From the Desk of Asif Nawaz

With the Pakistani Election coming to an end this week, we know who’s sitting in the front seat to drive this overcrowded nation of almost 200 million people.  Although you can this election was pretty intense and nail biting (given its Hollywood like character: Murder, Suicide, threats, patriotism, etc. etc.), somehow, no matter how intense the election, the problem is that no political party has a particular agenda or a stance it takes on any particular issue.

With Pakistan People’s Party (The Ex-Benazir Bhutto & Currently Asif Zardari group) taking the lead in the polls, Pakistan Muslic League (Nawaz Sharif group) coming in second, and PML- Q (Musharraf’s party) coming in third, and with the PPP and the PML-N attempting to form an alliance to oust Musharraf, things could get pretty nasty for Pakistan pretty soon.  There’s no telling how long Zardari and Sharif can continue the sweet talk, because as it is, I’m sure their dislike for each other is, well, more than quite obvious.

But the major problem with the future of Pakistan is not what lies ahead with the confrontation of these three political leaders (so-called), but what will happen once the confrontation is complete.  With Musharraf losing out on majority support and retiring as an Army General, his say in the government and direction of the country is far less than it would have been if he was the Chief of Army Staff.  Despire the fact that Nawaz Sharif & Co. won quite a big part of the National Assembly seats, there is still a lot to fear in the future of Pakistan.

This is primarily the case because no matter how you look at it, Pakistan People’s Party will run the show, and no matter who is made Prime Minister, be it Amin Faheem or not, Asif Zardari will run the show and run Pakistan; and that’s the danger!  Not that I have anything personal against him, but Zardari is known to be a chronically corrupt man, who has quite possibly murdered his own spouse (Benazir Bhutto, if you’re wondering) for the chance to reign over Pakistan.  In the past, as a senator / MNA in Pakistan, Zardari has been coined as the 10% man, i.e., any contract or deal that goes through the Pakistan government, Mr. Zardari gets to keep 10%of it.  Well, he could manage to do it because Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister.

Asif Zardari is a man who is known to have murdered, torchered, looted, and raped the Pakistani Government and Pakistani people at the highest of levels.  Not that the others have been much different.  I do not say that Nawaz Sharif would put the betterment of Pakistan before his, and neither can the same be said of Musharraf’s record over the last 9 years.  However, I fear that Asif Zardari is the worst of the lot, and he has scandals and actions of his past to prove it.

Not only, I suspect, will corruption rise to an all time high under his rule, but the country will be drained of its already slim natural resources.  I’m not very clear on Zadari’s relationship with the Maulana/Fundamentalist groups of Pakistan, although it is evident from history that they despised Benazir Bhutto.  However, forming a coalition with Nawaz Sharif here can be useful, since he has the experience and tact to deal with that crowd; it’s one of the few things he was capable of doing.  This one topic alone is detrimental to the future of internal Pakistan and for its relationship with the outside world.

 With the mass increase of long beards and lack of education in Pakistan over the last few years, and given the trend of suicide bombings not only in Pakistan but globally, it is imperative that no matter how corrupt Zardari is, he pay attention to dealing with this issue of religious extremism and increasing the level basic education.  Ultimately, that’s where Pakistan needs to start work to elevate itself from a worseing third world status.

I suppose it’s too early to decide what’s going to happen.  We will first probably have to see the three of them bicker over whether or not Musharraf stays.  Once that’s over, we will witness the destruction or rebuilding of destroyed country, that suffers from an extreme lack of being a nation.  I can only but pray.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 3:39 am and is filed under News & Discussion, The Truth About Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.