There are many reasons for the current level of instability in Pakistan. Some say it is the culmination of 28 years of the wrong policies started by Zia ul Haq in 1979 (Islamic fundamentalism), which is only now bearing fruit decisively, with suicide bombings, kidnappings and other acts of sabotage carried out by men with once close links to the security establishment of Pakistan. Whilst others say it is due to military insensitivity viz FATA and the Chief Justice issue. The best policy is to hold stead fast, stand your ground and not retreat, unite and ride the storm. This cannot be treated like Kargil, where a few made decisions, whilst most of the services remained ignorant. We require the utmost coordination/cooperation between all the services at this juncture, and open discourse
The thing about Benazir Bhutto is that she is totally incapable of running Pakistan. The majority of the Pakistani people are conservative/traditional and she is not----She is of Shia background with a very cosmopolitan up bringing. She lives on her father’s name, her family back ground, and the sympathy gained from the death of her two brothers. She is a tragic comic figure. She lost her father tragically, her two brothers, and was estranged from her mother for a good while, and finally there is that husband of hers, Mr. Zardari, Mr. 10%. The husband of the future PM served 8 years in prison? How will that feel when she receives foreign dignitaries? Sorry I forgot that only in Pakistan people come out of prison and get recruited to the police force.
She has spent her 8 years in exile productively, improving her marketing skills, but sadly the skills that she really requires as Prime Minister, which is sound administrative/political skills to help her desperately poor country one fears is still lacking in her. She in the last 8 years has extensively marketed herself in Washington mainly, in addition to the extensive friends she already had in the UK elite circuit, and this would explain the current Washington enthusiasm for her. For the military to respond by sending one team of males for a week, will no way match her endeavours.
"It's hard to imagine someone better placed to speak about the current situation in Pakistan than Benazir Bhutto. She was born into one of Pakistan's leading political families. She was educated at both Harvard and Oxford. And -- full confession -- let me say that she and I met some -- at the risk of being less than gallant -- 30 years ago or so at Oxford. We would have met even earlier than that, at Harvard, except she got accepted and I did not. (Laughter.) And of such things history is made. (Laughter.) I'm almost over it, by the way. (Laughter.)" Richard Haas CFC President, introducing Benazir Bhutto, August 15th 2007.
She is attractive, of good family stock, and no doubt at a personal level she may be very impressionable/persuasive to red blooded Americans------but, as with Nawaz Sharif she has had her two innings, and each inning after the other were progressively worse. She now needs to quietly sit at the bench, and passively watch the match, and tend to her children and family. She has suffered enough tragedy, and would be indeed sad if she launched yet another political career, at the behest of poor advice from friends in the UK, and more recently the USA:
Bhutto progressively during two terms proved that she wholly lacked the necessary skills to govern the country effectively. Why should Pakistan at this critical juncture give her a third chance, which will only inflame the fundies, and further divide the country. Because Washington and London saab say so? Not a good enough sound reason for Pakistan. “US historian, Arthur Herman, in a letter published in the Wall Street Journal, described Bhutto as "One of the most incompetent leaders in the history of South Asia;" adding that she and other Pakistani elites hated Musarraf because he is "muhajir", born of Indian Muslims. Herman claims, "Although it was muhajirs who agitated for the creation of Pakistan in the first place, many native Pakistanis view them with contempt and treat them as third-class citizens."
Under Bhutto’s watch the nuclear program went out of control. That is a damn good reason not to have her back in power again.
Under Bhutto the Taliban/al-Qaeda enterprise was launched, with heavy persuasion from the Clinton administration. She states contradictorily on the one hand that she will fight the fundamentalists, and yet under her watch the primary fundamentalist threat in the region and world was hatched from 1994, during her tenure in office--recorded. Who is she fooling with her compliant, ‘let me please you saab, sound bites’ “The Taliban took power in Kabul in September 1996. It was during Bhutto's rule that the Taliban gained prominence in Afghanistan. She viewed the Taliban as a group that could stabilize Afghanistan and enable trade access to the Central Asian republics, according to author Stephen Coll.[11] He claims that her government provided military and financial support for the Taliban, even sending a small unit of the Pakistani army into Afghanistan”
Bhutto seeks permission from Washington saab and London saab to be PM. Which other policies of Pakistan will she defer to Washington and London in order to be PM. Just maybe she will move the PM office to London if she is elected.
Bhutto is the last person on earth suitable enough to be the PM of Pakistan at this critical juncture. Rather than being the ‘soothing balm’ of a women healing the nation, she given her past and her psychological make up will be lighting fires all over the country, creating death and mayhem where ever she goes.
Bhutto’s selfish desire and lust for power blinkers her common decency which states that for the sake of the country she put aside her personal goals, rather than rock the boat and incite her simple minded followers and all sundry.
She is a foreign backed agent provocateur, parachuted in to destabilize and damage the country.
She is corrupt looting billions of $ from the state coffers.
“The assets held by Bhutto and her husband have been scrutinized. The prosecutors have alleged that their Swiss bank accounts contain £740 million.[17] Zardari also bought a neo-Tudor mansion and estate worth over £4 million in Surrey, England, UK.[18][19] The Pakistani investigations have tied other overseas properties to Zardari's family. These include a $2.5 million manor in Normandy owned by Zardari's parents, who had modest assets at the time of his marriage”
She is an Oxbridge educated Zamindari from the British era.
She may be suffering from ego based personality disorder. She has over three decades suffered a lot of extreme personal trauma, and of course some people handle it better than others. Personally I think she went of the rails in the early 1990’s. Has she been examined by a psychiatrist? It would be an interesting report. The words unhinged delusional come to mind.
“"I find that whenever I am in power, or my father was in power, somehow good things happen (!!!!????). The economy picks up, we have good rains, water comes, people have crops. I think the reason this happens is that we want to give love and we receive love."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,774840,00.html
Has anyone been following her English speeches in Pakistan.
