion: General Musharraf and the Pakistan Army are not tired even after five years of strict military rule. Ironically it has been the history of Pakistan that Pakistani Army Chiefs have never relinquished power voluntarily. They have been pushed out of power by another Pakistani General or assassinated and engineered from within the ranks of Pakistan's Armed Forces. Pakistan's democracy can only be restored when the United States wills it so. It is ironic that while the United States espouses democracy in Pakistan's neighborhood in Afghanistan and Myanmar, successive US Administrators have shied away from demanding democracy in Pakistan. The Pakistan Army has traditionally exploited this weakness of the United States for its continuance in power i.e. by engineering their indispensability to US strategic interests. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 blah, blah blah. So what do they want us to do - go in and occupy them so that we can force elections. (sigh, shake head) Ironically it has been the history of Pakistan that Pakistani Army Chiefs have never relinquished power voluntarily and pray tell me, when did anyone, who ever achieved similar rank EVER agree to relinquish power. Super DUH! Super DOH! You can see the little cubicle reporter weenie that wrote this. Never had any power and has no clue about power and what that implies. Yeah, stupid. They don't relinquish power. That's why our founding fathers created a "balance of power". They understood clearly what you do not. Go soak your head in a bucket of water, moron. |
| Posted by: 2b 2004-10-13 4:11:16 AM |