Safe Exit

After nine years of ruling Pakistan, former president Pervez Musharraf finally became a victim of his own plan.

After nine years of ruling Pakistan, former president Pervez Musharraf finally became a victim of his own plan. I had always said that he was being too smart for his own good — on the one hand, he kept fooling the US and collecting money in the name of fighting terrorism. On the other, he constantly wooed fundamentalists and terrorist organisations and kept them under his benevolent eye, in the hope of securing his own position. Luck did not run out on Musharraf, it gradually slipped out over the last two years.

His regime bears the ignominy of allowing Al-Qaeda and Taliban to establish firm bases in border areas of Pakistan, particularly in the Swat Valley. ISI has been completely hand in glove with these two outfits. Everyone knew, including Musharraf, that Osama lived in these border areas. In the last two years, Musharraf began realising his blunder and vowed to reign in the fundamentalists and save Pakistan from terrorism.

It was too late in the day though — Pakistan’s establishment had already ceded control of border areas to Taliban. When he tried to put pressure on the terrorist organisations, they retaliated and made three attempts on Musharraf’s life. Musharraf’s army trucks are being routinely attacked in the border states and bomb explosions have become a regular feature in Pakistan’s cities. The situation kept spiraling out of control and it has to come to a stage when nobody in Pakistan feels safe from terrorism today.

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Having lost control already, Musharraf gradually lost faith and confidence of his people. He finally succumbed to the immense pressure mounted by the democratic forces in Pakistan. In all likelihood, he should get a safe exit passage to settle down in a foreign country, as is the norm in such deals brokered by the US through Saudi Arabians.

For a country already on thin ice, Musharraf’s departure means a new and intense struggle for Pakistan to stay afloat. Crucially, it remains to be seen if his successors — the democratic forces — will be able to reign in the terrorist organisations. No fate could be worse for Pakistan if the terrorists are still allowed to have their way.

Game Up

If one goes by the benchmark set by China for Beijing Olympics, it is hard to believe that New Delhi is even one per cent ready for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. There are still no visible signs of any games infrastructure. Commonwealth Games are no small event — they see participation from no less than 70 countries and are rightly called semi-Olympics. It took China eight years on a war footing to prepare itself for Olympics. In India, we have not even started the preparations. Before this situation causes international embarrassment for India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should intervene and prod everyone responsible for getting the basic Games infrastructure in order.

Delhi Commonwealth Games are just one and a half year away, and we cannot possibly create the necessary infrastructure in such a short time. My only suggestion is to wait until Olympics get over and China begins dismantling its infrastructure, and then import the entire disbanded infrastructure — tracks and other equipment — from China. We should not even shy away from taking Chinese consultancy to salvage the preparation of our own

Commonwealth Games.

The writer is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha