• Bhangra discussion is still going strong. Join us in our Facebook group!

    New user registration has been closed (as it was entirely spam). We encourage you to post in our Facebook group, even if it's a followup to an existing thread. BTF will continue to be archived and hosted here - Saleem

Farewell Musharaff

Jeeti

New Member
Messages
974
I had this posted under happy belated independence day, but I think it deserves its own topic...

I'm interested to hear how you guys feel about Musharraf and the current state of Pakistan. Although Musharraf was not the most liked leader, he was able to keep a very delicate balance between appeasing the United States and the tribal war lords in West Pakistan...it was a very difficult balancing act, and one that I see coming to an end now that Musharraf is on his way out the door. Musharaff was disliked but heavily underestimated for his ability to use his leverage of the military to strike some sort of an equilibrium....but...the big question...

what now?

As an "outsider" so to speak that only knows of Pakistan's government structure and the dynamic of people through what I hear, it sounds like that Pakistan is now in a very tight position. As I said above, Musharaff was not the most popular leader, but he was able to be the "glue" so to speak. It is my understanding that the coalition government now has to appoint a new president. How will this president be able to keep the divisive groups of Pakistan from further dividing and somehow manage to keep terrorist organization from fluorishing in regions that even during Musharaff's reign were rather unruly (western tribal groups)? It seems that Pakistani people are very happy with the departure of Musharaff, but what does this mean...It is not like the Pakistani people have someone to look to e.g. a revolutionary leader to further stabilize the country (especially the nuclear weapons)...Will Pakistan be able to keep their very delicate relationship with the US? What does this mean for India?

Thoughts especially those that are more familiar with the environment...
 

Vick

Member
Messages
990
He was a smart leader... Asked the United States for billions of dollars in the name "fighting against terrorist" and didn't really do much with the money... Either the United States is retarded, or Musharaff is a genius...
 

Varun

Member
Messages
268
I would have to moderately agree with you Jeeti. His reign may not have been as bad as what the new government will unleash. The power is now in the struggle between Zardari (guy using his wife's death to gain political clout) and Sharif (already exiled before for corruption). These people have been out of their country for a decade and now they want to rule. I wish the system was not so based on political manuevering and that a new, homegrown candidate could come up and address some real democratic issues.
 
Top