Comments on: Musharraf: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death ( Shi’ra Law )

By: Blue Star Chronicles

Blue Star Chronicles — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:33:04 +0000

Trouble in Pakistan…

The situation in Pakistan is very unsettling. President Pervez Musharraf is caught between a rock and a hard place and is holding onto power by the end of his fingernails….

By: zzb

zzb — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:41:41 +0000

Thanks Mark for rounding out the perspective and discussion. War makes for some strange bedfellows. Clearly the Musharruf regime is closer to a dictatorship and becoming “Chavez like” as time goes by. One does have to wonder about these counter balancing forces and it is not indirectly an indictment of the FAILURE of the world community to unite to promote freedom and liberty. His actions yesterday clearly seem out of desperation which is ominous in itself !!

By: Mark Kraft

Mark Kraft — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:19:43 +0000

Martial law won’t stabilize Pakistan. Rather, it will lead to tyranny and a radicalization of the Pakistani opposition, as all legitimate democratic systems that could oppose Musharraf have now been outlawed.

A look at the history of Middle East makes it clear — corrupt military governments that deny their people legitimate means of self-determination give rise to armed, radical Islamist uprisings,which are seen as popular reformers by a public demanding an end to corruption and state violence and repression. That’s what led to the Taleban uprising against the corrupt warlords of Afghanistan, and the Iranian revolution against the U.S. supported Shah of Iran.

If Pakistan’s Supreme Court decided that Musharraf could not legally run for office, all hell would not break loose. Rather, one of Pakistan’s two prior leaders would be elected to office. The one prior to Musharraf’s coup was actually a legitimately elected leader who wasn’t transparently stealing from the state, like Bhutto did.

It’s time that U.S. foriegn policy started thinking about what’s best for the people of Pakistan and their longterm democratic government, as opposed to maintaining a dysfunctional alliance with a dictator. Isn’t that how we got into a mess with Saddam in the first place?

In response to Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of martial law and illegal dismissal of a Pakistani Supreme Court Justice, I am encouraging all bloggers out there who want true democratic rule for Pakistan’s 165 million people to unite in opposition.

From now on, I am asking bloggers to consistantly refer to Musharraf as “Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf” consistantly linking back to a post I made explaining this idea in greater detail.

The post allows threaded comments, so that those opposed to Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf can start discussing ways that we can organize and unite in opposition to his dictatorial actions.

My hope is that a consistant message of opposition to martial law and support for democracy in Pakistan can help to influence the media away from legitimizing the Musharraf regime by referring to him as a President. By definition, he cannot be a President if he refuses the right for his government’s Supreme Court to decide whether his running for office is legal or not.

Please drop by the post, leave a comment as to what ideas you have on how we can best unite in opposition to martial law, and please do consider using the phrase “Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf”, linking back to the post.

Thanks,
Mark Kraft

By: zzb

zzb — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:55:08 +0000

Very insightful Scotty. One might ask. Aren’t all religions “man made”? I get the sense of what you are saying. There can be a corruption of the spirituality that is a personal part of any religion that becomes transformed formed by “man” for the purposes of emassing power and control. That is a perversion of religion in all it’s forms and has been a problem for mankind since the Dark Ages right up into the present.
Radial Christians who commit acts of murder in the name of Jesus - to foster their own beliefs - fall into the same camp of a religion “hijacked”. It’s a complicated subject rooted in anthropology and sociology that is ofter difficult to unravel. — Thanks for your comment — ZZ

By: scotty777

scotty777 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:37:37 +0000

Interesting article. It may actually pan out that way if things come unglued in Pakistan. Al Qaeda and Taliban will try and seize on the opportunity to promote Islamo-fascist leaders to take control of the government. It just seems like it just a matter of time before we have a thermo nuclear “accident” somewhere on the planet within our lifetimes unless these radical forces are stopped in their tracks, madrases preaching death and destruction to Israel and the U.S. are eradicated. and the U.S. develops a strong coalition with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and the former “Soviet - stans” in the Region. To help establish Democracy and not Theocracy as the form of government in these countries. Organized Religion (man made religion not spiritual religion) is turning out to be the bane of civilization. We never did learn the difference between the two even after 2000 years.