I'll be off for the week, so no posts. Just wanted to tell you that Musharraf Sahib is President no longer. Rather than face the indignity of impeachment, he has removed himself, less than ten years on from his coup. My rule of Pakistan+10 continues. Every ten years, something happens in the country, roundabout, to radically reshape its destiny. Don't believe me?
1947 Partition; "two-nation theory" inadequately describes the failure of all parties to construct a power-sharing arrangement: Jinnah is right when he says that a minority of 100 million is no minority.
1958 Ayub Khan and his One State theory leads to two wars and two states. Though, early on, Pakistan was a promising Asian power. South Koreans came to Pakistan to learn our secrets.
1969-1971 First free national elections lead to ethnic cleansing. Good. Bangladesh splits off, to a history as troubled as Pakistan. (This does not, however, disprove two-nation theory, only point to a failure of imagination and democratic implementation: There is no Bangladeshi movement to rejoin India, after all; language constitutes a barrier - but so does religion.)
1977 Zia ul-Haq and military rule part III: Revenge of the Punjabi. Arming of the jihadis, spanking of the Soviet beast and a troubled intertwined history with Afghanistan.
1988 Zia ul-Haq's plane lands in many pieces before the airport (first time desis are known to prepone); all hail democracy (or not). Bhutto. Sharif. Bhutto. Sharif. Scream.
1999 Musharraf marks military part IV: A New Hope
2008 Flashback 1988: Democracy. Much the same players, except Musharraf didn't go out with a bang
Expect something for 2017-2019. How about "booming economy, rich cultural life and strong democratic institutions make Pakistan a leader in the Muslim world, and a reliable partner for India"? Or, 2028, the Summer Olympics: Lahore. Ooh.
I'm off to Connecticut, Boston, New Hampshire and Maine. Then classes. Salam all.
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