An accidental president By Amina Jilani
This column by Amina is a beauty to be cherished. t
Pakistan is somewhat in disarray, so it is said and so it is perceived. Is there a government? We are not sure. What we do know is that there is a president who has assumed unto himself the mantle of the state, sitting atop a hair-breadth based political would-be elite which bends to his every desire.
Asif Zardari has convinced himself that he is the be-all and end-all - and he makes no bones about it. As reported in the Wall Street Journal on October 4 when referring to Pakistan's war he dubs it "my war", the country's fighter-jets are "my F-16s", the Intelligence Bureau is "my IB" and he wants the world to "give me USD100 billion". He alludes to the economic crisis by admitting that before he can get foreign help he will "have to make my credibility, my case." It is "my budgetary support," "my treasury," "my capital," On security and the ongoing suicide bombers, he asks, "If I can't pay my own oil bill how am I going to increase my police? The oil companies are asking me to pay USD135 [per barrel] of oil and at the same time they want me to keep the world peaceful and Pakistan peaceful."
It is all "I," "me," and "mine." This is known as delusion. On October 7, his local excuse for a Goebbels made a valiant but futile attempt to defend his other remarks about India, Kashmiri terrorists, and US incursions into Pakistan accusing the US media of deliberate distortion and "cooked up" stories, but it didn't wash. Do we believe the WSJ or the spokesperson of a ministry that should not exist in a democracy - but then who but those who have benefited from the elections say this is a democracy? Elections do not a democracy make - it takes much more, it takes a state of mind that does not exist in the Republic of Pakistan.
So, there is a president and not much more, other than the rusting wheels of the administration which keeps the country running (barely). The ministers are a joke, shuffle them around - move finance to petroleum, petroleum to prime, prime to information (the present prime claims he has a journalistic background), foreign to defence, interior to information, information to wherever, and so on and so forth, and it will make not a whit of difference to the country's performance or its viewed perception.
Truth is foreign to the Islamic Republic.
Pakistan is somewhat in disarray, so it is said and so it is perceived. Is there a government? We are not sure. What we do know is that there is a president who has assumed unto himself the mantle of the state, sitting atop a hair-breadth based political would-be elite which bends to his every desire.
Asif Zardari has convinced himself that he is the be-all and end-all - and he makes no bones about it. As reported in the Wall Street Journal on October 4 when referring to Pakistan's war he dubs it "my war", the country's fighter-jets are "my F-16s", the Intelligence Bureau is "my IB" and he wants the world to "give me USD100 billion". He alludes to the economic crisis by admitting that before he can get foreign help he will "have to make my credibility, my case." It is "my budgetary support," "my treasury," "my capital," On security and the ongoing suicide bombers, he asks, "If I can't pay my own oil bill how am I going to increase my police? The oil companies are asking me to pay USD135 [per barrel] of oil and at the same time they want me to keep the world peaceful and Pakistan peaceful."
It is all "I," "me," and "mine." This is known as delusion. On October 7, his local excuse for a Goebbels made a valiant but futile attempt to defend his other remarks about India, Kashmiri terrorists, and US incursions into Pakistan accusing the US media of deliberate distortion and "cooked up" stories, but it didn't wash. Do we believe the WSJ or the spokesperson of a ministry that should not exist in a democracy - but then who but those who have benefited from the elections say this is a democracy? Elections do not a democracy make - it takes much more, it takes a state of mind that does not exist in the Republic of Pakistan.
So, there is a president and not much more, other than the rusting wheels of the administration which keeps the country running (barely). The ministers are a joke, shuffle them around - move finance to petroleum, petroleum to prime, prime to information (the present prime claims he has a journalistic background), foreign to defence, interior to information, information to wherever, and so on and so forth, and it will make not a whit of difference to the country's performance or its viewed perception.
Truth is foreign to the Islamic Republic.
posted by temporal at 10/13/2008
4 Comments:
Yeah she got nothing better to do but write psychological profile of Zardari. What kind of idiots allow these nutcases to write articles in Pakistan?
So let us just he can't speak English very well. Is this a disqualification?
this is not about zardari's "speaking" good or bad english
;)
as Euripides said
'' whom the gods would destroy they first make them mad ''
so now we cant even criticise him ?
amina's article is not criticism. It is pure and simple witch hunt.
She is calling him delusional for talking in first person... It is like some people in Karachi use "Hum" all the time. Humari building, humari bus or Hum shairy kartay hain.
It is stupid to make fun of those people.
There is no need to be cute, if you don't understand what my objection was.
I know Amina opposed the army so I will not challenge her credentials but I sure would like to find out when did she write an article about the grammatical mistakes Musharaf made in his speeches both in Urdu and English.
She has the ability to criticize him on policies but this kind of nonsense just provides more ammo to the people looking forward to the day when they will distributes sweets on return of wardi walas.
So far Zardari and his party have stayed within the political norms. They are not god's chosen people. They are making mistakes and they will make mistakes in future too.
But when people like Amina write things like this article, she should be criticized too.
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