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Aatif
Pakistan
29 June, 2006
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Why blame Army?
Everybody knows our position in the sub-continent, and also the India's behaviour in past - how it changes often at the angle of 180. Why MNA's blame army for such a huge reserved amount. Why not they cut off their own expenditures. why not they reduce their 'official' visits' expenditures., why do they require new cars every 6 months. why do they get huge amount in regards of their utility bills. why why why... |
Karan Thapar
Hungary
30 June, 2006
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no comparison
The policy of spending billions of dollars on defence while ignoring the social sectors like healthcare, education etc. is certainly deplorable in both the countries. But the hard fact is that social upliftment of people below the poverty line is not as easy as simply allocating the required funds. Neither can the defence sector squarely be blamed for poor social indicators. In reality, both these sectors are independent of each other & need to be addressed separately.
In the context of India vis a vis Pakistan, Prsident Bush rightly said while in Pakistan that India & Pakistan are two separate countries with separate sizes, seperate histories & separate futures. Pakistan has this tendency of trying to outdo or atleast match India in whatever way it can & claim parity in all international forums vis a vis India. In the process, it is doing more harm to itself than to India. Sadly, Pakistan is doing exactly what the USSR did vis a vis the US during the cold war. |
Sher Mohammad
Pakistan
01 July, 2006
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Both countries should slash their budgets.
India's main fear is from China. But while China is already on the way of becoming the next super power. It does not have any secret designs against India. China's entire energies are focused on its own security and protection from such countries as America or Japan. In this context, China is avoiding confrontation from all potential enemies. India is mired in poverty, misery, caste disparities and a false pride to pose itself superior to Pakistan. While China is ethnically one people, India has a class of untouchables with demography of 240-million wretched people who are a dead weight on the economy. The 150-million Muslims of India, too, are placed outside the country's mainstream economy. In these circumstances, India would always remain a distant weaker country compared to China. On the other hand, its military might could not do much harm to Pakistan if the latter country uses its wits and plays its cards wisely.
Pakistan had got a chance in the 1950s when it got massive military and economic aid from America. In fact it was the American military aid that emboldened Pakistan to have a brush in two wars. These wars had better been avoided. In its place, Pakistan could have played a more effective part against communism, as America's great ally. In the bargain it could have got its foreign debts waived. Even now, America can be freed from its tangle in Iraq and designs against Iran by Pakistan. America is using Israel as a buly to frighten Iraq and Saudi Arabia into submission and to use the regions vast energy reserves. We can recognize Israel and expose the vulnerability of Israel to the whole world by underscoring the point that Israelis are still in exile. They are, therefore, not allowed by a divine decree to create a military and political entity. Having done that in defiance to the divine decree, Israel is exposed to a cruel suffering from the heavens.
Pakistan holds strong cards in hand but it lacks the leadership to use them with skill. Take for instance Afghanistan and the central Asian republics. They all need democratization. Who can help them on this process better than Pakistan? But the brains of Chuadhries of Gujrat as well as of the Army are not that sharp. The field lies wide open and that is where the Press and the media come in the picture. They can inspire the youth to rise to the occasion and grab the opportunities beckoning them both at home and abroad. By recognizing Israel, we can get Israelis best brains working for us. If the Muslim "ummah" concedes the West Bank and whatever else Israelis ask for, they would still remain in exile, as before and those having arrived in Israel would jettison their political and military ambitions. The best course for them left would be to have a "safe haven" in Palestine with freedom for trade and commerce in the wider Arab world.
Pakistan should slash its military budget and invest heavily in education, health, sanitation, and ameliorating poverty.
(Revised).
Sher Mohammad.
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