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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (42405)	4/15/2002 8:31:10 PM
From: SARMAN	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50167

Dear Iqbal I condemn any attack on innocent people no matter what side they are on. Innocent people should not be killed. No one should suffer for someone else's benefit. When one life is lost, no one wins even if one the parties is declared victorious. In term of my views, they did not change. I still feels that the US foreign policy dictate what happens in the Middle East. Israel will not attack without a green light from the US nor any country in the Middle East will do any move with the same green light from the US. I also still feels that the US foreign policy is not objective and self serving. Regards

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (42405)	4/17/2002 9:05:25 PM
From: Narotham Reddy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50167

Musharraf's 'Surreal Spectacle' NY Times, Editorial, April 17, 2002 Pakistan's Perpetual President In the two and a half years since he seized power in a military coup, Gen. Pervez Musharraf has frequently pledged to return Pakistan to democratic rule. But General Musharraf deludes himself if he thinks the presidential referendum he has scheduled at the end of the month is an affirmation of democracy. He is campaigning unopposed and plans to extend his presidency for five years after the vote. In a surreal spectacle, General Musharraf has been barnstorming around Pakistan holding rent-a-crowd rallies while barring anti-referendum demonstrations. His heavy-handed tactics can only undermine the nation and weaken its ability to fight terrorism. Pakistan has been run by military dictators for most of its history. General Musharraf's coup in 1999 was unjustified but nonetheless accepted by many Pakistanis who had grown tired of the corruption and abuses by Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both of whom are now in exile. The general has impressed Americans, and indeed the whole world, with his help in defeating the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and his crackdown on terrorists at home. President Bush has repeatedly declared his appreciation. General Musharraf was mistaken if he took these expressions of support as a green light to press his referendum and avoid democratic accountability. With the war on terrorism far from won and the Muslim world unsettled by the situation in the Middle East, General Musharraf may think he is doing the United States a favor by extending his term. He is wrong, in principle and in practice. He has, until now, won broad support for his antiterrorism campaign within Pakistan, especially among the nation's educated elite — members of its business and landowning class, politicians, human rights groups and even many mainstream religious leaders. His recent blunt tactics to promote the referendum risk alienating the very supporters who have stood by him. The general's attacks on Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Sharif yesterday appear to have been inspired by the fact that these two former leaders' supporters are actively opposing the referendum. General Musharraf said the two would be arrested if they tried to return to Pakistan. He is not the first leader to equate endorsement of his leadership with the survival of his country, but such an overstatement is hardly likely to help get the country back to elected government. The Bush administration has mildly questioned the legitimacy of the referendum. It should more forcefully tell General Musharraf that his plan can only undermine the respect he has earned throughout the world since Sept. 11.