Friday, August 1, 2008

Washington disappointed by new face of Pak democracy

Washington disappointed by new face of Pak democracy (By Shaheen Sehbai)

some excerpts:

What they found lacking was the depth of understanding and vision in dealing with complex international and security issues, articulation to comprehend and project Pakistani policies in a clear and candid way, more so on public places than in closed door meetings. They did not find the will and the capacity in the prime minister to grasp the importance of issues, take control of matters and make decisions which he could sustain.

The one issue which damaged Gilani’s credibility as a potentially serious leader and policy-maker was the brutally botched up ISI fiasco. Whoever did this to Gilani actually torpedoed his US visit, which turned into a non-starter the moment the ISI notification was withdrawn. It was beyond Gilani to stand by his order for more than a few hours and Washingtonians got the message that they were dealing with a non-entity and should not take him seriously.

On top of this image, the prime minister personally did not do anything to help himself. Whenever Gilani read from a written script, he was coherent, articulate and looked like a man who knew what he was talking about. But the moment the script was over and he had to answer questions, the level of discourse and understanding came crashing down to earth. The contrast was so stark and embarrassing it discounted both the images Gilani presented and made him look like artificial and someone who was being remote-controlled.

Washington was not ready for such a visit and whoever forced it on Gilani did a great disservice to the man, to the party he represents and to Pakistan’s infant democracy. At a time of great internal political, administrative, security, economic and social turmoil, packing him off to Washington as a showpiece, so early in office, could at best be described as a deep conspiracy of sorts.

Indeed I'm wondering too as to who exactly forced this visit on him? My guess? Zardari and his idiot friends. And who did all the "torpedoeing" ?? Zardari and his friends. And who engineered the ISI humiliation? .... Zardari and his friends.

The three main characters along with a coeterie of musharraffites was: Zardari, Haqqani and Malik.

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