Pakistan: What More Can I Say?

To Stablize Pakistan


Pakistan is in the news almost daily. Either from would-be presidents and their mindless meandering, to the news from Waziristan, to the whole nuke thing, to a mosque shooting, to a deposed judge. In other words if you can think it, it can be found in Pakistan. The country is about as unstable as any in the region. Musharraf is trying to make everyone happy and calm at the same time, The US, Iran, the people, Afghanistan and the song goes on. So how does one stabilize such a headache?

An excellent question and one that cannot be accurately answered by anyone but the Pakistanis. The US seems to think that throwing money at the country and then brow beating the leader is the way to go. I disagree. Political Pakistan could explode any day. Musharraf comes to power through a coup, he is a general and the army play the decisive roll in the coup. Go figure! He is the president of the country and remains the top general of the army also; not a good mix. He has opposition from many many sides and I think that he retains power because he controls the army. Most of the opposition realize that if they get too close to a power move the army will be used to squash them and their movement.

OK, now what about Benazir Bhutto? This woman was the PM of Pakistan until a coup removed her from power. I do not recall much about her and her government because Pakistan was not in the news as then as it is now. About all that was reported was the clash between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region. I recently listened to an interview that CNN had with her and she struck me as a very intelligent and convicted person, who is trying to help solve Pakistan's political problems. Therer are reports that she and Musharraf's people are meeting trying to strike a deal that would be a power sharing deal between the two. One of her conditions is that Musharraf resign from the military. This is a point of contention since he derives his hold on power from the military. This will be the biggest stumbling block to the deal, IMO.

Just my play on this, say Musharraff did resign from the military and the power sharing deal is signed and Bhutto returns to Pakistan. She is an ambitious politician and I would look for her to cultivate a relationship with the military so that she can move to become the only leader of the country. I realize that a lot of people are saying that her return and a power sharing deal may be the only hope there is for Pakistan and its war with Islamic terrorists. I just think there is more of an agenda here than the defeat of Islamists.

Just some thoughts.


CHUQ

06 August 2007