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2004-10-03 Afghanistan/South Asia
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'Benazir wants Pakistan at peace with itself and neighbours'
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Pakistan needs a democratic government so that it can be at peace with itself and its neighbours, Ms Benazir Bhutto said on Friday. In a message sent to the annual World Sindhi Conference organised by the World Sindhi Institute, the PPP leader who is currently on a lecture tour of the United States, called for fair and free elections in Pakistan under the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan so that the country could once again know tolerance, accommodation, rule of law and constitutional government. She castigated the regime in power whose lack of concern for the people's welfare had left them frustrated, forcing some to resort to self-immolation. There was no safety on the streets of Pakistani cities. It was the suicide bombers who were laying down the national agenda. There was acute water shortage and yet the regime was intent on building big controversial dams.
The theme of the conference was military rule in Pakistan. She regretted that whereas there was no money in the state budget for the poor, there was no shortage of funds when it came to the armed forces. She said the rights of women had received big setbacks and they had gone back by a hundred years. She said the media was not free to report rampant corruption in high places and the corrupt had a free hand to fill their pockets. The National Accountability Bureau, she charged, was an "outfit of coercion." She pointed out that the Bureau had failed to take notice of the various complaints her party had lodged with it. She spoke about Asif Ali Zardari who had been in prison for eight years and although no charge had been proved against him, he was still not free. She said her party had been singled out for punishment. She named workers like Munawar Suhrawarday and Abdullah Murad, whom she called "martyrs", who had been liquidated. She said she was determined to continue her struggle for a better Pakistan because the PPP was wedded to federalism, democracy and egalitarianism.
Continued from Page 2
Selig Harrison, veteran writer and journalist, who has covered the South Asian scene for many years, called Pakistan a country under ânaked military ruleâ with a âflimsy civilian façade.â He said the military was now a âcorporate money-making machineâ benefiting its serving and retired officers. It had come to like the âsmell of moneyâ. The military, he charged, was presiding over a $5 billion empire and it was âshielded form the prying eye of parliament.â There were four major foundations being run by the army, the biggest being the Fauji Foundation. The army also controlled the movement of most goods through the National Logistics Cell and much of major construction through the Frontier Works Organisation. These giant enterprises had squeezed out competition. He said not all military-controlled enterprises were profitable but their losses were glossed over as the work of the Pakistani defence analyst Dr Ayesha Siddiqa had shown. He pointed out that there was no public accountability of what the army did. He also said that there was no âreal free pressâ in Pakistan. Powerful vested interests had continued to retain power and regulatory powers were in the hands of the military.
According to Harrison, it was the FBI that found al Qaeda figures hiding in Pakistan and it was that which âforced Gen. Musharrafâs hand.â He said peace in Afghanistan was elusive as men like rebel leader Jalaluddin Haqqani travelled with impunity to and fro between Afghanistan and Pakistan, fanning violence. He accused the ISI of carrying on destabilisation operations in Indian-held Kashmir. He said guerillas were enabled to cross the Line of Control under covering fire from the Pakistani side. He said history showed that any breakthrough that had come between Pakistan and India had hapened when there were civilian governments in Pakistan. He said the ISI had attempted to kill moderate Kashmiri leaders and it was this agency that had made Hizbul Mujahideen renege on the ceasefire it had earlier declared. He also hinted at ISIâs involvement in the murder of moderate Kashmiri leader Abdul Ghani Lone. At the same time, he criticised India for not having made any move after talks earlier this year between L.K. Advani and Kashmiri leaders. He said the Kashmiri leaders had raised a number of important points during the exchanges, including lack of accountability of Indian security forces, political prisoners, execution of detainees and the need to review the cases of those in jail. The Indian government had promised action but done nothing so far.
Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, who delivered the keynote speech, painted a bleak picture of the situation in Pakistan. He said after a speech at the National College of Arts in Lahore when a student had asked him if Pakistan was a âgood ideaâ, he had had to reply that he did not know and only âtime will tell.â He said Pakistanis should ask themselves why the army had not been tamed and why it continued to intervene and take over the country. He regretted that there had been no land reform in Pakistan and because of that no fundamental social and economic change. The âestablishmentâ took all basic decisions and had, in effect, disenfranchised the average citizen. He said it was the army that ran Pakistan and people felt demoralised. The vice chancellor of his university, he pointed out, was an ex-captain. There were no defenders of the army today, compared with 1965, for example, when the army was widely admired. He wasnât sure where Pakistan was headed, but was quite certain that Gen. Musharraf, were he to go for some reason, would be replaced by another general. Dr Hoodbhoy said since Zia the Pakistani society had become more âIslamisedâ. The changes made in textbooks during his regime had taken effect and the young generation was extremely conservative. He said in his physics class there were 13 girls, seven of whom remained burqa-clad, three donned hijabs and only three retained a normal appearance. He scoffed at the slogan âenlightened moderationâ since it was no more than a slogan. He called the MMA a threat to civil society. He called for free elections in which secular and moderate parties could take part. The army, he said, must be dissuaded from acting as the nationâs âguardianâ and reassigned its true role of defending the country against external threat. 
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Posted by Paul Moloney 2004-10-03 4:46:24 AM||
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Posted by Poison Reverse 2004-10-03 8:30:14 PM||
2004-10-03 8:30:14 PM||
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