Dear cj,
A good rule of thumb seems to be: if the US government is _for something,
then then there must be something really wrong with it; if they're _against
something, then it probably has a lot to be said for it.
rkm
============================================================================
To: •••@••.•••
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 12:42:08
Subject: Cook-Clinton democracy analysed
From: •••@••.••• (Parveez Syed)
Wednesday 20 April 1999 London-UK (pk99101c)
From: Parveez Syed
Shanti Communications, Global Media Monitoring Unit
One Stuart Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8RA1 UK
Telephone: London-UK 0044-(0)7831-196693
E-Mail INTERNET: •••@••.•••
Copyright 1999 (c) Shanti Communications news agency. All rights
reserved. The following feature may not be republished or
redistributed, in whole or in part. Copying, storing, transfer,
redistribution, retransmission, publication and exploitation of
this information is hereby expressly forbidden without the prior
written consent of Shanti Communications UK. Section 326 of the
USA-FCC Communications Act; Title 17 USC Section 107; Article 19
of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the First Amendment
US rights apply to all material, contents and ideas published and
broadcasted by Shanti Communications and Shanti RTV news agency.
Cook-Clinton democracy analysed (pk99101c)
by Parveez Syed (c) Shanti Communications
LONDON, England (SC/SRTV) Wednesday 20 October 1999 - Pakistan
was suspended from the Commonwealth yesterday when clueless
British foreign minister, Robin Cook, led an ill-informed
campaign to punish and control Pakistan for refusing to follow
US orders and dictats to restore sham democracy, and the corrupt
government which was dismissed on Tuesday 12 October 1999.
The ill-informed decision to suspend Pakistan from the
Commonwealth - a club of 54 British colonies - was taken without
due considersations. There was no Pakistani envoy at the meeting
of the Commonwealth foreign ministers in London-UK on Monday 18
October 1999 - less than a week after the dismissal of Sharif and
his cabinet, and when the new administration was in the process of
constructing a cabinet.
The decision to suspend "is ill-informed," according to one
Western intelligence source. "Cook rushed to please his US
masters. He did not have time to hear the other side of the
story," the source told Shanti Communications news agency.
Pakistan was not represented at the meeting in London - a fact
that all mass and ethnic media groups ignored - where the club
chief admitted that there has been no violation of human rights
in the bloodless coup.
US president Bill Clinton "is calling for a return to democratic
principles, but politicians in Pakistan have rarely practiced
them. For more than 11 years, since the end of the last military
dictatorship, most of them have behaved like medieval barons,
plundering what remained of the nation's wealth. The bloodless war
against corruption is necessary to restore the confidence of
foreign and domestic investors. The coup is a bitter medicine to
save Pakistan from 'democratic' parasites and the vulturistic
US-UK masters; to clean up Pakistan; to restore and preserve
genuine, legitimate democracy. Cook's quick decision is pretext
designed to please his US masters, paving the way to punish and
control the strategic Muslim country forever," the sourced said.
"The interruption of the corrupt political process is most likely
to serve the longer-term interests of the people and of
democracy. The alternative was a bloody brutal civil war,
leading to disintegration of the country, threatening its
national security; its territorial integrity and compromising
its independence," the source explained.
It seems Cook has unilaterally backed himself, the Commonwealth,
most UN members, the World Bank and the IMF in a dead end corner
at a time when the US-UK sanctions and interventions against
Pakistan have backfired, depriving the masters of their ability
to shape events when it matters most. Cook is part of a cabinet
led by a 'democratic' British prime minister, Tony Blair, who is
currently trying to 'fix' the selection of his Labour Party's
mayoral candidate in London. Just like the Sharifs and the
Bhuttos, Blair is also often referred to as the total control
freak. Blair, who claims to be a democrat, has also fixed the
party's candidates selection process in Scotland and Wales. His
government and agencies continue to exclude and repress certain,
selective minorities in the civilised Britain today. "For most
Muslims in Pakistan and Britain democracy is a facade," one
community leader told Shanti Communications news agency.
"In India, Mrs Indira Gandhi imposed an emergency in 1977, and
took actions which were clearly against democratic values, but
India was not suspended or excluded from the Commonwealth and
the UN. Even today human rights groups report violations and
persecution of Christians; the Sikhs in Indian Punjab and the
India occupied Kashmir where the natives are denied the right of
self determination for 52 years," the community leader added.
Now there are no human rights violations in Pakistan. There is
Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) that is quite different
from the 1977 PCO of General Zia-Ul-Haq. Under the provisions of
the Musharraf's PCO, fundamental rights remain intact and in
force. Judges have not been called upon to take oath under the
1999 PCO and the courts continue to function as before. The new
PCO does not prevent the Court from entertaining any legitimate
petition. Even the deposed or dismissed prime minister Sharif has
been given proper treatment, and no physical harm has come to
him. In little more than two years in office, Sharif had attacked
most of the country's important institutions; he jailed members of
the media; helped drive from office a chief justice of the supreme
court and a president; amended the constitution to take away the
president's power to dismiss the prime minister and parliament.
Pakistan's constitution has been violated more often than the
honour of a kerb-crawler. Sharif is the subject of serious
corruption, criminal and treason charges and presided over a
near collapse of Pakistan's economy. The country had 11 years of
Bhutto and Sharif. Each regime has been worse than its
predecessor. Both did all this and more with the full blessings
of the masters, interventionists and their advisors. Their
rogue, US-UK approved "democratic" regimes were repressive,
despotic, deceitful, corrupt and incompetent. They can not be
exonerated for their repeated illegal, immoral abuses.
A court in Pakistan has sentenced the former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto, and her husband Asif Ali Zardari to five-year
jail terms for receiving a bribe from a Swiss company. The
couple also face trial on several other charges of corruption.
She denies any wrongdoing and has accused the Sharif government
of political victimisation. Sharif and his government ministers,
owe hundreds of millions of pounds to the state-controlled
commercial banks. Huge loans were acquired by misusing political
influence and were never repaid and evaded tax. "They have robbed
the banks and the people of Pakistan. A list of defaulters made
public by Pakistan's State Bank a few years ago reads like a
Who's Who of Pakistan politics. Top of the list is the Ittefaq
group of industries owned by Sharif's family and businesses
belonging to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, his Home Minister, and
Saifur Rehman, Sharif's closest aide. Several politicians and
their aides in the past have faced trials and been convicted of
corruption. They have acquired huge assets in Britain, the US
and many other countries," the community leader explained.
They made a mockery of what the US-UK masters would like to call
democracy. There was no justice. "It is hard to defend pathetic
democrats like of Sharifs, Bhuttos and the US-UK imposed and
sustained despotic kings, emirs and sheikhs in the oil rich
Middle East and north Africa. Only the handlers and the masters
and their mass media groups can justify, impose and sustain
chosen despots in Muslim and non-Muslim countries around the
world. It is not in the interest US-UK masters to have a
despotic regimes that are not chosen, imposed and sustained by
them," the community leader added. "What kind of democracy is
there in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Algeria, China, Russia,
Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, Serbia or even in the US-UK-NATO
occupied Kosovo? When can we expect restoration of genuine
democracy in Kosovo? When can we expect NATO's armed forces to
return to their barracks outside Kosovo?" he wondered.
"A few days before he was dismissed, Sharif visited UAE where he
received his latest orders from his CIA handlers and the US
masters to break up, destabilise and divide the Pakistan army.
Right upto the sacking of Musharraf on 6pm (local time) on
Tuesday 12 October 1999 the masters and handlers were calling
the shots from Washington, London and Bahrain. Within days of his
return from the UAE, Sharif sacked Musharraf who was on his way
back from Sri Lanka. After Sharif was dismissed on Tuesday 12
October 1999 a personal phone call to Musharraf from US Marine
General Anthony Zinni, chief of the US Central Command - in an
unsuccessful effort to save Sharif and block the army takeover,"
the source told Shanti Communications news agency.
"Democracy was killed in Pakistan when the supreme court was
stormed and the judiciary humiliated and undermined, when
parliament was gagged, when provincial governments were
arbitrarily removed, when the press was attacked, when the
bureaucracy was politicised, when all checks and balances on the
power of the prime minister were systematically removed and the
sword of the alleged or threatened 'Shariah' Bill was waved to
scare away conscientious dissenters. The people of Pakistan
within the country and abroad have in fact approved the change,
hoping it is aimed at reviving the country's ailing democracy,"
the community leader explained.
"Pakistan is among the five most corrupt nations. It is almost
impossible to get the nation back on its feet without curbing
the endemic corruption and tax evasion. It is a bitter medicine.
These are immensely legitimate and valid considerations that the
Commonwealth; the UN; the 'international community'; the IMF and
the World bank must not ignore at anytime," the source added.
There are many lessons for the US-UK interventionists and masters
who have been cornered by their own words and sanctions. Their
record is dismal. Their policies are flawed and outdated. Five
elected civilian governments have fallen in Pakistan since 1988.
All five failures are the result of fundamentally flawed advice
given to the past and present US-UK masters and interventionists
who failed to engage Pakistan constructively. The masters and
interventionists have little leverage with the new leadership.
"I think the US should have been far more engaged during the
past ten years, and if we had been, then we would have been in a
far better position today than we are," said Sen. Sam Brownback
(R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee
on Near Eastern and South Asian affairs, who like many farm
state lawmakers is also concerned about the effect of trade
sanctions on US commodity exports. The US canceled the delivery
of 60 additional F-16s that Pakistan had already paid for, and
then the US has repeatedly refused to refund the money. More
than three-quarters of the aid Pakistan receives from the
International Monetary Fund goes to pay off the IMF, leaving only
crumbs for education, health and infrastructure.
Pakistan has the superficial trappings of a democratic system - a
parliament, courts and an elected government. But in fact it is a
feudal cabal in which a few rich families struggle with one
another to achieve absolute power and are inevitably, in Lord
Acton's phrase, corrupted absolutely. What is required in
Pakistan is a breather from its polluted brand of democracy, not
an immediate return to it. This would help ensure the longer-term
survival of a true democracy in Pakistan and the oil rich region.
"The time for intervention has passed its sell-by date. The
people of the region have suffered the endless insults taking
them for fools for far too long while they were robbed blind by
US-UK masters and interventions who impose and sustain despots.
They deserve a way of life free of despots, interventionists and
masters must back down before the crisis deepens in the region,"
the intelligence source told Shanti Communications news agency.
"Pakistan must revoke the feudal system of land holdings,
limiting land ownership to five-acre parcels to help ensure more
equitable distribution; enact tax reform to help recover lost
revenues; ban corrupt and convicted political candidates, and
impose strict spending limits on public or political campaigns,
the community source added.
"Pakistan should call immediately for a meeting with leaders of
the European Union, China, Russia and Japan as well as India and
the US to develop a long-term multilateral strategy for
establishing stability in South Asia. That strategy should
include the naming of a full-time emissary responsible for
resolving the most volatile political issue, the Kashmir dispute.
Such an outside negotiator could serve the dual purposes of
finding a fair solution and providing India and Pakistan with
someone to blame for the compromises they would be required to
make. If efforts to help Pakistan are to be taken seriously, they
must involve a genuine long-term commitment by the US, backed by
financial resources to help Pakistan without any covert strings
to ensure lasting stability in the region. The strategy must also
involve writting off Pakistan's US $32 billion foreign debt, and
committing World Bank, IMF and commercial financing for roads,
railroads, ports and other improvements to stimulate growth in
Pakistan. Without a credible promise that life will get better
for the average citizen, it will be difficult to achieve
acceptance of a Kashmir settlement. It will be necessary, too,
to put in place measures for stable deterrence: hot lines, risk
reduction centers and credible verification measures," the
intelligence source explained.
"India does not want peace and friendly relations with Pakistan.
It is in the interest of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) - with their nefarious designs and in pursuit of
great-power status for Hindu-dominated greater India - its allies
and Indian army that the status quo in the unfriendly
relationship with Pakistan is sustained forever. This often
helps Indian governments to divert their public's attention away
from Indian problems; persecution of Christians, Sikhs and
Muslims minorities in India. Earlier in 1999 the Lahore
Declaration provided India politicians the cover they needed to
stage-manage or manufacture events to heighten violations of
human rights in the Indian occupied Muslim Kashmir to help get
re-elected in September 1999. During Indian prime minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Pakistan just eight months ago the
Indian army increased its repression and persecution in
Kashmir. With the generous help of US-UK masters the Indian
leaders scored a goal and emerged as a victorious. Hindu
chauvinism has been developing for years. Developing a nuclear
doctrine, testing nuclear weapons, dreaming of greater India and
persecuting Christians, Sikhs and Muslims in India have been key
elements of this domestic political calculus of BJP-led
coalition supported by intolerant fanatic Hindu groups bent on
killing non-Hindus and destroying their monuments. Sharif tried
to sacrifice Kashmir for the sake of dubious 'friendship' with
India, and to please the US-UK masters," the community source
concluded.
Developing....... for feedback, further info and updates contact
Shanti RTV news agency by email to: •••@••.•••
Presented by: Shanti RTV (c) Wednesday 20 October 1999 (pk99101c)
[The author, Parveez Syed, is an investigative journalist and a
mass media programming consultant. He has exposed many liars,
subverters and deceivers. Moles and whistleblowers e-mail leaks
and briefings to him. His copyrighted, unique features are often
plagiarised or developed into probing factual tv documentaries.
The features are archived on hundreds of websites worldwide].
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Parveez Syed's direct contact details are:
One Stuart Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8RA1 UK
Telephone: London-UK 0044-(0)7831-196693
INTERNET emailto: •••@••.•••
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