An die-hard believer in Obama's policies, I must say I was a little disappointed myself at his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. I wrote a pice in Pakistan Link and I add that to my blog as well. I was surprised to see so many supporters of the President protesting on Wilshire Blvd. while he was here in L.A. fundraising for DNC.
President's promise to us was that the war in Iraq would end in sixteen months but that seems unlikely with the present state of affairs. that leaves supporters like me, a little disheartened. We have destroyed two countries and taken them back to dark ages; we still have not been able to come up with a viable plan for both countries. For the sake of national security, the military plans aren't being shared with us, I hope business is not getting back to the way it was in D.C?
I was moderating a forum arranged by a non-profit organization, COPAA and a few Pakistani Students
organizations of Ca. The hope that was lit up like lightening when Obama took oath of office, dimmed a little when I heard, a very moderate professor say:
"I feel President Obama is going back on his promises to end wars."
The reason his comment resonates with me is that this American professor has traveled all over the Muslim world and is very aware of the ground realities. Another professor came to President's defense and
reminded the audience that he has done a lot in a short time; he is building bridges with the Muslim world which no President has done before.
As a Pakistani American, I urge the government of President Obama to hear us out. US governments meet officials in power in Pakistan, some of them very controversial and tainted with corruption, and they make deals with them. This makes the Pakistanis think that America makes deals only because of self-interest and forgets the ideals of her founding fathers, liberty, peace justice for all.
If America really wants to impact change and spread the ideals of democracy in Pakistan, it must sow the seeds of democracy by forcing political parties to hold elections within to choose their leaders. Pakistan is an inheritance of the landlords like the Chaudhrys and the Bhuttos. They are feudals, they own the land that the 40% of the iliterate Pakistani grow crops and live on. They are like the serfs in medieval times, they own allegience to these landlords and they have no choice but to stamp a vote for their mostly corrupt feudal lord. If we really want to democratize Pakistan, after the war on extremism is over, we must pressure Pakistani governement to have their political parties hold elections for their leadership. Why did Zardari become the chairman of his party? The old party big wigs of PPP are still unhappy with that decision.
These are the issues that trouble the minds of the young people in pakistan. That we Americans, want to impose democracy but only want leaders that are sympathetic to the west and have no respect for their choices. There are parties like the MQM that have leaders that have risen from the sheer hard work and merit, we must promote that thinking if we want to sincerely democratize Pakistan.
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