What do you think of Pakistan?

[X-unit]

[quote="Twisted_Logic"][quote="X-unit"][quote="Twisted_Logic"]a welcome sign. The terrorist state must be dismantled and the writ of the government must be restored. 100% with Musharraf and his decisions. It should have been done a long time ago, especially after the Lal Masjid affair.[/quote]

War in some places in pakistan...the government ain't sh!t...ppl roam around wit guns n grow farms of opium...if u are a muslim they love u horta...just don't get into their affiars.......the Lal Masjid is nothing compared to wat is coming now for musharraf....Balochistan and NWFP is loaded with fierce fighters...[/quote]

The Balochistan situation has been solved ever since the elimination of the Buqti gang. The situation in the Northern areas, especially swat and waziristan are little bit tricky, but i trust the ISI and MI to do their home-work in dismantling the terror network. Also, the people in the northern areas are with the government and in case of a fully dedicated military assult into certain towns/villages in the NWFP, they will side with government. The question remains, is the Pakistan top brass willing to go ahead with a military assualt or are they going to use scare tactics? Time will tell, but the US has given its full backing to Musharraf and when and if Bush comes to shove, Pakistan will have the last laugh. The terrorist threat is greatly over-exaggerated and the Pakistan intel community can make a short work of them if it so chooses.[/quote]

I don't think the Balochis and the Pathan people can ever be tamed and on top of that they are hardcore muslims in Pakistan unlike the Punjabs or Sindh. At this current state no one supports Musharraf. He claimed that he was saving pakistan from commiting suicide but, what suicide? There are no extermists in the country. It is the people of Pakistan who oppose to this autocratic ruler. If you are fighting against extremists why sack Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryth the cheif justice and the most law abiding citizen of the country. The Lal Masjid incident alreay damaged Musharraf's image but silencing of the Media was the worst. Benazir Bhutti quickly critized the marshal move becuase she knew the west would distance him from themselves. It will be interesting how things would unfold. If the Marshal law is thrown out and free elections is held Nawaz Sharrif would be back and be the front runners of the election. If Musharrad is smart man it will be wise for him to keep his military uniform. And the ISI and MI don't intervine what is happening in NWFP. I was there in 1999 Peshawar, there is this huge black market and you will find any kind of weapon that you want. You name it... Russian, American and Chinese it is there. The Pakistani government knows about it and they still can't do nothing about it. The market was huge funded by the Americans during the Soviet and Afghan war and today it is back firing at the Americans.

[Twisted_Logic]

[quote="X-unit"][quote="Twisted_Logic"][quote="X-unit"][quote="Twisted_Logic"]a welcome sign. The terrorist state must be dismantled and the writ of the government must be restored. 100% with Musharraf and his decisions. It should have been done a long time ago, especially after the Lal Masjid affair.[/quote]

War in some places in pakistan...the government ain't sh!t...ppl roam around wit guns n grow farms of opium...if u are a muslim they love u horta...just don't get into their affiars.......the Lal Masjid is nothing compared to wat is coming now for musharraf....Balochistan and NWFP is loaded with fierce fighters...[/quote]

The Balochistan situation has been solved ever since the elimination of the Buqti gang. The situation in the Northern areas, especially swat and waziristan are little bit tricky, but i trust the ISI and MI to do their home-work in dismantling the terror network. Also, the people in the northern areas are with the government and in case of a fully dedicated military assult into certain towns/villages in the NWFP, they will side with government. The question remains, is the Pakistan top brass willing to go ahead with a military assualt or are they going to use scare tactics? Time will tell, but the US has given its full backing to Musharraf and when and if Bush comes to shove, Pakistan will have the last laugh. The terrorist threat is greatly over-exaggerated and the Pakistan intel community can make a short work of them if it so chooses.[/quote]

I don't think the Balochis and the Pathan people can ever be tamed and on top of that they are hardcore muslims in Pakistan unlike the Punjabs or Sindh. At this current state no one supports Musharraf. He claimed that he was saving pakistan from commiting suicide but, what suicide? There are no extermists in the country. It is the people of Pakistan who oppose to this autocratic ruler. If you are fighting against extremists why sack Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryth the cheif justice and the most law abiding citizen of the country. The Lal Masjid incident alreay damaged Musharraf's image but silencing of the Media was the worst. Benazir Bhutti quickly critized the marshal move becuase she knew the west would distance him from themselves. It will be interesting how things would unfold. If the Marshal law is thrown out and free elections is held Nawaz Sharrif would be back and be the front runners of the election. If Musharrad is smart man it will be wise for him to keep his military uniform. And the ISI and MI don't intervine what is happening in NWFP. I was there in 1999 Peshawar, there is this huge black market and you will find any kind of weapon that you want. You name it... Russian, American and Chinese it is there. The Pakistani government knows about it and they still can't do nothing about it. The market was huge funded by the Americans during the Soviet and Afghan war and today it is back firing at the Americans.[/quote]


I think what you are over-looking is the simple fact that a huge segment of the ISI and the Special Services Group (the special forces of the Pakistani army) are made up by Pathan officers, and had the situation in Pakistan been so grave, what you would have seen is a mutiny of sorts within the corps commanders of the Pakistani military against Musharraf’s policies. Keep in mind, the Pakistan military is highly professional and the institution of the military is bigger and more relevant than the policies of one man- i.e. Musharraf.

The situation in Lal Masjid became grave because for many months Musharraf has tolerated the radicalization of the mosque with the hopes of containing the conflict through talks and common understanding. Unfortunately, like all renegades, the leadership of the Lal Masjid took Musharraf’s call for talks as a weakness and quickly started engaging in a military competition with the government. In fact, the media and the people were banging on Musharraf’s door to crush the militants at the Lal Masjid, but when he did it, the Media started their campaign of disinformation against the government. I think the patience and resolve Musharraf showed are exemplary and he conducted himself with grace and wisdom. The one thing that damaged Musharraf’s credibility is the way he handled the May 12 protests in Karachi and the opposition both the secular parasites and the radical Islamists took advantage of the situation.

It is very naïve to think that Musharraf is an archetypical dictator who rules by the barrel of the gun. Dictator he may be, but he rules his country like a democrat! He is the one who introduced the liberalization of the Pakistani media (before him there was only one channel which was government controlled) and public criticism was encouraged and tolerated. He steered his nation from bankruptcy and propelled it into a regional powerhouse. He has modernized the military and introduced cutting edge aviation weaponry. Consolidated the raise of the nuclear state and introduced strategic weapons such as laser weapons and cruise missile, while at the same time focusing on economic growth and education sector. The level of development Pakistan reached has not been heard of since the Ayub Khan years. In fact, a lot say that he is the greatest Pakistani leader since Jinnah, which speaks volumes of his accomplishments both as a political and military leader.

Ps
1) A successor to Musharraf has already been chosen and will assume work soon!

2) The arms market in Pakistan has been in service for decades if not centuries now, and it says alot about the warlike tradition of the frontier provinces and less about the incompetence of the central government to control it!

[Gedo_Boy]

The US wants Benazir in there b/c she will do their bidding and is seen as a viable counterweight to Musharraf's control of the country due to the large ethnic/political support she commands.

Bhutto will do whatever it takes for the Presidency and that's the kind of 3rd-2nd world leader the current administration wants.

[Twisted_Logic]

[quote="Gedo_Boy"]The US wants Benazir in there b/c she will do their bidding and is seen as a viable counterweight to Musharraf's control of the country due to the large ethnic/political support she commands.

Bhutto will do whatever it takes for the Presidency and that's the kind of 3rd-2nd world leader the current administration wants.[/quote]

She has no relevence among the pakistani people ( especially the educated and urban class). If Musharraf leaves, it will be Imran Khan who will be the PM, and I wish him all the best. He is just superb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6e5G8yJSes

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Gedo
Were you in the US' shoes, how would you handle the situation there? Would you just back off? Would you destablize and work with India to bring the whole thing down.............????? What would you do?