The great dictator...

So another eventful week in the history of Pakistan draws to a close and the forces of democracy or theocracy (what ever you prefer) have managed to drive out another dictator. I remember seeing a silent film by Charlie Chaplin called the "Great Dictator" where Mr. Chaplin is mistaken for the fuhrer and I liken Musharraf to that character.

Its baffling to see this nation's loyalty. One day every one you speak to was complaining about this stubborn man who refused to give up office even though his party lost the elections by a landslide and then hailed him as the saviour the moment he resigned. I personally think that makes him a coward not a hero. In his speech he claimed he has the right to answer all charges brought up against him and he would defend himself till the end however in all that some how, some where he dropped a bomb that he had decided to resign. Cue shock and awe.

I have to say I'm shocked! I didn't see this coming nor could I have expected a man of his ego to resign.. he does after all consider himself the saviour of Pakistan as he so eloquently put it while ending his speech "ab tu Pakistan ka Allah hi hafiz".

Well Mr. Musharraf lets see what you accomplished in an uninterrupted rule spanning almost a decade (for this is the people's right) and you for once have no power to order them otherwise. You claimed that during your rule there are no longer displays of arms by security guards in cars/on the streets or in political rallies.. clearly its been a while since you were in Karachi. Oh yeah how would you know the reality of life in Karachi? Traffic was brought to a halt and many innocent people died because ambulances were unable to reach hospitals as they waited for your parade to pass by.

You also seem to mention that you increased foreign reserves and made Pakistan prosperous during you reign. How of that was sustained growth sir? did any of the increased foreign reserves reflect increased exports? in fact during your reign the value of our exports dramatically declined as imports rose and local industries shifted to Dubai and Bangladesh because of your policies or lack there of. Mind you this is not capital that came in from abroad rather is local capital which had its roots in Pakistan and has decided to pack up and leave for a better, more friendlier and safer work environment. Previously it was unimaginable that a local industrialist would decide to cut his losses, pack up and move his entire production to a different nation.. congratulations sir another first for you.

I recently stumbled upon a pro-Mush facebook group and was quite amused that they believed him to be the great saviour this country needed and wanted him to build a constitution and a democratic nation.. let me remind you fools we had a constitution before Mush decided to mutilate it for his own gains and if you know any thing about nation building you will know that democracy is not achieved over night but is a slow and gradual process which is set back 20 years every time another military person decides to take over the country. How do you expect democratic institutions and thoughts to take root in this nation if a general decides to take over after 10 years of democratic rule? Make no mistake, we by no means are a democratic nation and will never move towards democracy as long as we have an armed force willing to take over the reigns and lack of education. The great dictator promoted democracy how? Constitutionally all presidents are elected by the incoming assemblies, not in Musharraf's case. He had the out going assemblies elect him.. why? he knew very well his party wasn't winning the popular vote after squandering away the country's resources, lack of power and the ever rising cost of food and fuel, forcing the country to accept a Prime Minister who essentially was a banker living in NY and is now financing banks in England. Oh yeah he was just appointed.. no need for you to take part in the general elections we'll give you a seat in Attock where you'll win unopposed and we can sell off every last resource this country owns and pocket the cash. Well played sir.

You sir are a traitor. What have you done to promote democracy in this nation? were you able to bring to the forefront any one with the potential of leading this nation in the future? never! for if such a person was to emerge it would undermine you and probably give you sleepless nights as you feared he may take over the chair you had grown to like. Was it the fear of being replaced and forgotten as a man that didn't matter in the history of Pakistan that kept you from bringing to the forefront new leaders instead of making deals and granting amnesty to the people you and your supporters call thieves?

You claim to be a patriot who strived day and night to keep Pakistan together. Well under your rule we saw the Baloch uprising and the Afghan influx. Due to your policies two of our provinces have almost broken away from what we know as Pakistan and a rash of suicide bombers have made their way into the country. Sure there were bomb blasts in Pakistan before you but never with such frequency, nor did the world look down on us as a nation of terrorists. You sir, have made us a nation of terrorists so much so that sporting teams from developed nations refused to tour Pakistan during your rule (the first time ever) on grounds of safety. When you as Chief of the Army staff and later as a stubborn mule of a president could not guarantee safety against such attacks how do expect a newly elected civilian government to turn things around in three months? Did you manage to achieve a peaceful Pakistan during your nine years of absolute rule? In fact you conned the nation into buying up properties in Gwadar (previously wholly owned by the army) and caused real estate values to sky rocket due to the speculation you allowed not to mention prevented a probe in to the stock market where thousands have lost their life savings due to the manipulation of a handful of people. I can not for the life of me reconcile the upward trend in the stock exchange with the lack of investment and the fleeting of capital this country has faced during your time.

Another bomb dropped during your last speech was that your vision for Pakistan was one of prosperity and education. How are we to witness an educated Pakistan with just 2% of the GDP going towards education. You wanted to see a Pakistan littered with schools and colleges.. how many schools and colleges did you open during your rule? in fact the newspapers were littered with reports of ghost schools and colleges during your rule. Come to think of it Sheikh Rasheed has opened more schools and colleges in his locality than you did in the whole of Pakistan.

Another one of your achievements and perhaps a cause of your downfall was the free media that you introduced. Unfortunately one can not keep every one happy and despite your initiative to introduce private television channels and free the media they were not too kind to you. So much so that you were forced to gag them and take them all off air making one wonder how much you valued the expression of free speech and now you complain that Nawaz has bought the media. Well sir, you never were a diplomat or a politician so perhaps over looked the law of the land. Cash rules everything around me. What you tried to do with force and barking down orders Nawaz did with his cheque book. Essentially the cheque book proved to be stronger than your bark.

Lets not forget, you never tried to endear yourself to the nation and always appeared before them to berate them or tell them how naive they were in trying to oppose you. You sir, appeared always to either order the nation or talk down to them and why wouldn't you? it wasn't as if a popular majority had brought you in to office you had forced your way into the highest office of the land and were unwilling to relinquish it.

You sir are a failure, you did nothing of consequence. You did not lay down any foundation of democracy nor were you able to find or encourage new leaders to replace the current crop all you did in your rule was find a way to facilitate their return and ensure they had nothing left to loot. You are no different from the crop of politicians past and present in fact you through an uninterrupted reign of almost a decade have ensured Pakistan impending doom.. I agree with your sentiment; "ab tu Pakistan ka Allah hi hafiz" - you haven't left us in any shape to move forward just a lot of wounds to heal.