BBC:
India has never been ruled by a military junta.
They are by-and-large ethnically the same South Asian people with the same colonial heritage.
So... er um... why the HUGE difference on this count?
Could it be ISLAM, and the fact than Islam dominates Pakistan?
I think it is.
I think it's the only thing which separates the people of these two states.
North Koreans are EXACTLY the same people as the South Koreans - all that makes one people poor and isolated and backward and the other people free and prosperous is the fact that the North is SOCIALIST and the South capitalist and democratic.
All that separates Pakistanis from Indians is the Islamism of the Pakistanis.
The last decade has brought India economic reform, and as a result India is recovering from decades of socialism. It is becoming more prosperous.
Can Pakistan reform or shed its islamism - AS TURKEY ONCE DID - and rejoin the modern world, WITHOUT a military junta?
Maybe not. Maybe a different kind if military junta is EXACTLY what's needed: PAKISTAN NEEDS AN ATTATURK.
I think Musharraf missed his chance. And so has Pakistan.
I think that the USA and the West and Musharraf and Bhutto are hoping they can achieve with elections and democracy what Attaturk achieved in Turkey with a junta.
I think this might be wishful thinking. I think it might lead to a "Pakistani Hamas" winning even MORE power electorally.
I hope not.
We shall soon see. Stay tuned...
The Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has made a series of top-level military appointments.
They come days after he promised to step down as army chief if he was re-elected as president.
Nadeem Taj, who has close personal ties to the president, has been promoted to lieutenant-general and appointed head of the influential security service.
Lt Gen Mohsin Kamal has been made commander of the army's most important garrison, in Rawalpindi near Islamabad.
Weakest phases
Correspondents say that reshuffles in the army are always closely scrutinised in Pakistan, because the military has ruled the country for more than half the country's 60-year history.
REPEAT: "... the military has ruled the country for more than half the country's 60-year history."
India has never been ruled by a military junta.
They are by-and-large ethnically the same South Asian people with the same colonial heritage.
So... er um... why the HUGE difference on this count?
Could it be ISLAM, and the fact than Islam dominates Pakistan?
I think it is.
I think it's the only thing which separates the people of these two states.
Comparing Pakistan to India is as revealing as comparing North Korea to South Korea.
North Koreans are EXACTLY the same people as the South Koreans - all that makes one people poor and isolated and backward and the other people free and prosperous is the fact that the North is SOCIALIST and the South capitalist and democratic.
All that separates Pakistanis from Indians is the Islamism of the Pakistanis.
The last decade has brought India economic reform, and as a result India is recovering from decades of socialism. It is becoming more prosperous.
Can Pakistan reform or shed its islamism - AS TURKEY ONCE DID - and rejoin the modern world, WITHOUT a military junta?
Maybe not. Maybe a different kind if military junta is EXACTLY what's needed: PAKISTAN NEEDS AN ATTATURK.
I think Musharraf missed his chance. And so has Pakistan.
I think that the USA and the West and Musharraf and Bhutto are hoping they can achieve with elections and democracy what Attaturk achieved in Turkey with a junta.
I think this might be wishful thinking. I think it might lead to a "Pakistani Hamas" winning even MORE power electorally.
I hope not.
We shall soon see. Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment