Charlie Rose

Aftab S. Alam  03/07/2008 11:04 PM Report

Come on Charlie, you could have found a more neutral and objective commentrator than this guy Husain Haqqani is not and has never been a fair and neutral person as far as Pakistani politics is concerned. The man has been seeking a permanent place in Pakistani polics, he has served General Zia, Sharif, and Benazir Bhto governments alternatively and has been fired by them all, once they saw him over selling himself. Even now, he can't be an objective commentrator, his wife is seeking a seat for the parliament through women reserved seat through PPP.

Brown person  03/06/2008 12:44 PM Report

The problem is white people have no idea how complicated third world politics is. As soon as they hear a well-spoken spokesperson talk, they take their word as the gospel. Third world countries have countless layers of economic and cultural strata that no one person can understand.

Sharif  02/28/2008 12:10 PM Report

Charlie,

You should have noted that Mr. Haqqani is a chief advisor to PPP leader Mr. Zardari. his homage to General Kayani and criticism of Mr. Sharif is not objective. You just gave him a propaganda platform for PPP.

Jan  02/27/2008 03:30 PM Report

interesting piece.

waqar  02/26/2008 11:54 PM Report

The west and US based analysts are either naive (or behave as such) about Pakistan and its march towards so-called Democracy. The end goal can be democracy but the path is never direct for countries such as Pakistan.

The current election only brought back the previous two leaders who have failed twice in the past. Both have been indicted for corruption, bribery and basically treating the treasury as a personal bank account. Before Musharraf came to power, Nawaz Sharif's ruling party had driven Pakistan to almost bankruptcy. Benazirâ??s husband is famous for his bribes and corruption when he was in-charge of foreign investment during Benazirâ??s reign. Both families are part of â??Feudal Landlordâ?? franchise.

In order to have a successful democracy in Pakistan there are two critical tactical changes required: (1) Changes in the electorate system where the seats are assigned based on economic and urban concentration. This would result in more seats being shifted to the urban center from the rural feudal land owners. (2) New leaders need to be elected that are independent of the current political family franchise.

Currently the Feudal families get their way by controlling the MPâ??s and it is in their best interest to keep the majority rural population as ignorant as possible to maintain their feudal system and slaves.

Otherwise we will continue with the musical chairs of having the military step-in every few years. My guess is the current two opposition parties will have to form a coalition in which each will try to rob the treasury in record time (-get it while they can-). Within 12 months there will be disagreement and another election will be called, if the military does not step-in earlier.

The changes require cannot be done by the current political parties since their leaders themselves are part of the problem. Most likely a â??benevolent dictatorâ?? is needed in the interim to bring about strict changes before the country can be ready for democracy.

The people on the street in Pakistan have been manipulated and have short memories. Most landlords tell the villages on whom to stamp for election on the ballots. While the small ruling class likes to support corrupt leaders since it keeps them feeding at the trough. Musharaff has improved the Pakistanâ??s economic environment. I believe he would have eventually brought democratic election only if there were new leaders not the same â??Benazirâ?? and â??Nawaz Sharifâ?? who have been proven to be â??foxes guarding the henhouseâ??.

I am not saying the military is the answer and they have their issues but in the interim they maybe best suited to make the changes since most foreign government care more about the â??Nuclearâ?? threat or â??Talibanâ?? than real structural changes within Pakistan. Otherwise, we would have seen some strong economic incentives tied to making the structural changes needed to have true democracy and not just a farce underlying meritocracy. Pakistan is not alone there are many other countries caught in the similar phase. The only thing that can make it worse for Pakistan is if they found oil.

right0n  02/26/2008 02:19 PM Report

Spot on David. Wish I'd have said that. Read it again people.

David  02/26/2008 12:26 PM Report

So we have an authoritarian president who is hated by his people and we have the US unconditionally supporting that president. Now what should Pakistani people, who are not extremist/terrorist/fundamentalist sympathizers and who just want to live a normal life in a normal country, what should those people think about America and Democracy?