BY seeking five years more, Gen Musharraf will be at the helm of affairs for more than eight years. He is no doubt needed for some time and he could have sufficed with two years more to make the total of five years, a traditional tenure for the heads of world democracies.
Gen Musharraf is, of course, not exactly like our past dictators but he, too, has bureaucrats around him. Bureaucratic governance breeds frustration, the longer it lasts the greater is the damage.
When Ayub Khan took over in 1958, there was no trace of the six points of Mujibur Rahman, but by 1968 there was demand for a constitution on the basis of those six points, which ultimately led to the separation of the eastern wing. The results of the long rule of Gen Ziaul Haq are still visible. The bureaucrats, who have no contact with the masses, are not in a position to give the right advice.
Increased cost of living, unemployment of the educated youth, particularly of professional graduates, and the absence of representative civil rule will only lead to frustration among the people.
HAMID HUSSAIN
Peshawar
I LISTENED to the speech of President Pervez Musharraf on April 5 and I have not seen any other present or former Pakistani politician more honest, sincere and patriotic than him. Though I am not inclined to support a militarily person, the fact is that the majority of politicians who held high offices looted and bankrupted the country in every way they could.
I salute his honesty and dedication to the country that our forefathers struggled to make. It is our duty to see it prosper and put faith in his promise. Ignore the doubting Thomases because they have their own agenda and now miss the good time they had for looting our country.
It would be a grave mistake to allow the politicians who have robbed the country to stage a comeback.
ABDUL SHAKOOR ADAM
North Carolina, USA
PRESIDENT Musharraf has repeatedly said that no one would be allowed to reverse the reforms initiated by the military government after the October elections.
This means that no political party that successfully contests the parliamentary elections on the basis of its manifesto would be able to implement its policies unless they fit into the General’s reforms.
Under these circumstances, the role of the elected government would be restricted to further the military government’s agenda.
What sort of democracy would it be?
R.R. ALVI
Lahore
THE history of Pakistan has been one of manipulation and engineering of events by various regimes, both military and civil. But one thing I must say is that while it’s evident that Gen Musharraf will emerge successful in the referendum, there should be no doubt that he is a genuine and progressive man.
The pragmatic policies introduced by him in the national and foreign policy arena may take the nation into an era of new possibilities. At least there is a hope with him. From the tested leaders of the past we expect no good.
NASIR ALI SYED
Toba Tek Singh
INDIA’s top leaders have been dragging in the Kargil issue every now and then to malign Pakistan. They contend that Pakistan stabbed Vajpayee in the back by starting the Kargil war because according to them it vitiated the cordial atmosphere created by Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore, his address to the Pakistanis at the Minar-i-Pakistan and the Lahore Declaration.
But the boot is on the other foot. On his return to New Delhi, Vajpayee declared that the Lahore declaration had not changed India’s stand on Kashmir which, he said, was an integral part of India. If the Kashmir issue cannot be sorted out bilaterally and if India does not accept the good offices of a third party, how can the Indian leaders say that Vajpayee’s bus journey created cordiality?
As for Kargil, Dawn’s New Delhi correspondent reported on May 28, 2001, that “there is no dearth of those (in India) who believe that the (Kargil) war was stage managed to (help the BJP-led alliance) win the (Sept-Oct 1999) elections.” BJP dramatized the Kargil war, particularly on the TV channels, to insinuate that Pakistan was an aggressor who according to it stealthily occupied Kargil and was the cause of many deaths among the Indian soldiers. Their coffins were repeatedly shown on TV channels and Pakistan was maligned during panel discussions.
Kargil’s winters are very severe. Indian soldiers used to vacate it before the onset of winter and reoccupy it in April or May. Around Oct 1998 they must have vacated Kargil. The freedom fighters must have occupied the vacated bunkers thereafter. New Delhi apparently learnt about their presence in May 1999. While Vajpayee made his so-called goodwill bus journey to Lahore in Feb 1999, the mujahideen occupied Kargil some months earlier. Now how on earth ca