As if one Pervez Musharraf is not enough. If things go as planned, the world is now set to watch another general taking over a presidential palace in South Asia, sometime in 2008. Religiously following the blueprint by his Pakistani mentor, the Bangladeshi army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, also plans to edit the country’s constitution in order to establish total military control over the parliament and the government.
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These days, it seems, one must think twice before labelling the society we live in as a “democracy.” It is true, that we have an elected government very much in place, and by God’s grace, we are yet to suffer under any police regime in its totality, however, recent developments in different corners of the country are setting off unwelcome alarms. To our misfortune, we are witnessing brutal suppression of public protest and intolerant handling of opposition agitation becoming the practice. To start with, let me count the dead bodies in Kansat.
Since its birth, Pakistan has been said to be ruled by triple A: “Allah,” “Army” and “America.” Even today, years after the independence of “East Pakistan,” endless sectarian riots in Karachi confirm the murky influence of religion in Pakistani politics. And when Condoleezza Rice — the American Secretary of State — flies in from Washington to Islamabad to meet the President, she is greeted by a man in khaki. Policies that govern the modern day Pakistan are, one way or the other, observers argue, set by the adherents of mullahism or imperialism, and accordingly enforced by the military junta. That is Pakistan in 2005 and that was Pakistan in 1971. Little has changed, that too in a negative direction.
Enemy of the state
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