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Pakistan Ditching China?
The new Pakistani government is not thrilled about the country’s longtime ally, China. Prime Minister Gilani has decided to downgrade Pakistani representation in this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. And our ambassador in Washington, a known ‘American enthusiast’, has given verbal instructions to Pakistani Foreign Office to lessen its fixation on China and focus more on India. His government undermined Pakistani participation in Beijing Olympics twice in the last four months. And we are still without a Pakistani ambassador in Beijing while our London and Washington embassies are run by strong supporters of Washington and London.
By AHMED QURAISHI
Tuesday, 26 August 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—This is the first time that Pakistan does not have an ambassador in Beijing for several months now, which is an oddity. Washington and London were the first capitals where the Gilani government appointed ambassadors. That is supposedly understandable. The current government in Pakistan was possible only because of a political understanding – widely referred to in Islamabad as a ‘deal – which both capitals brokered with a weak and fading Mr. Musharraf.
But how China has slipped from the list of priorities of the Gilani government can be gauged from our expected participation this week in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on Aug. 28. This is a Chinese and Russian dominated organization seen as a counterweight to U.S. influence in our region. In this first major foreign policy engagement for this government involving China, no senior politician from the Gilani administration will be representing Pakistan. Prime Minister Gilani has decided that, due to our pressing internal political situation, the advisor to the prime minister for national security – a former ambassador to Washington – will instead represent Islamabad. This will be the lowest Pakistani participation in SCO since its formation in 2001. It is true that Pakistan is still not a full member of the SCO. But Beijing is strongly advocating full membership for Islamabad and Moscow is more favorably inclined to go along than at any other time, putting aside Indian sensitivities.
Given how we are suffering from Washington’s destabilizing influence in our neighborhood, you would think we would have shown more enthusiasm for this week’s SCO summit. But this is not the case. What is interesting is that this attitude comes at the heel of several events in the past four months that have generated some concern among Pakistani Sinologists. This is a concern that has not turned to panic, not yet at least.
A couple of months ago, Dr. Shireen Mazari, a former head of a think tank funded by our Foreign Office, reported that our top diplomats received verbal ‘guidance’ from a well known Washington-based figure in the Gilani government to stop focusing too much on China and start a new policy of engagement with countries such as India and the United States. This could be a personal opinion or a general policy observation, and all elected governments have the right to review policies. But in China’s case, we have accumulated several bad examples recently that the subject merits a special discussion.
In April, a fresh Prime Minister Gilani refused to attend the Olympic Torch Relay ceremony as the torch passed through Islamabad on the pretext that President Musharraf was also attending.
Considering how western members of the International Olympic Committee refused to include Pakistan in the torch route and how Beijing stuck to Islamabad, the Apr. 16 incident in the Pakistani capital was certainly a ghastly show of lopsided priorities.
And then on Aug. 8, Pakistan’s participation at the level of President in China’s most important event of the century was scuttled because of Pakistani politics. You can be certain that our Chinese friends were not very impressed when we sent to Beijing a prime minister widely seen as ‘remote-controlled’ – as opposed to a ‘puppet’ – along with the teenage chairman of the ruling party. It didn’t quite give the impression that we attached a lot of importance to an important event for China. Overall, it would be an understatement to say that this has not been a good year so far for Sino-Pakistani ties.
The principals of the Gilani government must excuse the skeptics when things like this happen. After all, the government has shown a lot of enthusiasm in focusing on ties with the United States. Washington was the first real foreign engagement for Prime Minister Gilani. You can discount the Saudi visit. That was limited to a one-point agenda: Cheap oil. Certainly the government has shown a lot of interest in hiring the services of an ‘American enthusiast’ to be our ambassador in Washington, followed by appointing the last serving ambassador there as the new national security advisor to the prime minister.
This is a government tinged with a heavy American dose. That is fine since this is an important relationship for Islamabad. But in the process, China should not be sidelined.
Welcome To CIA-Sponsored Democracy
President Musharraf leaves office alone, besieged and abandoned. He is not leaving the country into strong hands. In fact, in the hands of the most the corrupt, unscrupulous and dangerous criminals this country ever produced. The regime-change game which CIA had initiated about one year ago finally succeeds. Musharraf’s removal is only a milestone in the larger CIA game of taking over Pakistan’s premier intelligence service, the ISI. Now another battle will begin for the control of power centers in Islamabad. Judges will not be restored and governance will not improve. Fasten your seat belts for some very bumpy ride in the coming days. The present leadership is not just incompetent; they are outright dangerous for the country. Now they cannot blame Musharraf for their failures and treasons and army would be watching their moves carefully.
By ZAID HAMID
Monday, 18 August 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—President Musharraf finally resigns; ill advised, surrounded and abandoned; he chose to take the path of least resistance. He tried to be dignified in defeat and recounted his victories and achievements but the sorry state is that his legacy is Zardari, NRO and a corrupt weak government in Islamabad with a country literally gone to dogs!
He is not leaving the country into strong hands, in fact in the hands of most corrupt, unscrupulous and dangerous criminals this country has ever produced. The regime change game which CIA had initiated about one year ago finally succeeds though his resignation remains only a milestone in the larger CIA game of taking over Pakistan’s premier intelligence service ISI.
The CIA sponsored, PPP executed, U.S. backed attempted coup against ISI had begun to unfold a few weeks back with a new ruthless cut throat political strategy and a new target designation. This plan has the following landmarks to be achieved in rapid succession:
- Removal of President Musharraf.
- Appointment of Mr. Zardari or his man as President.
- Bringing ISI again under Ministry of Interior.
- Complete take over of Pakistan’s security establishment by CIA.
There is no doubt that both U.S. and Britain are closely monitoring the moves of the army as the Army Chief is also a major hurdle in U.S. plans to bring ISI under MoI. With all the political parties in U.S. pocket, the army and the ISI are the next targets once the President has been annihilated.
Mr. Musharraf could have done better when he had decided to leave. He could have restored the judges to make life miserable for Zardari. He could have revoked the NRO to prevent Zardari from becoming the most powerful man in the country. He did neither and now Zardari is ecstatic and already planning to place his man, women or himself in the President house.
It is scavenging to the core by the political vultures and hyenas and now another battle will begin for the control of power centers in Islamabad. Judges will not be restored and governance will not improve. Fasten your seat belts for some very bumpy ride in the coming days. The present leadership is not just incompetent; they are outright dangerous for the country. Now they cannot blame Musharraf for their failures and treasons and army would be watching their moves carefully.
Welcome to CIA sponsored democracy.
This column is extracted from a situation report released by BRASSTACKS, a security and defense analysis think tank based in Islamabad. Mr. Zaid Hamid is its Founding Consultant. He can be reached at info@brasstacks.biz
Awami Muslim League
Sajjad Ahmad
July 20, 2008
Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad had announced his resignation from PML Q and announces his own party named “Awami Muslim League” in press conference today in Rawalpindi. He said that he is not looking the government playing a long inning and so he decided not to take part in the by elections.
Shaikh Rasheed, usually call himself a self made person, had faced the defeat in the last general elections and was quick to mark this defeat as the defeat to the party not to him! While taking his decision of retirement from politics back, he announced to make his own political party. He continuously and seriously hit hard on the political parties for not giving the way to the people like him to become a national leaders and thus trying to stop the way of those, who, he believes are the true and best representative of the people. Additionally, he also argued that his new party will change the political atmosphere of the country and will turn the current political system to its right direction.
Taking in view the saying of Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad, it is more acceptable and less illogical what he intend to say. Majority of the concerns raised by Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad are true. Such as middle class politicians are not allowed to come up in the list of leaders. As we all know that the majority of the leading politicians are bringing their sons and daughters to maintain their hold over politics and transferring the leaderships of their parties to the children, in the way that these are not the parties but the personal wealth of these leaders, which they are distributing to their children, before they get retired from the politics or died or get killed by each other. Benazir inherited the political property of her father and refused to give the legal share of this wealth to the rest of her brothers and sisters. As a result, there was never a good relationship between her and Murtaza Bhutto. And the assassination of Murtaza Bhutto, happened during her own rule, and was linked to Zardari, her husband. And she made sure that this wealth will be transferred to her son, even before her death. So the third generation of the Bhutto family the country will be facing in the next couple of decades. Read the rest of this entry »
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