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The Forum > General Discussion > The assissination of Benasir Bhutto - quo vadis Parkistan?

The assissination of Benasir Bhutto - quo vadis Parkistan?

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Foxy and others

See Irfan Yusuf's article in today's Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/fault-lines-of-a-nation/2007/12/30/1198949670794.html

This is not a simple religious struggle. Pakistan's Daily Times comments that Bhutto was just one of many targets of the far right, including Pervez Musharraf, outgoing prime minister Shaukat Aziz and outgoing interior minister Aftab Sherpao.

The religious far right in Pakistan - unlike mainstream Islamic groups- refuse to engage with the political process. Because Pakistanis have rarely shown much support to religious parties at the ballot box, 'religious parties perform well only when the military wants more secular parties locked out'.

Irfan shows - through Hindu extremism in India - that bringing religious parties into the democratic process is 'no guarantee they will behave in a civilised manner'. Indian extremists in the Indian state of Gujarat have used democracy as a means for spreading hatred of Muslims and Christians and employing extreme violence.

Irfan concludes by quoting Chicago University law professor Martha Nussbaum who sees in South Asia not a clash between civilisations but rather a clash "between people who are prepared to live with others who are different … (and) those who seek the protection of homogeneity, achieved through the domination of a single religious and ethical tradition".

Reminds me a little of the clash between the multiculturalists in Australia, prepared to encourage interaction with those who are different, and those who want to assert that there is only one Australian way of life and it must be dominant to the exclusion of all others.
Posted by FrankGol, Monday, 31 December 2007 11:09:13 AM
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Does anyone seriously suggest that the deplorable situation in
Pakistan would be the same if it was not Islamic ?

Really ? The problem is, lets face it Islam !
They cannot blame anyone else but themselves.
They will of course blame the Americans and the west in general.

This is what happens in a society that is run by their rules.
This is what happens when people generation after generation marry their cousins.

They simply cannot manage themselves, but I do not think we should
step in and help, just let them disintegrate.
They are out of fuel at present, what do you think will happen when
peak oil hits them harder than it has done already ?
The main worry is the nuclear weapons. An outside power such as India
may have to jump in and seize them before the irrationals get hold
of them. They are not capable of managing them and should not be
allowed to control them otherwise a nuclear war is almost certain.
Posted by Bazz, Monday, 31 December 2007 12:18:04 PM
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Horus

Your eulogy for Benazir Bhutto was written before today's OLO article by Saleem M. Khan of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, and a former senior advisor to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first democratically-elected president of Pakistan and father of Benazir Bhutto. (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6816)

Your praise - 'we need more Benazir’s'; 'her death left us all the poorer' - is in stark contrast to Dr Khan's critique. His list of her alleged shortcomings is damning. Here are the key points:

* 'exhibiting little taste and patience for democracy'
* 'surrounded herself with powerful feudal and corrupt party leaders'
* 'only paid lip service to educational programs in general and female literacy in particular'
* 'the economy was largely mismanaged'
* 'poverty rose'
* 'governance standards deteriorated'
* 'preferred a lifestyle of “The Rich and Famous”'

Most damning was the claim that 'While in office, she and her husband, Asif Zardari, according to the Pakistani media and the New York Times, stole as much as $1.5 billion from government accounts.'

In Dr Khan' judgment, it was only when the USA needed her as a front for democracy in Pakistan that she re-emerged as a political force in the international media.

When she had her time as PM (twice) '...she was unable to achieve any worthwhile program for socio-economic progress.'

Sounds like many Pakistanis will not miss her at all.
Posted by FrankGol, Monday, 31 December 2007 12:56:42 PM
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The SICK thing is that both Australia and the USA continue to give millions $ in Aid to this rogue, dissembling,draconian, dictatorship with WMDs.
Bush recently proclaimed that Aid would not be cut off from Pakistan.
Posted by michael2, Monday, 31 December 2007 6:32:24 PM
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Dear FrankGol,

Thank you for giving me an added insight into Benazir Bhutto. It makes me look at things from a very different perspective, and now wanting to find out more ...
Posted by Foxy, Monday, 31 December 2007 8:09:23 PM
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