Monday, February 16, 2009

pakistan.

are you serious?

the pakistani government, secular by most accounts, has always been mixed up with islamic militancy. for years, they courted islamic militants against the soviets in afghanistan (along with america) and they used islamists against india in kashmir.

like america, lately theyve been dealing with some serious blowback. unfortunately for pakistan, their threat is existential.

one unintended consequence of the war in afghanistan was to push thousands of ak-wielding quran-toting fanatics into the already restive provinces of northwest pakistan, further destabilising the already shaky political foundations in pakistan.

as much as i recognize musharrafs mistakes, he got one thing right when he warned that the country wasnt stable enough for free and fair democratic elections. he may have had his own motivations, but that doesnt necessarily make him wrong. despite the suspicion and conspiracy theories, i for one believe his opinion was vindicated by the bhutto assasination. im not saying its an excuse for dictatorship, but the threat from islamic militants is indeed too powerful for pakistanis to have truly free and fair elections. theyll probably have to be resigned to the next best thing, elections where leaders and their supporters are under constant threat of assasination by militants.

"Nonetheless, despite his mistakes, he has been that rare phenomenon in Pakistani politics — an honest man with good intentions who tried to serve his country to the best of his abilities. In a country that has suffered so much over the years from corrupt and self-serving politicians, there have been too few figures like him."


now that the musharraf era is over in pakistan, the question remains... how does an aspiring presumably liberal democracy confront a growing islamist threat from within? well heres a stupid idea i can almost guarantee will not work.

that said, pakistan is still at a crossroads. my hope and hers...


...is that pakistan might learn soon enough that these taleban wahabbi islamist fucks arent content hanging out in their own little corner of the world. theyre religious the way this guy was religious.

not exactly the type of people who understand timeout in the corner. (of the country.)

so lets hope her vision triumphs. and not just for pakistan.

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