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GOVERNANCE IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
#18
SLAUGHTER OF 18 OCTOBER IN KARACHI
Usman Khalid
http://www.icssa.org/article_detail_parse.php?m_link=&slink=&a_id=1196&rel=1194,1193&pg=&m_id=1199

If she chose exile or to live in the shadow of Musharraf, ignominy would stalk her path for the rest of her life.

"Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.” Sir Francis Bacon

Benazir arrived. She came well equipped. She said she will bring jobs (one wonders how?) She raised the tired old slogan of ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ (food, clothing and shelter). But she was nevertheless given a huge reception by the people of Karachi because the memory of 12 May is still fresh in the mind of her supporters who were mowed down by masked gunmen of the MQM when the police stood by. The people were wise; they turned up in large numbers but were calm and restrained. But their leader was not. She upset the people by her tirade against the Supreme Court and provoked the ‘resistance’ by reviling it. She had been able to get way with such grandstanding before because ‘resistance’ was confined to Kashmir. Now it is global.

The reception given to Benazir by the ‘resistance’ on her arrival in Karachi was not unexpected. There were warnings that the ‘resistance’ sees Benazir Bhutto as a collaborator of Musharraf who is ‘damaged goods’ with image irreversibly tarnished in the eyes of the people. By agreeing to be his sidekick, she might recover the stolen money (reported in the press to 1.5 Billion Dollars) but she has also earned the title of ‘collaborator’. The role she has accepted is to save Musharraf from the wrath of the people. Her assertion that she would not accept him in uniform does not impress any one. A collaborator is a collaborator whether in civvies or in uniform; whether the pair act in ‘democratic’ unison or if only one acts in ‘autocratic’ indifference.

The people are not fooled. They see that both of them do not tire of reviling the resistance to occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir and Palestine as ‘extremism’. That might impress America but it heightens the anger of the people who see Musharraf masquerading as an elected President which he is not. He has the temerity to insist that he would be President for another five years because he has been endorsed by the soon to dissolved rubber stamp assemblies he created in rigged elections. He has enlisted the support of Benazir Bhutto to create another rubber stamp parliament because there is no chance his e King’s parties - PML(Q) and MQM- can rule in peace even he is able to ensured their victory in rigged elections using the new system of local government (Nazims) he has created for this purpose.

The people are amazed why Bhutto’s daughter – the most revered name in Pakistan after the Quaid e Azam - is ready to endorse a disreputable dictator? The answer is - 1.5 Billion Dollars – on which she can lay her hands only with the assistance of the Pakistani and US Governments. General Musharraf has been content with much less but he has discredited democracy so much in securing the ‘mandate by machination’ that the people have lost faith in the political process. One hopes that the attack on Benazir’s procession would mark the end of the era when the size of the political procession was the only poll for the people as well as the pundits to rely on. But a structural problem in the party system continues to plague its efficacy in delivering leadership for the country. In all the political parties, party tickets and party offices are awarded by nominations by the leader. The party ranks are filled with sycophants adept in servility or those who enrich the leader. Benazir and Nawaz Sharif were dismissed twice each and have been in political wilderness for eight years of Musharraf rule. Yet, their parties have not been willing and able to appoint their replacements. General Musharraf was given three years by the Supreme Court to stop this alternation of the corrupt leader who had been indicted and discredited. He failed abysmally; the very same indicted and discredited leaders are still masquerading as the ‘hope of the nation’.

After the introduction of the ‘indirectly elected’ Nazims in charge of district (and lower level) government, the electoral process is rigged to perpetuate the current rulers, however unpopular, in power. The political opposition has been reduced to a ‘bunch of losers’ that would have increasingly less chance of entering office if the system is not replaced. The establishment would rule in perpetuity as it does in the best ‘recognised’ democracies - India, America and Israel. It works in the ‘best democracies’ because the establishment has an imperial agenda. In Pakistan the establishment has no agenda except to hold on to power. Since so much of the Muslim world is either under occupation or ruled by American puppets, even those leaders look the other way are seen as collaborators by the people. Those who depend on or work in connivance with forces of occupation have no legitimacy. That gives the ‘resistance’ legitimacy. Anybody who wants to lead Pakistan must remember that. Any one on the wrong side of ‘resistance’ would be its target. Collaborators would be targets even more than the occupiers. There is no forum that is the voice of resistance to occupation. Al-Qaeda is also not the proper voice of resistance. It is a party of the pious; the resistance comprises the pious as well as the not so pious. Al-Qaeda is driven by ‘Islam’, resistance is driven by humiliation of occupation.

That the PML (Q) and the MQM members of the parliament have endorsed Mussarraf for five more years as President. That would have sounded the death knell for both parties in any true democracy. But the Nazim System Musharraf has introduced ensures that the President decides who wins who loses. That is why the parties Musharraf favours will win. In this system, cunning pays more than wisdom and Benazir has both. But she must know she will win to the extent the President wills. She has no guns backing her – only America. Would she rely on Musharraf’s guns? More important, can she rely on Musharraf’s guns? She must now be able to see that the muzzle of the guns of the resistance is pointed at her even more than at Musharraf. She has choices. She can go into exile again after getting her hands on the stolen money. She can continue to be Musharraf’s sidekick and enjoy the limelight of whatever political office she can get under his patronage. Or she can be on the side of the resistance as her father might have wished. If she did that, and she is more capable of it than any other leader in Pakistan, she would go down in history as a more successful leader than her father. If she chose exile or to live in the shadow of Musharraf, ignominy would stalk her path for the rest of her life.



BENAZIR SINGS DEMOCRACY BUT SUPPORTS TERRORISM
Dr.Shahid Qureshi
http://www.icssa.org/article_detail_parse.php?a_id=1199&rel=1196,1194,1193

Benazir Bhuto is termed as ‘queen of corruption’ in the media and her brother Murtaza Bhutto a ‘Terrorist Prince’. Famous journalist Anthony Davis wrote in Asia Week on 30th November 2000, “Bhutto’s Heir to Violence: The farce and tragedy of a man of terror”. The whole of Pakistan and region is on the verge of collapse and turmoil because of the mistakes of Benziar Bhutto and her government’s support of Taliban which became Al-Qaida. Benazir Bhutto admitted few months ago, “We made a mistake in supporting (creating) Taliban”, at London School of Economics (LSE).Her interior minister Naseerullah Babar used to call ‘Taliban’ my boys. If Karachi bombing is at all linked to Taliban than she got into her own mess? She tries getting her ratings high in the West by claiming certain pro Taliban elements are after her life. Batullah Masood’s group denied any statement about Benzair as published by a pro US Lahore based paper. She sings democracy to Westerner but run her party like a family business and has earned more than $2 billion tax free.

Anthony Davis wrote,” Bhutto’s eldest son, saw himself as political heir. But he will probably be remembered less as the politician he sought to become and more as the man who once led a terrorist group dedicated to overthrowing Zia's military dictatorship. Murtaza's death all but guaranteed that: he died in 1996 in a gun battle with police outside his Karachi home. Because of Pakistani press censorship during the martial law years from 1977 to 1985 - and Murtaza's understandable reluctance to discuss his terrorist past - little was known of the activities of the Al-Zulfiqar group he set up in Kabul in 1979. Until now, that is. Raja Anwar gives a fascinating insider's view of Murtaza's career in The Terrorist Prince (Verso Books, New York, 241 pages, $25).Superbly translated by Khalid Hasan. The Kabul-based outfit is first presented as the armed wing of his father's Pakistan People's Party. As Al-Zulfiqar, it springs to international prominence with the 1981 hijacking of a (PIA) Pakistani airliner en route to Kabul.”

Mr Davis states that, “(Alzuifqar) attempted to bring down Zia's jet with a surface-to-air missile in 1982 is bungled because the would-be assassin has never used the weapon before. It is only when Al-Zulfiqar relocates to India later that year that the recruits benefit from some real training - courtesy of Indian's external intelligence agency (RAW). In 1984 kidnapping of foreign diplomats at a Canadian National Day celebration at a Vienna hotel - turns into dark comedy. The terrorists arrive to discover there is no celebration. True to form, Murtaza is not among them - he had left for the Riviera. The team wanders the streets taking snapshots and drinking beer until they are finally arrested by Austrian police on suspicion of drug smuggling. Murtaza gets a payback of sorts. On his return to Pakistan in 1993, he is arrested and jailed for about half a year on murder and sedition charges.”

Pakistan is a strange country where anything can happen, people who should be in prison become prime ministers and call themselves honorable. Last month was 10th anniversary of Benazir Bhutto’s brother, Murtaza Bhutto, who headed of Alzulifqar terrorist group. She clearly benefited from the terrorist activities of Al-zulifqar and reportedly supported its members after coming into power. Otherwise high jacking a plane is not a petty crime under national and international law. To some people Bhutto is westernized and has no understanding how people of Pakistan are surviving. The so-called US sponsored deal and National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) cannot be compared with the South African ‘Truth and reconciliation Commission’ because there is no admission of guilt and crimes committed.

How on earth democracies like Britain and US support the most corrupt politician with total corruption wealth of $2 billion? Pakistan is a country of 160 million and many of them are articulate, honest and can speak good English! This kind of behavior is not going down well among the masses in Pakistan. One cannot have a high standard of morality and democracy in his or her own country but allow and support the corrupt and compromised to become prime minister. This who is your ‘chief’ type mentally must be change. People of Pakistan hate double standard in policy. Majority of people in Pakistan are moderate and like to have close and good ties with the US and West. They can learn from each others experiences. The relationship with the US should be ‘solid but not slavish’.

Some experts are saying that Karachi bombing on October 18th 2007 was just a warning for her. Former PPP leader and Governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar said in press today that, ‘she will be attacked in Punjab’. That is a very serious warning. Critics says that it seems to be a conspiracy to get Benzair killed in Punjab and than start civil war (separation war) under the pretext that Punjab killed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and now his daughter by the Punjabi Army. Benzair herself is already working on the same agenda otherwise there was no reason for her to accuse Supreme Court of Pakistan of being pro Punjab! How irresponsible is that? It was Punjab who made her and her father twice Prime Minister of Pakistan. Six terms of prime ministership have been served by Sindhis. Benzair is from the line of collaborators.

Fatima Bhutto accused Asif Zardari for murder of her father Murtaza Bhutto. According to intelligence reports Bhutto’s used to conspire against Pakistan were involved in terrorist bombings, assassinations and murders in Pakistan during the Zia period. PIA airliner was hijacked and taken to Indo-Soviet influenced Kabul by Alzulifqar terrorist Islamullah Tippu with the orders of Bhutto’s. According to some reports Alzulifqar fired rockets on President Zia’s aircraft many times and was reportedly a suspect behind the mysterious C-130 crash of General Zia after which Benzair Bhutto become Prime Minster of Pakistan with the help of US. Than pages from the intelligence files of Murtaza Bhutto started missing until he become member of the provincial assembly of Sind in his absence.

According to Wikipedia, “Al-Zulfiqar was being funded by the Soviet-backed government in Kabul, staged a string of political assassinations, bank robberies and bombings before pulling off its most daring act when in 1981 it hijacked a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Peshawar to Kabul. The hijacking drama went on for thirteen days in which Lieutenant Tariq Rahim was shot dead, the hijackers mistakenly believing he was the son of General Rahimuddin Khan, a prominent member of the Zia dictatorship. This forced the Zia regime to accept the demands of the hijackers of releasing dozens of Pakistan Peoples Party and other leftist political prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails. The Al-Zulfiqar also attempted to assassinate Zia on a number of occasions and it made an attempt to bomb a rally in Karachi held in honor of the Pope who was visiting Pakistan in 1980.”

In 1997, Murtaza was assassinated by a group of police guards when they fired on his convoy of cars in Karachi. The police said that Murtaza's armed guards had fired upon them first. Murtaza supporters believe Asif Ali Zardari ordered his assassination stated the web base encyclopedia. The claim of Asif Zardari’s link with the killing is confirmed by Murtaza’s daughter and niece of Benzair Bhutto.

Fatima Bhutto wrote in September 2007 in a national English daily newspaper, “Curiosity impels people to ask about the not-so hidden hand, the highest level of government, so I will answer. Asif Zardari, lifelong senator and current PPP poster boy, now lives in New York City in the Trump Towers apartment complex on Fifth Avenue with his dog Maximillian”

Miss Bhutto wrote, “Mrs Zardari (Benzair Bhutto) resides between London and Dubai. She plans to return to Pakistan in one month's time and be hailed as your next prime minister and Gen Musharraf's new best friend. Mrs. Zardari is currently being tried in a Swiss court for corruption. There is also a case in Spain's courts against her for corruption – the evidence was unearthed after the Spanish police were following paper trails after the 2004 Madrid bombings and came across some suspicious looking accounts belonging to Mrs Zardari. Mrs Zardari has numerous corruption cases lodged against her in her own country. There have been allegations that she and her partner stole $1.5 to 2 billion from the Pakistani treasury. She's on her way back for round three.”

Benazir Bhutto’s and her family has caused more harm to Pakistan than anybody else starting from the separation of East Pakistan to the bombings, murders, assassinations of opposition politicians and hijacking PIA airliner of Al-zulifqar . Bhutto’s been /is known as collaborators of the British colonialists in the undivided India, this collaboration did not stop but extended to the US and others players today. She was in self exile due to money laundering and corruption of $2 billion from Pakistan’s treasury. She was never stopped to come back to Pakistan.

The unfortunate Benzair Bhutto’s show of 18th October 2007 was no doubt British and US sponsored according to some sources. Benazir’s arrogance and ignorance has caused death of more than 140 and injured 550 innocent people and their families. She was warned in advance by both President Musharaf and Prime Minister to delay her visit of not to do the rally.

Since the inception of Pakistan Bhutto family has been linked to the politics long before partition. Sir Shahnawaz was Prime Minister of Junagarh and very well know collaborator of the British India Government. Z A Bhutto came into power with the support of General Ayub Khan, a dictator whom he used to call ‘dad’. Now in 2007 Benzair Bhutto his daughter came to Pakistan after doing a deal with General Musharaf because $2 billion is a lot of money and worth it. Forget about the people and ethics and principles.

ZA Bhutto was directly responsible for separation of Pakistan for not allowing formation of government by the majority party ‘Awami League’ of East Pakistan. ZA Bhutto was later hanged in a murder case, which could have been avoided, had Bhutto’s defense team not delayed the case unnecessarily with the requests of adjournment motions according to some legal experts the outcome would be different.

People of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have learnt the trick in 21st Century to use against any attempt to re-colonization or occupation ‘kill the collaborators first’!




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GOVERNANCE IN THE MUSLIM WORLD - by moeenyaseen - 05-06-2007, 11:11 AM

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