âWe must finish off religious extremism,â thundered General Pervez Musharraf, âa religious minority is active and a majority is silent, but we must stand up and be counted. Pakistan is at the crossroads. We are in a make or break situationâ. He was briefing senior editors and columnists at the Governorâs House in Lahore on Monday.
| Yup. Like to see it done. Gonna start any time now, are you? |
General Musharrafâs two hour tour de force spanned geo-economics, geo-politics and geo-strategy in a comprehensive manner and he left no doubt in anyoneâs mind about his vision for an enlightened, moderate and prosperous Pakistan at peace with itself and with the rest of the world. âWe must not use the mosques to spread hatred,â he said, admitting that âwe Muslims have become too emotionalâ.
| There'll be 100,000 people out in the streets shrieking and rolling their eyes over that charge... |
He went on to say that not just Pakistan but the Muslim ummah was also at a crossroads. The international perception of both, he pointed out, was that they were hubs of fundamentalism and religious extremism and intolerance. He said Pakistan was uniquely poised to show the way forward for itself and the Muslim ummah. âShould we sleep over this opportunity?â he asked rhetorically, and then answered, âNo. But some people have put their foot on the brake. We must not let them do so, otherwise our generation will be responsible for not exploiting this situation of opportunity in the larger national interests of Pakistanâ.
| Ummmm... Perv? You have a substantial minority in the NA that's made up of religious fanatics whose turbans catch fire at the words "secular state." You have people defacing billboards because they feature female faces to sell cola. You have nuts shooting up churches and Shiite mosques. It'll take ten years steady work to improve Pakland to the point where it's merely "bad." |
The second pitfall he said was terrorism, which manifested itself in three forms: Al-Qaeda, Talibanism and sectarian and religious extremism. He said the world knew that Pakistan was doing its best to thwart the first two but the worldâs perception was that Pakistan was rife with the third factor. âBut a majority of us is not extremistâ he said, ânor are we sending or supporting Taliban into Afghanistanâ.
Actually the world knows nothing of the kind, and if Pakland isn't sending Talibs into Afghanistan they're popping into existence full-grown. They're not coming from Samoa or even Tadjikistan.
Pak dances to the Soddy tune, and I'm wondering if the Soddy tune this week might involve toning down the unreasoning hatred pushed by the Religion of Peace™. With the Riyadh bombings and the pressure they've been receiving since 9-11 — increasing in the past week from Congress — there's more incentive for the Princes to try and put their genie back in the bottle and pretend it was all a misunderstanding and ain't it terrible what a few loose cannons did? That's really the only explanation I can think of for Fazl's flirtation with sweet reason last week. Perv is famous for tough talk and soft actions, though. If we were to see Hafiz Saeed depart this vale of tears in a regrettable accident I'd maybe believe what he's saying. |
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