A fine article - that must have been difficult to write.

I agree that the civilian "democratic" institutions in Pakistan are so weak, fragile and largely a facade that the guiding institutions need to be recognised.

Those guiding institions include the feudal overlords but also the more modernising armed forces, which in such an under-developed country as Pakistan have much more political, economic and even intellectual influence than in the west.

That said, I think Musharraf largely led his democratic opponents into an ambush - particularly regarding the conditions under which Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Her security was largely an ISI responsibility. Her death was too automatically blamed on Muslim extremist elements when Pakistan state based elements had equal or greater reasons to kill her.

If Pakistan can develop an Ataturk style military strongman, with a broader democratic base than Musharraf, I would agree with the author's main argument. But its a chicken and egg risk - the US and UK might endorse a hoped for Ataturk who might then become an uncontrollable Saddam Hussein (with Pakistan's nuclear arsenal).

Pete
another example of deadly security "protection" http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2008/10/islamabad-marriott-hotel-bombing.html

Pakistan is doomed anyway - as this BBC ASSIGNMENT program illustrates:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007hcby

Bottom line: The Pakistan Talaben is about to open a new front in Punjab Province.

My guess is that the US and India have contingency plans to seize the nukes and destroy Pakistan's bomb making capacity in the event of the country imploding or falling into Taleban hands. After that Westerners will care about the fate of Pakistanis about as much as they do about the Sudanese or the hundreds of thousands of people who died in North Korea's famine.

Pakistan came into being by the will of Allah to serve a special purpose and until that purpose is achieved nothing is going to happen to Pakistan. All those people who are saying that Pakistan would be doomed are wrong because in my frank opinion those opressive nations would soon be doomed who are dreaming to hurt Pakistan.I think it is the duty of every educated Pakistani to spread real education in Pakistan and that can be achieved by journalists and other sincere people who are in the media to educate and inform people such as this beautiful article written by my friend S.A. Hassan.

A very fine article and even though i agree on many points with the author but i do differ with the conclusion.

I understand and acknowledge the pain and suffering the people of Pakistan are going through right now, and i also agree that after the departuer of Mr Musharaff, the economy and overall law and order situation has wrosened but stil this is not the solution for the problems.

Their is no point in arguing about Mushraff's Agenda and whatever he has achieved in his "Tenure". In my opinion, we have to be patient with the democracy and i am hopeful that with a contineous democratic process, we will definitely come up with a better government.

By saying that, i do agree that Democracy is not the only solution or should i say they quick solution. But, do we have any other? (Obviously, not the one suggested in this article)

>>For the Western powers, particularly in the UK and USA, these political actors fit in well which is why they are enjoying their support.<<

The ruling elite in the USA and UK have taken over power and are in control. There is no true democracy in the UK or US.

The Anglo/American Empire are in charge. The have a great say in deciding who the next president or prime minister of the country should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tey_XDi0BSU
(Pilger on Anglo-American empire influence)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH6kuvn617w
(The Anglo/American Empire)

http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=46

The Author must live in UK...and be projecting the current political climate of reward and punishment onto innocent Pakistan.

http://www.bnp.org.uk/?q=news/taxpayers-forced-give-%C2%A318-million-communist-controlled-unite-trade-union

But hey.....the BNP is onw of those wacko nut job fringe parties...right ?

Ok.. let's take mainstream media :)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7473683/Union-behind-BA-strike-receives-18m-from-taxpayers-in-money-laundering-deal-with-Labour.html

The problem with Democracy.. is also it's greatest thing..freedom.
I tend to agree with the author's comment ( a quote I think) that the best thing for Pakistan is a benevolent Dictatorship and for the reasons he cites.

Democracy or Dictatorship, these are two sides of the same coin. Since the inception of Pakistan these two types of appoarches have been tried and both failed miserably.

One point needs to be noted here, the definition of Democracy is still not clear amongst some people. They confuse elections with Democracy and while ignoring the real aspect of Democracy ie man-made laws. In Islam the laws and legislation belongs to Allah(swt) not to any man. The responsibility of the ruler is to implement the laws of Allah(swt). Now the ruler can be selected by elections but the main issue is that he implements the Shariah.

Now that the reality of Democracy is clear lets move onto dictatorship. I would argue that in essence there is not much difference between the two. In both cases the laws are unislamic.

The vicious cycle of Democracy and Dictatorship has been reoccurring and the results are infront of us. Now when we want to compare the two we simply cannot use our own minds to pass judgements on one over the other. The yardstick for measurement is Islam because this is a matter of Governance and Islam has clear injunctions for running a state. Until and unless we work towards a comprehensive solution we will keep going around in circles and keep talking about patch-work- solutions. In Islam when we are told to do something then we are also given instructions on how to achieve it ie idea and method both comes from Islam. In the case of Governance, Allah(swt) said in the Quran; "Rule by Allah has revealed" and Rasul(saw) showed us how to materialise this commandment. He(saw) implemented the Khilafat system which was neither Democracy nor Dictatorship!

Haroon Bux

Haroon

Consider:

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) o 'Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you." The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion."

Sahih Bukhari 1:6:301

And then there's the ever popular "Let's kill the Jews" hadith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng4_VuxGVY4

Haroon,

It was these ahadith that finally convinced me of the reality of re-incarnation.

I realised that MUHAMMAD WAS AN EARLIER INCARNATION OF MONTY PYTHON.

The koran is really just an early version of "Life of Brian" with the ahadith as the playbook for a sequel

Haroon,

I respect your right to believe and say whatever you want. If the people of Pakistan choose to be governed by theocrats who claim they are implementing "God's law" good luck to them.

But I think in Australia you'll discover most of us know this is all taurine fertiliser.

Incidentally Haroon I am one of those people who questions the historicity of Jesus but I had always assumed that Muhammad actually existed. It turns out the evidence for his existence is quite weak. You may be revering a "prophet" who never existed.

I suspect that Pakistan is the first country to really go down the
gurgler in the coming energy depletion time.
There was a documentary on Pakistan on BBC World last week that was
pointing up the problems in the Punjab.
Power supplies are not just intermittently off but intermittently on !

Pakistan cannot afford to buy fuel for their power systems part of
which I have read is oil fired.
Farmers are suicidal as they cannot feed their families.
Imagine, farmers of all people cannot feed their families !

They throw away the intellectual and management abilities of the women
and wonder why they will not survive.
I have always been optimistic about the effect of energy descent and
how we will cope, but I am beginning to wonder if the apocalypse
writers are correct. Countries such as Pakistan could drag us all
into the disaster if we do not pull up the drawbridge