From: “Hamid Hussain” <humza@dnamail.com>

To: “Defence Journal” <defjrnl@pathfinder.com.pk>

Subject: Rebuilding Afghanistan

Date: Monday, April 29, 2002 6:33 AM

Rebuilding Afghanistan

April 28, 2002

Ms. Syma Nasir’s article in April issue of Defence Journal was an interesting reading.   Recently there have been a number of writings in Pakistan about rebuilding of Afghanistan.  There are several assumptions and sweeping statements, which have been made without much in-depth analysis.  Several points need clarification so that there is no confusion and a much more realistic approach to the subject be attempted.  Since September 11, there has been a tendency to make a general statement that somehow Afghanistan had been ‘betrayed’ by United States and developed world.  That if US kept itself involved in the area, there would have been no terrorist attacks.  This is yet another example of holding contradictory views at same time, a common condition in many Muslim lands.  On one hand they blame US singularly for its blatant interference in the internal affairs of other countries, which destabilizes the situation while on the other they claim that increased involvement would have prevented the disaster.  This is based on a very simplistic worldview and lack of understanding of government function in Western countries.  Every country follows a set of policies which serves its national interest best with minimum cost.  It is the informed citizen of each country, which injects some morality into the callous, well calculated policies of its government. This role of the citizen has much diminished even in democracies and corporate and special interests heavily influence policy decisions.  In case of Afghanistan there were several internal and external factors, which resulted in the pulverization of that society.  To suggest that mere throwing of few billion dollars into that poor country would have prevented the disaster would be an understatement based on a very simplistic idea.  In fact when there is something more precious to fight for, the warlords will be very unlikely to stop the violence, as they have to lose a lot.  Political reconstruction is a pre-requisite for any meaningful economic reconstruction.  Many civil wars in parts of Africa rich in oil and diamond resources are case in point. The $4.5 billion pledge for a country of 20 million people is considered not enough by the author and she suggests that $10 billion may be good.  This somehow suggests that somewhere in Washington there is a large room full of dollars and when the president needs money, he just orders a few sacks full of dollars.  There is complex bureaucratic machinery with very strict competition between various branches of government, executive and legislative for every dollar.  In addition, priorities of governments change frequently.  Today, Afghanistan is on the radar screen but everybody should be rest assured, Afghanistan is just a speckle on the large canvas of US. Sooner or later there will be other areas, which will demand undivided attention of US including money.  The most important thing, which needs to be remembered by Pakistan, is the fact that 2002 is very different than the good times of 80s.  Pakistan is not needed as a conduit both by U.S. and Afghans. Now US is directly dealing with various Afghan groups and the need for a Pakistani middleman is not essential.  In US and Europe, several organizations run by Afghan Diaspora have sprung up and are vying for the reconstruction bonanza. Why the Afghan should be willing to share the booty with Pakistan when they can deal with US and other donors directly?  Having said that, this does not mean that Pakistan has nothing to gain but expectations should be modest.  Several steps are needed at government and private sector level to get any benefit.  There is need for a careful and more realistic assessment of Pakistan’s role in different areas of reconstruction, how to be competitive with other potential players and investment in some infrastructure to be able to deliver when the job begins.   In the absence of these measures, even if Pakistan gets all the money assigned for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, I’m quite sure it will be squandered away in the old tradition of our ancestors (from Mughals to late General Zia). 

Kind Regards,

Sincerely,

Hamid Hussain

Port Jefferson, New York

humza@dnamail.com

 

From: “Wazir Carpets & Fabrics” <wzircf@lhr.comsats.net.pk>

To: <ikramsehgal@nation.com.pk>

Subject: The Rainbow coalition

Date: Saturday, April 20, 2002 1:47 PM

Dear Sir,

I have been reading and viewing articles and programmes regarding the positions taken by President Musharraf and now the referendum.

You have very rightly observed that the stand of the parties and the stand of the Nazims are not the same and which is not surprising as the Nazims see themselves in power and the political parties want to come to power with the same old lot of incompetent stuff whether they are locally educated or Harvard , Oxford returned.

Take the case of Jamiat-e-Islami and the former PNA they are clamouring for Democracy and above all calling for constitution nobody from the journalism and TV compere dares to ask them their role in 1977 and the things that followed when Mr Bhutto was hanged they were in the cabinet of the worst dictator ever to rule Pakistan I need not go in detail what followed in 10 yrs, now the same people are joining the chorus of anti-referendum drive.

I have been a member of PPP, I was sentenced for 7 yrs and 20 lashes in pamphlet case one of my

co-accused was Mr. Qayyum Nizami former PPP information secretary, I am revealing this for the reason who will have more love for democracy and the right for democracy than myself who suffered so much for Pakistan and the Party? but what happened to our Party of Democracy it became the Party of new entrants of looters replaced by people whom I don’t want to mention. Our policies were to vote for bills in the assembly where the MNAs will have to resign if they speak against the party policies, take MNAs to Changa Manga to change loyalties fighting between Brother and Sister ( Murtaza & Benazir ) she forgot she is PM of Pakistan now and not only Chairperson of PPP then she fights her mother and names herself life chairperson of PPP ( how democratic ) where was the graph of PPP when we were struggling and where is the graph now mark my words as a worker who has campaigned for PPPs election they now cannot win  a single seat from Lahore no new entrants in the party, so when the talks are of democracy it is talk of duty free cars for the PM, Governors, ministers, plus our problems are law and order, foreign investment, jobs, car jacking, abduction of businessmen, Sectarian killings, mismanagement of Governments institution that is why the people have lost all hopes in the same old so-called democrats, look at nawabzada, when Benazir is in power he wants her out, when Nawaz is in power he wants him out, now when both are out of power he wants both of them back.

If i was Benazir and Nawaz Sharif I would say to my party leaders for the sake of my country and my love for democracy please go ahead with the elections without us, these are my leaders who will represent the parties, why I ask without the two families politics and so-called democracy prevail they have misruled not once but time and again and they have the same people to work for them.

That is why the Nazims and others follow the wind as they know they will never be the losers, as their Father is in PPP and the son is Nazim who welcomes Mr. Musharraf (Jacobabad) Mr. Hazar Khan Bijrani.

So Musharraf deserves to win referendum as we want somebody to continue the reforms he has bought our problem is not democracy what we have experienced.

Sohail

From: “atif wahid” <atif27@hotmail.com>

To: <isehgal@pathfinder9.com>

Subject: atif [dubai]

Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 3:10 AM

Assalam o alaikum Ikram bhai,

Ikram bhai, here i am not going to talk to you about defence of Pakistan because i have no idea about it but i have seen you on Tv and you seem to be a reasonable person so i would like to share my views with you regarding referendum. First let me introduce myself. my name  is ATIF and i live in Dubai. i have my own business here. i still remember the day i left Pakistan and my city Karachi, it was the most difficult decision i had taken in my life. i never thought of leaving my country but as you know in the 90’s it became very difficult and because of my mother’s health i had to leave because it became more important for me and you know what she had high blood pressure, tension because of the things happening at that time but ALHAM DO LILLAH she is fine now.

Ikram bhai, when you are away from your country you become more sensitive. i have not seen Quaid e azam but i have seen him on Tv, read about him and after a long time a person has come whom i call a leader Pervez musharraf. I have been watching Tv and listing to these so-called politicians and i have come to a conclusion i think there are three types of people living in Pakistan 1.literates 2.illiterates and 3.illiterate-literates. number one understands what is good for Pakistan, number two although they are illiterates but they understand what is good for the country, but the third party confused people which includes politicians cannot understand because here the President is talking about what is good for the country and they only understand when you talk about their personal interest. These politicians and even the retired chief justice is saying that it is unconstitutional and on the other hand they say that peoples decision is more important than the constitution here they are contradicting themselves because if people are ready for it then how can that be unconstitutional having Musharraf as the President and save Pakistan from a disaster, it is not an issue or they think it will become an issue when everything is finished, these people only have nuisance value and nothing else. I hope and pray to ALLAH to make him successful and to remain like what he is today because in our country people change when they get the power. Ikram bhai i have taken a lot of your time but i wanted to discuss with someone who could understand but i would like to share my views with you  and you know i am 32 years old and this is the first time i am going to give my vote to someone. i will wait for your reply and when ever you come to Dubai please let me know.

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD MUSHARRAF ZINDABAD

Socha hai ub par utraingay ya tukra kay doob maraingay

Toofanon ki zad mein safeena kab tak akhir kab tak

Take care and Khuda Hafiz

Atif

Dear Ikram Sehgal

Referendum Aftermath

As expected a spate of articles and letters has started appearing in the press to belittle  the results of the Referendum.  The main objections/observations are:-

(1) Nazims and Naib Nazims brought droves of the voters to the polling stations.

 Agreed.  You can take the horse to the river but CANNOT force it to drink!  Who forced them to stamp the ‘Yes’ ?  What stopped them to vote ‘No’?

(2) People cast multiple votes.

Agreed.  Did they all cast ‘Yes’ multiple votes?   Has anyone given it a thought that why did they cast multiple ‘Yes’ votes only and not multiple ‘No’ votes for which they had an equal opportunity?  Does it not show that they like Musharraf many times over than the politicians whom they have come to recognize as the corrupt plunderers and looters ? 

(3) Referendum is/was unconstitutional

How and Why?  Has not the Supreme Court of Pakistan unanimously given its verdict in its favour ?   Have not the people of Pakistan overwhelmingly endorsed that verdict by casting 98 percent ‘Yes’ votes for Musharraf ?  

(4) Constitution can be amended by the Parliament only.

Yes, but I would prefer to say ‘ultimately by the people’.  After all it is the people who elect their representatives who in turn have the ‘power’ to make/amend the constitution.  What’s wrong with it if the ‘people’ decide to do it directly themselves without going through their ‘intermediaries’ whom they allocate the powers to do so?

(5) Such a verdict will embolden Musharraf to amend the constitution in a manner that will render the future PM and the Parliament ineffective and totally at his mercy.

Yes, agreed. Amend the Constitution he will. But it should cause no undue alarm in the mind of future Parliamentarians as long as they perform their tasks in the best interest of the country and their electorates.  General Musharraf has committed to the nation many times that he will not only let the Parliament play its positive role fully and freely but also strengthen it to do it so. However, he will not allow it to indulge in corrupt practices of here-to-fore.  Is it not the need of the hour that our politicians and elected representatives serve the nation also for a change ?  Or, do we still want the looters and the plunderers to skin us alive ?

I would request all, particularly the media men who can influence the opinion of their readers to a great extent, to please let this man do a good turn to the otherwise hapless masses.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

30, Westridge-1,

Rawalpindi 46000

Tel : (051) 546 3344

E.Mail: jafri@rifiela.com