"Extraordinary circumstances…
needed extraordinary measures… no half-hearted measures. I
had to act and I acted. "
– Pervez Musharraf
GENERAL PERVAIZ MUSHARRAF:
A REFORMER AND A TRUE NATIONALIST
Fortunately, we are living in a country where democracy prevails
to some extent. I would like to take the liberty of expressing my
views for a person who fought three wars for Pakistan and saved
it from many hardships. He is none other than Former President Gen
® Pervez Musharraf. In his tenure he brought about many positive
changes in Pakistan. The issues surrounding his achievements are
endless therefore I’ll be shedding some light on “enlightened
moderation”
People criticize enlightened moderation because they believe it
adapts western ways and goes against Islamic teachings. Let me tell
you what enlightened moderation is. It is a progressive Islam where
women are empowered and economy is flourishing. We are living in
the modern world, we cannot let our women be derived of their birth
right which is acquiring education. 1500 years back our Holy Prophet
(pbuh) made education compulsory for both men and women. He did
not say that education is compulsory for women only. Similarly Quaid-e-Azam
wanted Pakistan to be an Islamic, welfare, modern and a democratic
state. After Gazw-e-Ohad Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said that time
has come for Jihad-e-Akbar (bigger jihad). Jihad means a noble struggle
to eradicate extremism, ignorance, illiteracy and poverty. This
is what exactly what enlightened moderation is.
Former President Musharraf saved Pakistan’s sinking economy
when it was about to be declared a failed state. It was due to his
wise approach and aggressive decisions that brought economic revival
to Pakistan. Immense foreign investment was witnessed during his
tenure like telecom industry and banking sector. Pakistan became
no 3 in banking profitability. Multinationals like Telenor, Warid
Telecom, World Call and Wateen established their businesses and
created a healthy competition in the telecom industry, as a result
customers got good deals and 7 lac people were employed. As privatization
is the backbone of economic revival, so many industries were privatized
like PTCL and Habib Bank Limited and many institutions were denationalized.
Lets take the example of Forman Christian College that has been
privatized and drastic improvements in the standard of education
have been witnessed. Industrial estates were setup throughout Pakistan
like Sundar Industrial estate in Lahore which employs 60,000 people.
Gawadar port became functional and highways were constructed throughout
the country. So his visionary leadership brought GDP growth to 7
%, stock exchange to 17000 points dollar was sustained at Rs 60
and foreign exchange reserves were at the highest. Thus president
Musharraf brought economic revolution to Pakistan. The present government
openly criticizes the economic policies of General Musharraf while
begged in front of IMF on the basis of his economic policies. If
the economic boom was fake then why did the IMF approve a loan on
the basis of previous economic policies?
We are living in a modern world where we cannot let our women be
derived of their birth right which is acquiring education. President
Musharraf emancipated the women of Pakistan and gave them their
due rights which even a woman prime minister could not give. During
his tenure, the first seven female fighter pilots were inducted
into Pakistan Air Force which was the real empowerment. Women were
inducted as cadets in army, navy, rangers, and commandoes in police,
traffic wardens and national highway police for the first time.
They were inducted in 1122 as well. He increased women representation
in the National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies, and local government
system, for which I can firmly say is more than any western democracy.
He abolished the discriminatory laws like honor killing, vani, karo
kari, and Quran marriage etc.
President Musharraf empowered the youth of Pakistan by lowering
the voting age to 18. He gave youth the power to vote and in turn
decide their futures. This was something really remarkable. Higher
Education Commission was setup in 2003 and in its 6 year tenure
43 universities were initiated, research output grew to 400%, and
student enrollment was tripled from 125,000 to 375,000. This is
something to be really appreciated. According to different world
institutions, there is no better example than Pakistan’s growth
in higher education. For the first time a Pakistani university was
ranked amongst the top 400 universities of the world. Forman Christian
College is the biggest example of HEC. Other examples are virtual
university, University of Gujrat, Malakand University, university
of Chakdara, Air University Islamabad etc.
President Musharraf brought the essence of democracy by enforcing
local government system to transfer funds to grass root level and
as a result health and educational facilities improved to a great
extent and thus the people of Pakistan were empowered.
Now I would like to mention his biggest achievement which was media
freedom and how in the end he himself fell prey to it. He rightly
said “I am a victim of my own creation”. It is true
media is a commodity that goes with the best bidder. Before 1999
there was only one television channel and that was PTV. Today there
are countless channels with which we are well aware of what’s
going on in our country and we can easily point out the wrongs of
our society.
Critics say that not a single MW of electricity was produced in
his tenure. The expansion of Mangla Dam was bigger than any dam,
then he revived the thar coal project which contains the world’s
second largest coal reserves which are 148 million tones, and if
we use even 4% of that coal we will not have power shortage for
about 40 years. Then he initiated Neelam Hydro power project of
1000 MWs, then he gave a plan of Basha Dam which will be the world’s
largest rollercoaster dam and will produce 4500 MWs, built Mirani,
Subukzai and Zhob dams which irrigated lacs of acres.
What the present government is doing is that it has stopped funds
for Basha Dam just because it was initiated by General Musharraf.
Now the question that arises is why we have become short of electricity.
It was due to the immense industrialization during his tenure. The
demand of electricity was increased from 7% to 15%. The pace of
growth and consumption of electricity could not be calculated, but
it was not intentional. The situation became worst under the current
government. Atta, ghee, gas, and electricity went missing ad suddenly
reappeared after the elections. What a coincidence? This was a part
of a greater conspiracy against him to destabilize his power and
infect Pakistan. This conspiracy started from 2004 when President
Musharraf refused to handover A. P. Khan to the USA. Western powers
wanted a liberal government which could give them complete access
to Pakistan, so therefore our current situation is before you I
need not ellaborate
President Pervez Musharraf was the only leader who defended Pakistan
when it was at the risk of two front wars. What a courageous leader
he was that while standing with the world’s most powerful
president he disclosed that America threatened Pakistan to take
Pakistan back to the Stone Age.
National security had become a vigilant issue during President
Musharraf’s term but he managed to handle the situation in
a very professional and fair manner. During his term Pakistan became
self sufficient in defence production and our defence revenue reached
the highest level. We made Al-Zarrar and Al Khalid tanks, which
are one of the best tanks in the world. Then we made JF17 thunder
jets parallel to F-16s in collaboration with China and Agosta submarines
in collaboration with France and last but not the least we made
unmanned drones (Auqab).
The most important and historic peace initiatives he took with
India have no parallels. We must not ignore the famous handshake
with Vajpayee in the SAARC conference, which changed the whole Indo-Pak
scenario. As a result, from 2004 not a single bullet was fired from
both sides on LOC till the end of his tenure. His able leadership
skills brought the Kashmir resolution on table and his Kashmir road
map was widely hailed throughout the world. AG Noorani, an eminent
Indian lawyer said, “President Musharraf brought the Kashmir
solution to resolution but unfortunately couldn’t be resolved
due the internal mess these lawyers created”.
The Kashmir peace road map was a line of action in order to resolve
the Kashmir issue. It stated that there be demilitarization, free
trade, and free movement on both sides; and LOC was to be made “Line
of Commerce”. Borders were to be made irrelevant. There would
have been maximum self governance for the kashmiris under the watch
of Pakistan and India for 15 years. As a result ties with India
improved drastically like never before which further improved the
trade, air and railway links. During President Musharraf’s
tenure, we had at par relations with India and other superpowers.
His achievements can never be denied.
Soon after the so called judicial movement started, it was part
of a greater conspiracy to overthrow Gen Musharraf's regime because
he took stand on many important and sensitive national issues like
refusal to handover A.Q Khan and sending our troops to Iraq, Gawadar
port's completion, IPI gas pipeline, Nuclear missile programme,
relations with China etc. He was never dictated nor influenced by
anyone that’s why he was not suited to the foreign powers
so they decided to overthrow him and they succeeded. The fake judicial
movement was foreign funded too because there are around two lac
lawyers in Pakistan and at the time it seemed that the whole nation
of sixteen crore had become lawyers. According to Ahmad Qureshi,
a renowned journalist the people who participated in that movement
were paid professional agitators who were only planted to destabilize
Gen Musharraf’s government.
A reference was filed against the CJ by the PM and was passed to
the president. He referred it to the supreme judicial council and
then to the full bench. It was fully constitutional. As a result
the CJ was restored and the president accepted this whole heartedly.
But what did Iftikhar Choudhary want to do? He wanted to derail
the democratic process which was put on rail and for the first time
assemblies were about to complete their 5 years term. Regarding
3rd November steps, again whatever he did was constitutional and
in the supreme national interest.
Abraham Lincoln who was the 16th President of the United States
violated the constitution and flouted its laws many times. He told
the people that the most important clause of the constitution is
to preserve the country. So if someone is flouting the laws and
violating the constitution in order to preserve the country, that
person is still abiding by the constitution because he would be
following the most important clause of the constitution which is
to preserve the country. At that time America was facing the civil
war.
Now the question is what situation did Pakistan face that President
Musharraf had to take the 3rd November steps. The answer is Pakistan
was facing civil disobedience and a parallel judicial government
was in the making that paralyzed the executive and the government
ceased to function. So these steps were in need at the time and
had to be taken. For the first time assemblies completed their term
which was a big achievement. In this way President Musharraf saved
the democratic process which no one other than him could do. Then
he initiated the process of reconciliation in which he brought back
the self deposed leadership of Pakistan, acting in line with the
people’s wishes.
For the first time assemblies completed their term which was a
big achievement. In this way President Musharraf saved the democratic
process which no one other than him could do. Then he initiated
the process of reconciliation in which he brought back the self
deposed leadership of Pakistan, acting in line with the people’s
wishes.
The most free, fair, and transparent elections were conducted under
him. He added another word which was peaceful and for the first
time such peaceful elections were held. The law and order situation
was never so bad under his government. It deteriorated after the
elections. The peaceful election in Swat is a testimony to my statement.
Finally, the impeachment drama started. It was not simply a number
game, the baseless charges leveled against him were to be proved
and this could have taken many months. Prestigious institutions
like army would have been dragged into the parliament which would
have lead to the disclosure of national secrets. Just to save the
prestige and integrity of the Army and to prevent the political
chaos, he stepped down in the supreme national interest and proved
that he meant by what he said that, “Pakistan comes first”.
On 18th August 2008 we lost a great leader who always led from the
front and President Musharraf will be remembered as the greatest
leader Pakistan ever had, Infact people have started remembering
him like well-known journalists Najam Sethi and Hasan Nisar. After
General Musharraf we have sadly reverted to the parliament of corrupt
politicians who unfortunately do not understand the true meaning
of nationalism as does honorable President Pervez Musharraf, a true
nationalist of Pakistan.
People used to call him a dictator.
What is the situation now?
Pakistan is being ruled by a civilian dictator.
Saad Naseer Malik
FC college
BSC(HONS) Economics 2nd year
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Why
we support
President Pervez Musharraf?
Question: Which political organization supports your vision?
Answer: Pasdar-e-Pakistan
is a grassroots organization of my supporters. The Pasdars have
been holding seminars, conventions, press conferences and public
demonstrations on issues of national concern. They are engaged in
building support all over Pakistan and beyond. As this organization
expands its membership of registered supporters, I urge you to offer
your support to it.
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