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| India-Pakistan |
| Unintended consequences |
| 2014-09-05 |
| [DAWN] PAKISTAN'S 'unsettled questions' are on full display, playing out on the streets of Islamabad and inside the hallowed halls of parliament. The witches' cookbook has been taken out and dusted off, and another potion is brewing. A handful of protesters and their alleged sponsors are trying to wrest the centre of gravity back from the civilians, who have since 2008 managed to re-wire the system to ensure the perpetuation of their rule and the continuation of benefits accruing from the 'system of spoils'. An increasingly unaccountable and collusive elected kleptocracy is being challenged, albeit unconstitutionally, by those who have not shown any inclination to clean the stables when they had numerous chances in the past. In fact, the establishment's book of potions follows a well-tested recipe, which has invariably left an unwanted toxic residue each time in the past. It begins by a sprinkling of the most compromised politicians, who are coerced and cajoled to shape a 'coalition of the willing'. The members of this alliance are promised a share of the power loot -- but more importantly, and most damagingly from Pakistain's perspective, an exemption from accountability and a clean 'bill of health' in terms of their past misdeeds. Malleable judges are the next required ingredient. The threat of across-the-board accountability is the next move on the chess board, after which all the pieces fall in place. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Earth's peptic ulcer. Unsettled indeed. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-09-05 10:24 |