In other words, elections can be held in a country while leaders of the opposition parties are being shoved into jails. After putting opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest, General Musharraf informs his mentor in White House that the elections would be held on February 15…and the US administration applauds its favourite dictator’s grand gesture.
The International Herald Tribune reports: “General Pervez Musharraf said Thursday, a day after President George W. Bush called, that Pakistan’s parliamentary elections would be held before Feb. 15. But his security forces continued to widen their crackdown and jailed thousands of opposition party members before the rally, which is scheduled to start in the early afternoon Friday.
“In making the lone concession, Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, appears to have calculated that it would be enough to defuse his opposition here and to satisfy the White House, which called the general’s announcement of an election timetable a ‘good thing’.
“Despite the general’s statement on Thursday, the continuing crackdown added to the uncertainties about his real intentions for guiding Pakistan along a path toward a democratic transition, as he has been urged by Washington, which has provided Pakistan with $10 billion of assistance, almost of all it to the military, since 2001.”
Meanwhile The Independent reports: “Human rights campaigners condemned the detention of Ali Ahmed Kurd, a leading lawyer noted for his fiery speeches against military rule, who has not been heard from since being arrested on Saturday night. ‘We have received credible reports that Kurd may be in the custody of Pakistan’s feared ISI intelligence agency,’ said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch. ‘He has been one of General Musharraf’s most strident critics. The ISI have a well-documented history of perpetrating torture on its opponents’.”
Please click here to read an important post that explained to me a great deal about the ‘shady’ relationship between the Bush administration and General Musharraf, and the serious implications this has for the two countries, as well as the world at large.
Photo above: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during a press conference in Islamabad Wednesday. (courtesy Anjum Naveed/The Associated Press)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.