M A I N   N E W S

Drift in Indo-Pak ties inevitable
Musharraf rules out fresh initiatives
From T. R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, July 6 — A drift in the Indo-Pak relations appears inevitable with Pakistan’s Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf ruling out any fresh initiatives from his side for resuming the stalled dialogue between the two countries.

There were contradictions in General Musharraf’s no-holds barred rhetoric that the ball was in India’s court to get the bilateral negotiations back on the rails as he did not want to be humiliated. “If I am humiliated then it is Pakistan’s humiliation,” he emphasised.

At the same time, he said the cause of tension between Pakistan and India was due to lack of cooperative endeavours. Both Pakistan and India owed it to their future generations to resolve their disputes and bring peace and prosperity in the region.

Interspersed with the hard and unbudging tone were the odd notes which were a pointer to General Musharraf being enmeshed in an extremely difficult situation in Pakistan. These fleeting moments came to the fore when the Mohajir

Chief Executive of Pakistan underlined the need for “statesmanship from the political elite.” In this context he said the media also had a key role to play in projecting that “Pakistan wants peace and the image that a person in uniform is a war-monger needs to be corrected.”

General Musharraf’s a calculated public relations exercise with 46 Indian media persons specially invited to Islamabad for a South Asia media seminar on July 1 and July 2 turned out to be an Indo-Pak encounter much to the chagrin of the wafer thin representation from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Bhutan and the Maldives went unrepresented.

Pakistan’s chief executive did not hedge any uncomfortable questions though he was highly repetitive in his responses to the Kashmir issue. He did not have any fresh ideas in breaking the Indo-Pak impasse when the relations had touched an all time low after the Kargil conflict last year.

The General’s agenda was clear. Kashmir was the core issue and if that question was addressed and resolved, then all the other irritants like Sir Creek and Wullar barrage would be removed smoothly. If India laid down pre-conditions for restarting the dialogue, then Pakistan could do likewise which would be unproductive.

“It is imperative to take up the core issue of Kashmir. That is what the people of Pakistan want. Otherwise, what is the use in getting involved in peripheral issues. There is no way we can move forward if conditionalities are imposed,” General Musharraf contended.

For all practical intents, it was a wounded soldier addressing Indian media persons. The message he was trying to convey was that the Indian leadership should not doubt his bon a fides especially when New Delhi had sat across the table with the late Gen Zia-ul-Haq, who was also a military ruler. While Pakistan recognised India as the world’s largest democracy, he was piqued that New Delhi had refused to recognise him or negotiate with his military regime.

To divert attention from the powerful Inter Services Intelligence-backed cross border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, General Musharraf sought to give the impression that it was India which had expansionist designs and that it was his duty to “most zealously guard and preserve the sovereignty, honour and dignity of Pakistan.”

General Musharraf made intense efforts to impress upon the Indian media that he was responsible enough to understand the importance of peace. He took exception to the European Union and other powerful international groups persuading Pakistan to restart negotiations with India for ensuring peace in the region.

The Pakistan Chief Executive’s bluntness as opposed to diplomatese did not carve out a niche for himself among the South Asia mediapersons be it the Indians, Pakistanis or the Bangladeshis. While the battery of Indian mediapersons were convinced that the General had made his point tellingly that he was intent in pursuing his own agenda, some Pakistani scribes firmly believed that the tottering Indo-Pak amity had suffered a grievous blow.

Interestingly, General Musharraf disclosed during his extended press conference last Sunday that all his ACRs had drawn pointed attention to his blunt and at times offensive style of putting things across. That had, however, not stopped him from reaching the top of the ladder as Chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan and assuming charge as Pakistan’s Chief Executive after a bloodless coup on October 1.

Poor look to Musharraf for help
From Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

ISLAMABAD, July 6 — The rich have got richer and the poor poorer. The minority middle class is fast vanishing. There is no relief for the commonman on the streets of Pakistan.

The rich have all the power and wealth to do what they please. The poor have nothing but hope that things would change for them one day.

And they look to the Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf for things to change. They have a vision of better things to come. A vision which was promised to them by the General himself when he took charge of Pakistan. The optimism which he reflected so strongly in his first address to the nation in October.

He had promised to rebuild the nation’s confidence and morale, strengthen federation, remove inter provincial disharmony and restore national cohesion. The General had promised that he would revive economy and restore investors’ confidence.

He assured that there would be law and order in the country and speedy justice, he would depoliticise state institutions, ensure devolution of power to the grassroots level and that there is swift and across the board accountability.

"Good governance is the pre-requisite to achieve these objectives. In the past, our governments have ruled the people. It is time now for the governments to serve the people." These words of the General have set the commonman thinking that probably he is their savior.

There is strong feeling about him among the deprived. "Hamen yakeen hai ki chief saab hamarey liye kuch karenge," say the people on the roads. They feel that successive governments in Pakistan have only helped the rich become richer and plundered money.

This is also the view of the people who are part of the establishment at present or have been associated with the governments in the past. They feel that whatever the General is doing was necessary to bring the nation back on the path of development and prosperity.

Although General Musharraf has treaded on too many toes in his quest to bring the nation back on rails, but some people feel it was needed. This would make things better in Pakistan they feel.

A former chief of all the ISI pointed out that people who were angry were those who were being made accountable. He pointed out that the rich in Pakistan had not paid taxes for years. So if the General was trying to get that money for the country, he is being targetted.

As per facts Pakistan is actually facing a financial crisis. There is no money for the education to be improved, for railways to be improved or even for providing basic facilities to the people.

The General recently pointed out that even 1 per cent of investment for improving education in the country would mean an investment of a billion rupees. From where will billions come, he asks and explains that there is no magic wand in his hand that will put everything in order.

As per reports, in a country with a population of 140 million, only 1.2 million pay taxes. And all previous governments have only been further burdening these taxpayers.

According to assessments made in Pakistan, if every person pays taxes as per his status there will be over 600 billion rupees coming in the coffers of the government. The General at a recent press conference had pointed out that in Pakistan every person was rich, but the country poor.

"The country is crumbling, and people are out to fill their pockets. So we are saying, pay taxes according to your income, if not more. We want to exempt the poor. No poor person will pay taxes. But anybody who has more than what he needs, why does he not pay tax?"