I know he won't read this article, but please, nobody summarize the actions of the Pakistani military for Mr. Trump. He would very much like to have such despicable tactics in his own playbook. Don't give him any ideas.
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In Pre-Election Pakistan, a Military Crackdown...
At least it can't happen here. Right? I will be outraged but not surprised if some form of national emergency will involved declaring martial law and suspension of elections at some point under the trump regime.
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At first I thought it was the US. Look out.
Startling that this behavior is know imaginable in the United States.
Oh, this is good to hear... we send our soldiers over to get maimed and/or killed for such a wonderful government...not!!
Why do we waste our people for such a country?
Apparently Pakistan’s supreme court has allowed the former dictator, General Pervez Musharraf to file his nomination papers for the July 25 general elections. He was indicted in March 2014 on treason charges for imposing the state of emergency which led to the house arrest of a number of superior court judges and their sacking in 2007.
The deposed prime minister Narwaz Sharif raised the military’s heckles when he sought to normalise relations with India between 1997-1999 and 2013-2017. Tensions with Musharraf culminated in the army coup of 1999 in which Sharif was overthrown and exiled. He was disqualified from holding the office when he came under scrutiny over the Panama Papers in 2017.
Sharif knows a lot about the generals’ machinations and dirty secrets. The military seeks to intimidate the media after Sharif spillt the beans in Pakistan's oldest and most prestigious newspaper, Dawn.
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It would be useful if the NYT posted some sort of guide as to which of the Muslim factions competing for power in Pakistan controls the ISI. The ISI was the intelligence agency behind the Mumbai massacres committed by Pakistani Islamic jihadists.
It would also be useful to identify which factions shielded Osama Bin Laden for so long.
While its interesting to note that Pakistan has its internal struggles, it is far more interesting to note which of those factions has been supporting terrorism as an expression of domestic and foreign policy.
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Dear TDurk!
There are no "Muslim Factions" fighting for power in Pakistan. In Pakistan the struggle has been between liberal/progressive majority and "religious conservative" minority. Since 1980s this conservative minority has become weaponized and violent, after the fall of Soviet forces at the hands of Taliban in Afghanistan, and end of Cold War. Pakistan's military saw potential in using Taliban to secure friendly Afghanistan in it's backyard as a strategic depth against the arc-enemy "India". This promoted violent ideologies, with millions of Afghan refugees, porous border, drugs and weapons smuggling, and weak law and order, Pakistan became a playground for domestic as well as external militant outfits.
We have paid dearly with more 50000 Pakistani lives to terrorism, and now after more than a decade of full war inside Pakistan peace is restored. There's still some support for violent ideas, but it'll change with time.
Military has been strong and potent in Pakistan since the birth of the country in 1947. Our history is full of martial laws and we still heavy maneuvering of democratic process by military. Democratic norms and people's will is not respected by the military most of the times. Numerous political leaders and governments have suffered due disagreements with military.
Within our army, there can be some elements who support Taliban etc. but it's not due to religious reasons. With Savior syndrome, they follow secular policies to use proxies in war.
Best
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“Muslim factions “ interesting terminology .
Dictatorships have a history of eliminating the press that speaks out against them. The dictator will belittle, attach and demean the work of the press because it brings into the light of day the abuses of the government. The dictator will say that what they write if false and full of lies. The dictator is afraid of the truth. Anyone who thinks that this couldn't happen here has not read a newspaper. The constant attacks on the NY Times and the main stream media by our president is a play out of the dictators playbook. Vilify the press and the stories it prints and you destroy democracy. Pakistan has done that very effectively and we know what the election outcome will be. We can not allow this to take place here.
Unsurprisingly many commenters judging by their Indian name are bashing Pakistan on a media article. While Pakistan is no saint India has become a rabid Hindu nationalistic nation under Modi. There’s a segment of Indian population that loves to go online and bash Pakistan good or bad. It seems as though Indians are overly obsessed with Pakistan and if they can undo partition, would do so at any price. Just an observation from an old Swede.
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A good response from the U.S. would be to pass a bipartisan bill working its way through the U.S Congress. It would prevent Turkey from buying the F-35 fighter jet.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-congress-turkey/u-s-senat...
Even though Turkey is a NATO member, it looks like the prudent move now, for national security and human rights reasons. If they are even thinking about buying advanced russian missiles to shoot down planes, probably not a good idea anyways to give them our latest plane to test it's capabilities.
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This is the kind of political weather system that I fear our President, and his followers, and the Republican-controlled Congress, will let cycle across our borders.
Then the decrees from the military-industrial complex will descend like hail...
No multi-billion dollar southern border "wall" is going to keep this system at bay.
"FEAR" is the real plague, it mutilates healthy mind. We in Pakistan have been the real victim of "FEAR". We have been nurturing powerful army against our fear of enemies. With singular focus, fear has driven our state, society, culture, institutions, geography, language, religion, businesses, policies to regressive spiral.
I hope the world can learn some lessons, and be brave embrace hope.
The fact that the military influences elections and gets involved in politics (by using force) is reason enough to condemn and criticize them. Their job is to protect the borders, as is done in most other countries. Instead, they prey on civilians and believe their job is to rule the country (varies between openly and behind the scenes).
The military is in charge of security in Lahore Cantonment. For a targeted abduction to take place there on the streets is a clear indication of what type of people they are. What crime did the driver, who was beaten up, do?
The military establishment do not believe that the laws apply to them. They do not answer to anyone. They are truly a curse on the country.
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Pakistan is a failed state. Elections are irrelevant when journalists are abducted or threatened and major news outlets are blocked, Pakistan never had a free election, free and fair elections under a military control was never a possibility in Pakistan. Normally, elections give the voters an opportunity to choose a government but not so in Pakistan. The Pakistani military will decide who should rule Pakistan. Islamic extremists will control the voter turn out. When it comes to Pakistani politics, the three "A"s will always remain relevant ( Allah, Army, and America).
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The Islamic parties only score 1-2 % of the votes where as in India, a Hindu ultra nationalist has taken hold. Please stop crying wolf. This isn’t India and we know better.
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India and Pakistan neeed to focus on what matters : education poverty corruption water security . As a Pakistani american I agree Pakistan is a failed state I would criticize it more than you out of love . But bashing Pakistan doesn’t diminish or eliminate the problems in India . I wish Indian commenters wouldn’t take the proverbial needle from their eyes before bashing their neighbor constantly
The issue that continues to revisit our collective concern periodically is that of the state of Pakistan. What is this geo-political entity Pakistan that we want to relate to? Is it a democracy in action and reality, or is it a military establishment that has for long ceased to remain a democratic entity? If its military continues to meddle in its politics, should the world shun Pakistan now, or should it oppose it?
Trump administration earlier issued a strong word against an unyielding Pakistan. Where do we stand now on this? Could China be advised and urged to withdraw her unilateral support on Pakistan to improve Pakistan’s own socio-political emergence? How could its hapless people be turned away from the suicidal Jehadi march of Wahhabi Sunni?
Unlike India, Pakistan is modernizing. With R.S.S. playing the same role as the Army in Pakistan, India is moving fast in regression. It will shortly be ready and fully prepared for the 8th century.
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The strategic position has laid a geo-strategic curse on Pakistan. This is similar to the idea of a resource curse.
Pakistan is busy laying trap from which it's difficult to escape. The military has assumed a role of a protector quite seriously. This role comes from twin fears for its future from its immediate neighbors. One is the fear of India with which Pakistan seeks strategic parity, the other is the fear of losing control over Afghanistan. But in that role the protector often generates policies or behavior that makes insecurity a reality. The army is called upon to assume the role of a protector from the threats that that it has partially created in the first place.
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What the military is doing in Pakistan is shameful but not unprecedented.
At the same time, the Pakistani Press is no paragon of virtue (think Fox News). When I was posted in Pakistan (on assignment from a US bank), Dawn was the only newspaper I read as it had a sembalance of journalistic integrity. Yes, it was pro Bhutto’s Party in its editorials, but I assumed it was because they wanted to support Democracy.
That changed after Benazirs assassination when they supported her corrupt husband with their editorials and stories based on relationship with the owners.
And, it’s subsequently become a joke to see editorials praising ex-PM Nawaz Sharif (even giving political advice to his brother through their editorials). I can find no principled reason for Dawn to do this (as the man came into power courtesy the Army who used him against Bhutto and attacked any institution including Judiciary if he got a decision against him for justified reasons: corruption).
There’s a politics of patronage at play (newspapers get ads from govt.) here and I’m not even including in my criticism what’s called “envelope journalism” (journalists get cash in an envelope from a political party).
So, I don’t know who to cry for here: Democracy or the view that corruption is ok as long as it’s done by democratic forces.
There’s no principle at play here, except one to be used as a crutch for popular appeal. As they say: if you lie with the dogs...
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Poor Pakistan, "land of the pure" in name, country of corrupt politicians, a brutal military, deranged Islamic mass killers, and abusers of women and girls in the name of honor and religion. The army establishment built up its strength from the 1950s with US funding, exploited the war against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan for its own advantage by running guns and drugs, and has always been the ultimate arbiter of politics. Pakistan is a country which shows that history and politics make modernization and development almost impossible - there are now so many other such cases in the world. But then the U.S. under Trump shows that so-called developed countries fall easily under the power of corrupt, incompetent, and malevolent grifters. So long as they can manipulate public opinion (through tweets and Fox News, for instance) they can have a reasonable shot at staying in power while they use their positions for increasing their family's wealth. Is Nawaz Sherif so different?
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Pakistan is a dysfunctional failed state from the very beginning. It was bound to be that way since it was established on hypocrisy, lies, and deception. Common Pakistanis and western allies were/are fooled by its government and sociopolitical elites.
Unfortunately, many western countries including USA and UK, appeased its highly corrupt and inefficient military who exploited the country and its people for it own benefit. USA/UK promoted those highly corrupt and feudal Pakistani elites, who still have a mentality of 18th century landlords and warlords.
These two entities (Pakistani military & civilian elites) enjoy almost all lucrative positions and wealth while vast majority of common Pakistanis have almost nothing but Islam, mainly Jihadi Islam, to look forward to survive and to have a hope for future. Islamic extremist like ISIS, Taliban, Al Quida exploited these people just like Pakistani military and intelligence services while using Islamic terrorism as part of its foreign policy.
Marc-André Franche, former country director for UNDP in Pakistan, said, “Pakistani elite needs to decide whether or not they want a country.”
One can also check this excellent speech by former Pakistani Ambassador to USA, Husain Haqqani- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qezdk-uEhm8
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Although I have never been a huge fan of Salman Rushdie for literary reasons (I read "The Satanic Verses" and paid to hear him speak to support free speech), his novel "Shame" (1983) about Pakistani politics is very, very good.
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I shudder at the thought of Bolton & Co. trying to handle this highly charged and complex situation in a country that has nuclear weapons and almost constant border skirmishes with India, another nuclear power. Pakistan has been in crisis mode for years, and the country's ruling elite has shifted it's allegiance to China in recent years, a reaction to the US finally demanding action against the Taliban operating out of bases in the border to Afghanistan and cutting aid when Pakistan didn't act. A big mess, that requires knowledge, skill and patience on our side to deal with properly, all qualities the Trump administration seems to despise.
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What can you expect from a country that was created based on a fake narrative, to sustain those fakes will have to multiply
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Sound's like the United States under Donald Trump. Instead of Pakistan becoming more like the United States, the United States is becoming more and more like Pakistan.
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Identity politics in Pakistan are in the final stages of destroying national identity and cohesion, and the military, along with fear of India, is all that holds Pakistan together. The military's tactics, while rough, are strategically essential for national survival.
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India, under its violent radical extremist Hindu nationalist prime minister Modi, IS to be feared. The irony is that India used to be a vibrant, multicultural democracy, an example for Pakistan. Now India IS Pakistan.
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It's fashionable to talk about radical extremism, nationalist with absolutely no foundation.
I have been a part of the great Indian fabric for more than seven and half decades and in a position to say that India continue to vibrant, multicultural democracy. Results of the recent series of by elections speaks for itself.
Living in some far off place, make some off the cuff remarks without any basis. surely is not a sign of maturity
Clearly the mob vigilantism, censorship of historical films and the destruction of places of worship is an example of the “great Indian fabric” and “vibrant democracy”.