Musharraf Improves his Credentials!

Musharraf again in unwelcome company
Daily Times, February 17, 2008

WASHINGTON: President Pervez Musharraf is once again included by Parade magazine among the world’s 20 “worst dictators”, having moved from No 15 last year to No 8 in the current listing. Parade magazine is distributed with the weekend edition of almost every American newspaper and has a readership running into millions. The citation to the listing of the Pakistani president says, “In recent months, Musharraf suspended Pakistan’s constitution, shut down the courts, arrested several thousand dissidents and passed a law removing challenges to his continuation as president. He allowed former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan but barred Nawaz from running in elections. Benazir was assassinated – an act that some observers tie to Musharraf’s government.” It adds, “The US considers Pakistan a valuable economic and political ally. Americans bought almost $3 billion worth of Pakistani cotton clothing and fabrics in 2007. Even after Musharraf suspended the constitution, Bush said Musharraf had ‘advanced democracy in Pakistan’. The US has given him more than $7 billion in military aid in the last six years, which critics say has largely been spent on arms to fight India, not terrorists.” Parade’s “Top Ten” are: Kim Jong-Il of North Korea (No 2 in 2007), Omar al-Bashir of Sudan (No 1 in 2007), Than Shwe of Myanmar (No 6 in 2007), King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (No 5 in 2007), Hu Jintao of China (No 4 in 2007), Rober Mugabe of Zimbabwe (No 7 in 2007), Sayyid Ali Khamenei (No 3 in 2007), Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan (No 15 in 2007), Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan (No 8 in 2007) and Ilayas Afewerki of Eirtirea (No 13 in 2007). khalid hasan