Posted on 12/30/2007 9:32:47 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Pakistan may not make it
The country's future now depends on a power struggle between the army and Bhutto's son
Peter Galbraith
Monday December 31, 2007
The Guardian
With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's survival depends on the outcome of a struggle between the army and Bhutto's Pakistan People's party, now headed by her 19-year-old son Bilawal. The protagonists are mismatched and the odds are that Pakistan will not make it.
For all its flaws, the PPP is Pakistan's only true national institution. As well as overwhelming support in the Bhutto family's home province of Sindh, it has substantial support in Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. Like many south Asian political parties, it is a family affair, but it has an enduring platform: opposition to military rule.
Pakistan's army has long defined itself as the guardian of the nation, and successive generals have used this role as their excuse to seize and hold power. But the army is not a national institution. Historically, the Punjab has produced 90% of the officer corps while the Sindh, with 25% of Pakistan's population, is essentially unrepresented. Sindhis tend to see army rule as equivalent to Punjabi rule. The Bhutto killing sparked widespread attacks on federal property in Sindh and could galvanise separatist sentiment in the province..........
But the larger problem is the Pakistani military. Pakistan's ruling generals have an almost unbroken record of sacrificing the national interest for their personal interest. Musharraf is not as bloodthirsty as his predecessor Zia ul-Haq but is no less keen on power.
.......... Many Pakistanis - and most Sindhis - believe Musharraf and the army had a role in the Bhutto killing, which took place in a garrison city. Musharraf cannot be trusted to conduct an impartial investigation of the murder of his top rival.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I agree with the writer.
Bad times in the region ahead.
I nominate Greta van Sustren and Dr. Michael Baden to investigate!
Pakistan will be there tomorrow, a year from now and a hundred years from now.
I am not really sure why a big deal is being made about her assassination. Those nukes in Pakistan actually belong to DPRoK.
The article is misleading. Bhutto’s son is a figurehead only, and has said he’s staying at Oxford.
I hope they threaten to use a nuke. Then our guys will have to grow some and get er doene.
Nope-they belong to the Chicoms.The Paki missiles carrying them belong to Pyongyang.
Allow me to translate: For all its flaws, a socialist kleptocracy off which our sponsors hope to profit is Pakistan's only true national institution.
As if the military wasn't a "national institution."
true, there was a report of people in India trying to kill Christians this morning.
LOL WUT?
Pakistan’s nukes are far more sophisticated than DPRK’s, something made fairly obvious by the fact that Pakistan’s nuclear tests worked and North Korea’s didn’t. :p
If anything, the flow of knowledge went in the other direction.
True
The Chicoms don’t want a slippery Pakistan either. Look at the map. Pakistan borders China.
Yes, that is right. Pakistan will be there and it will "make it." There is no other option other than the far-fetched meteorite or the not-so-far-fetched nukes blowing it to kingdom come.
But the writer is indeed correct that it may not be a democracy and more importantly a pro-western democracy. The people of Pakistan need our prayers.
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