MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, US: This is with reference to M Ziauddin’s article “Musharraf” (January 22). I would like to point out that unlike what is mentioned in the article, the Gross Domestic Product of the country does not shoot up because of consumerism. Indeed, some industries were fundamentally restructured during General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s time. We must give due credit to the military ruler’s achievements instead of discounting his work to comply with popular, anti-Musharraf opinion, which is devoid of the truth.
There was more infrastructure put in place during Musharraf’s time than in any other time in the history of Pakistan, save the Ayub Khan era. We should not be quick to discount the achievements of Musharraf regime just because we are being forced to acquiesce to popular sentiment. One must speak and write the truth even if it does not sell.
I do agree with the writer that Musharraf is anything but a coward. He has guts and unfortunately, in this land of cowards and hypocrites, our people are blind to what he was able to do for Pakistan vis-a-vis the messy politics of former president Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Assad Hasan
Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2014.
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COMMENTS (3)
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@Anees, sterry -- you really worked hard to impress you Lords of Raiwind or is it lords or Larakana. Just talk to the businessmen, student, laborer or even housewives who dont care much about the stats but the daily life. Why dont you get the stats that proves otherwise?
Musharraf is responsible for all of Pakistan's current problems. He is a coward of the highest order who took over illegally with a gun. He deserves to be charged with treason and put in jail. Nobody believes any of his false statistics about growth over his ten year illegal rule and most economists do talk about a consumer bubble. And please tell me what infrastructure this dictator made in 10 years - all I know is that he did not add 1 kw of energy to the national energy grid and the nation is still suffering from his lack of foresight. It doesn't surprise me that in our land of cowards and hypocrites, a person like Musharraf is venerated by some.
The article is full of rhetoric but falls short in give any factual data. The author states, "There was more infrastructure put in place during Musharraf’s time than in any other time in the history of Pakistan," I would to ask if the author could provide some data to back his claim.
As to coward, I agree neither Musharaf was coward nor Tiger Naizi. May be we need to remove the word coward from the dictionary, then not even a question of a coward.