Obama has should have consulted advisers before pontificating on 'the civilian' government's incapability to provide basic services.
The fact is that no government in Pakistan has ever been able to provide them.
He knows that few governments provide basic services, including the one he is presiding over, which leaves 46 million, nearly 15% of the population with no health insurance, and 94 million with poor insurance (making it about 50%), so that they have to declare bankcruptcy when they are admitted into a hospital for any lenght of time.
About Munawwar Hasan, he should be the one to speak of national self respect. his party and its patrons, the Saudi rulers and rulers of other Sheikhdoms are equally complicit in the brutality being visited on Pakistan. for all their pious protestations, they have nurtured and funded the Taliban and are still supporting them.
E
Dr. Syed Ehtisham
(607) 776-3336
Blog syedehtisham.blogspot.com
Feudalism, militarism, fundamentalism and bureaucrats constitute the evil Quad in Pakistan.
--- On Tue, 5/5/09, Shahid Husain <husainfive@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Shahid Husain <husainfive@yahoo.com>
Subject: [Pakistan_Futures] Thank you, America
To: "Shahid Husain" <Husainfive@yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 11:17 PM
Thank you, America
Ijaz Hussain
The other day, President Obama made certain remarks about Pakistan that have created quite a storm in the country. They relate to the performance of the Zardari government and the role of the Pakistan Army in dealing with the Taliban.
Bemoaning the fragility of the civilian government, Obama described it as incapable of delivering basic services such as education, health and justice to the people. He was of the view that, "it was very difficult for [it] to gain support and loyalty of their people". He claimed that both the Zardari government and the Pakistan Army acknowledged this incompetence as "their biggest weakness". As opposed to the indictment of the civilian government, he eulogised the army that, in his opinion, was taking the Taliban threat much more seriously.
The opposition political parties, the media and the government were outraged by Obama's remarks. The PMLN was surprised that the Obama administration had used language that it had never used, not even against Afghanistan and Iraq . It denounced Obama's remarks as interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan , and accused his administration of being impatient with the democratic set-up.
Similarly, the Jama'at-e Islami's new Amir was so incensed by Obama's remarks that he counselled President Zardari to call off his visit to the United States if he had even an iota of "national self-respect". Prime Minister Gilani was equally upset though he tried to play it down by describing the remarks as Obama's personal views.
The Pakistani media was no less outraged. According to independent analysts, it was at once a brutal attempt by the Obama administration to belittle the Zardari government and promote the Pakistan Army, which meant a vote of no confidence against democracy in Pakistan . They viewed these remarks as a green signal to the army to put an end to the democratic experiment and to take matters into its own hands.
Since Obama's statement came just a few days before President Zardari's visit to Washington , analysts also considered this a tactic to put pressure on President Zardari to accept hook, line and sinker the American policy on the Taliban.
The Pakistani reaction so rattled the Obama administration that its special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, had to do a damage control exercise by putting a spin on Obama's remarks that was utterly at variance with what the president had really said. Holbrooke rubbished the idea that Washington was focusing on Pakistan 's military rather than the civilian leadership as "gobbledygook". Instead, he defended the existing political set-up in Pakistan by arguing that, "of course the government in Islamabad was capable of running the country."
Interestingly, Pakistan 's ambassador to Washington also joined hands with Holbrooke by angrily berating the Pakistani media for forming opinions without understanding the working of American political system.
Is the Obama administration really egging on the army to take over? Or are we reading too much into Obama's remarks?
It is possible to put several interpretations on what Obama said. One interpretation is that he has tried to provide justification to the US Congress for an easy passage of the Kerry-Lugar bill. After all, Obama's statement was not far from the truth because the Zardari government has undeniably failed to provide good governance. However, Obama can be faulted for using an inappropriate language and for publicly criticising the civilian government.
The second interpretation is based on the timing of the statement, made a few days before President Zardari's visit to Washington . In this view, Obama made the remarks in order to pressurise Zardari to make him fully toe the American line on terrorism.
The third interpretation is based on a conspiracy theory, according to which Obama deliberately tried to run down the civilian government and praise the army because he wants military rule in Pakistan . There is circumstantial evidence to support this construction. The Zardari government has not been successful with the Taliban issue and with each passing day it is losing ground to Taliban. The latest example was the Swat deal followed by the Taliban march into Buner and Dir. Even though the civilian government is now taking a U-turn on the Swat deal, Washington feels uncomfortable with it and would prefer another Musharraf to take over. Incidentally, one can gauge how unhappy Americans were with the present set-up by the lost and haggard faces of John Negroponte and Richard Boucher when they came to Islamabad to meet the newly elected leaders.
If the last interpretation is correct, it does not mean that the Obama administration wants an immediate military takeover. For the moment it is exploring other options within the existing civilian dispensation. It is reportedly working to rope in PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif into a coalition with the Zardari government so that it could fight the Taliban threat. In case this does not work, or the new arrangement fails to deliver the desired results, the option of a military takeover could be on the cards. It is amazing that the Americans, who only a few weeks back were turning the heat on the ISI and the Pakistan Army for their role in the Afghan insurgency, are now waxing eloquent about the latter and its boss.
If the Americans are contemplating military rule at some stage then the Zardari government is partly to blame because it has completely failed to handle terrorism and governance issues. The government started its tenure with an enormous fund of goodwill but squandered it by getting bogged down in issues such as the judicial crisis and destabilisation of the Punjab government.
The civilian government is at present utterly adrift. The American attempt to make the Zardari government co-opt Nawaz Sharif is perhaps the last chance to deal with terrorism effectively before the Obama administration signals Gen Kayani to step in. This would indeed be an unfortunate development if it comes about because after nine years of military rule, the federation is terribly weakened and a further bout of military rule may be a mortal blow.
What is the way out then? If we at once want to obviate the possibility of a coup at some stage and successfully face the enormous challenges confronting us, we will have to put our house in order. To achieve this, the Zardari government should urgently bring Nawaz Sharif on board by forming some kind of national government.
However, such an arrangement alone cannot guarantee success because keeping with our tradition there is a danger that the coalition partners may work at cross purposes with each other. It is necessary that they resolve to be guided by the supreme national interest rather than party or personal considerations which is the case at present.
Incidentally, this is the objective that the Americans are currently trying to promote. It is indeed a shame that the task that we should have ourselves undertaken to accomplish, the Americans are doing for us. Honestly, for this we should be thankful to the Americans.
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www.afterdowningstreet.org/bangladesh ;
www.mytown.ca/banglavision &
groups.msn.com/banglavision
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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/
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