From
The Joke Now Official
Dawn, January 19, 2007
The military-facilitation club, by now Pakistan’s premier institution, has a distinguished membership. The Gauhars may write the memoirs of military saviours, Mr Pirzada fixes the constitutional ropes for them.
In his book ‘In The Line of Fire’ — hugely acclaimed when it came out but now, alas, making its way to the sidewalks where second-hand books are sold, a boon for those who can’t afford the high price of new books in Pakistan — the president says he acquired his gift for public speaking when he was at the Command and Staff College, Quetta. The Staff College, I suppose, has something to answer for.
There is plenty of dissatisfaction across the country with the present scheme of things but none of the bitter polarisation as existed between Bhutto and anti-Bhutto forces in 1977. After seven years and a virtual cult of verbosity, Musharraf inspires boredom (and plenty of it). He still does not inspire hatred — the visceral hatred which brings people to the streets and drives them to pull everything down. Apart from the army’s divisions, this may be his biggest strength.
No comments:
Post a Comment