I came here to see the KR discussion on Pakistan, and found none. How disappointing. Topping the list is zoanthropy's usual stuff which few people can relate to, as well as ZTed's usual meaningless liberal shit-stirring.

As Clove's caption used to say, "this above all?"

But back to the recent Pakistan developments.... Does anyone else see the irony of the Bush administration and Condoleeza Rice, and their communication (or what we know of these messages) to Musharraf?

Any comments?

Oh, I'm sure democracy is just a rainbow away!

I don't know too much about Pakistan, but I do know that separation from India was not a good thing for them. I've heard that there are more Muslims in India than the population of Pakistan (and they actually live in a democracy). It kind of makes you think why Indian Muslims fought so hard for an independant state in the first place.

As for Benazir Bhutto, isn't she like one of the most corrupt politicians ever?

i am no scholar in south asian history.
but i guess in principle/theory, the idea of setting up their own country (before corrupt politicians ruined it) was pretty good. i've read lots of stories where right-wing hindu parties in india, like shiv sena or hindutva or bjp, have treated the muslim minority horribly. there have been massacres on innocent muslims. textbooks in government based schools (during the years whenever these parties hold a lot of influence in daily politics) are biased towards them. et cetera.

sorry for the double post.

i haven't been keeping up with the recent news of political developments in pakistan (i've only skimmed over a few articles), but there seems to be a lot of discussion about the recent state of emergency on this (south asian-centric) blog:
Sepia Mutiny
you have to scroll down a bit to find the older articles, but it's still interesting to see other peoples' views on the issue.

I just find it mostly amusing in a bitter cycnical way, that you have got someone saying "Let's have democracy, but I will do everything in my power to make sure that the voice of the people is recorded as conveniently wanting ME in charge".