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2003-04-18 India-Pakistan

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Posted by Paul Moloney 2003-04-18 03:43 am|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 "General Musharraf claims to be an all-powerful president on the basis of last yearâs âpresidential referendumâ and the Legal Framework Order (LFO) under which 29 constitutional amendments were unilaterally framed, general elections were held and current parliaments constituted. Not so, protests the strong opposition comprising the MMA, PPPP and PMLN. Their argument is that General Musharraf must be elected president by parliament; that he cannot remain the army chief; and that some of his powers (especially those related to the sacking of the cabinet and parliament) obtained via the National Security Council must be curtailed. The net result is that, six months after coming into being, parliament is still unable to function. Under the constitution, the president must address a joint session of parliament after the general elections and at the beginning of each year. But the opposition is bent upon physically obstructing General Musharraf from addressing parliament because it doesnât accept him as a legitimate president and it doesnât consider his LFO to be a legitimate umbrella for his absolutist powers."

Posted by Paul Moloney 4/18/2003 9:19:13 AM|| 4/18/2003 9:19:13 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I thought PML-Q + PPP breakaways (PPPPP?!) had majority - does Perv need more to pass his constitutional "reforms"? Or a break in MMA to gain greater control at province level? Qucik review of Pakland situation needed - but this article is good start.

Posted by liberalhawk 2003-04-18 08:27:47|| 2003-04-18 08:27:47|| Front Page Top

#3 "General Musharraf claims to be an all-powerful president on the basis of last yearâs âpresidential referendumâ and the Legal Framework Order (LFO) under which 29 constitutional amendments were unilaterally framed, general elections were held and current parliaments constituted. Not so, protests the strong opposition comprising the MMA, PPPP and PMLN. Their argument is that General Musharraf must be elected president by parliament; that he cannot remain the army chief; and that some of his powers (especially those related to the sacking of the cabinet and parliament) obtained via the National Security Council must be curtailed. The net result is that, six months after coming into being, parliament is still unable to function. Under the constitution, the president must address a joint session of parliament after the general elections and at the beginning of each year. But the opposition is bent upon physically obstructing General Musharraf from addressing parliament because it doesnât accept him as a legitimate president and it doesnât consider his LFO to be a legitimate umbrella for his absolutist powers."

Posted by Paul Moloney 2003-04-18 09:19:13|| 2003-04-18 09:19:13|| Front Page Top

#4 I will try to explain the current political situation in Pakistan as best as I can:
The major conservative political party in the country, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), lead by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (Overthrown by General Musharaf in 1999), was opposed to the Army after the coup, but the ISI were able to engineer a split in the party that lead to a majority of it's members defecting to the pro army PML-Q faction which now forms the Pakistani government. However the remnants of the PML that are still loyal to Nawaz Sharif also have some seats left. Sharif is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia and can not return because he is wanted for Hijacking and corruption charges.
The only left leaning, liberal party in the country, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lead by former PM Benazir Bhutto, has been against the military and the Mullahs for decades ever since her father was overthrown and exectured by General Zia ul Haq in the 70s. She is currently in exile in London, and the ISI were able to engineer a split in the party to create the PPPP faction to support the PML-Q government.
Another political party that used to be a major player in the Karachi area was the MQM, which was composed of Indian Muslims who moved to Pakistan at partitian. It was historically opposed to the Army and the establishment, but the ISI were able to engineer a split between Immigrants from different regions of India, and the ensuing conflict between the MQM and the ISI backed 'Real-MQM' lead to thousands of deaths and turned Karachi into a blood bath for much of the nineties. Since then, the MQM's entire energies have been devoted to freeing it's activits from gaol and reclaiming it's territory from the rival faction, and as a result, it's former supporters have become disenchanted with it and have left it in droves. It's leader is also in exile and the Army wants to try him for murder.

The end result of all this, is that the Pakistni Army/ISI has managed to decapitate and fracture every major political party in the country, with the exception of the radical Islamists, who were brought together into a single bloc and all the criminal cases against their leaders dropped, and the other limitations placed on the other major parties in the country were not applied to them. This has had the result that the government is made up of opportunists of various types with no ideology or support base, and the only credible opposition is the MMA, of Qazi, Fasl, Sami and the rest. This was then used by Musharaf and the other Generals to further pressure America do provide further support because they were "all that stands before the Mullahs getting hold of Pakistan's nukes".
This has been going relatvily well, however, of late it seems some of the less "pragmatic" Army officers and Islamists have begun to become angry and the toning down of the Jihad in Kashmir, and the cooperation with the FBI. Although, as suggested in the article, this split could also be exaggerated in order to make the "good cop, bad cop" game the Pakistan's are playing seem more credible, and I doubt anyone really knows for sure what is the truth.

Posted by Paul Moloney 2003-04-18 09:39:16|| 2003-04-18 09:39:16|| Front Page Top

#5 Paul Moloney,
Thanks for that very detailed explanation. The place is a bigger shithole than even I could have imagined.
Remember the big Hoo-Haa everyone made when Saddam had that farce of a Presidential Referendum. Yet nobody made a big fuss When Perv had an equally farcical referendum, nobody except the EU who claimed that it had been rigged. Perhaps you'll all understand why the US is loosing credibility with most Indians especially when it comes to Pakland.

Posted by rg117 2003-04-18 10:04:01|| 2003-04-18 10:04:01|| Front Page Top

#6 How do you engineer a split in an opposing political party? Is it as simple as funding a Ralph Nader (or Perot) candidate or is there something more involved?

Posted by Anonymous 2003-04-18 11:44:20|| 2003-04-18 11:44:20|| Front Page Top

#7 Anon; the political parties aren't like the ones in the West, the MQM has been lead by the same leader for a couple decades, the PPP has been led by the Bhuttos for 30 years, and since there is no internal democracy or any chance or removing leaders from "their" political parties, it can be very easy to offer some money to some senior politicians and give them a promise of being a major player in the next government, as opposed to haveing to spend their next however many years outside of government because the Army won't let your party form government, and your exiled leaders refuse to compromise because they have a personal vendetta with the generals.

Posted by Paul Moloney 2003-04-18 18:23:32|| 2003-04-18 18:23:32|| Front Page Top

09:54 PD
09:27 PD
09:18 Anonymous
13:12 Ptah
09:57 raptor
08:47 raptor
08:03 raptor
06:44 Tony
04:35 Ben
01:42 Phil B
01:33 Scott
01:24 Phil B
01:15 Brew
01:07 Brew
22:42 Dishman
22:24 snellenr
21:37 Craig
21:15 anon1
21:13 Craig
20:48 Old Grouch
20:43 Douglas De Bono
20:41 anon1
20:16 anon1
20:13 Old Patriot