Dear ROSITA ARMYTAGE
I read your article; As China and military transform Pakistan, voters weigh their options, dated 21 July, 2018, with great interest.
It is always beneficial to know, what non-Pakistani academics think of Pakistan and how they analyze the socio-economic and political development there from a distance.
Having said that, I have few short remarks on your article, which hopefully, you would consider. You start with a very damning sentence; “Possibility of Chinese neo-colonialism, excessive military intervention, and incoherent agendas of political parties are major challenges confronting voters.
The problem of deep ethnic divisions, the implications of Chinese-backed economic growth, and the influence of the military.”
So, to you, a long-term dependable friendship, steadfast support and injection of large capital in various projects in Pakistan by China is neo-colonialism. I am sure that as an academic, you would be aware that most developing countries in world, from Indonesia to Costa Rica have relations of some sort with many western countries like, USA, UK, France and Germany. How would you describe these relations? Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor is not a new project but was in the pipeline for a long time. A vast majority of Pakistani are grateful for Chinese help to develop the infra-structure and your assumption of Chinese enterprises infiltrating all areas of Pakistan’s economy is simply false and malicious.
Coming to “excessive military intervention”, a vast majority of Pakistanis respect and love Pak military because to them, it has safe guarded the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Without the strong and disciplined army, India would have eaten Pakistan alive. As far as incoherent political agenda, corruption of PPP and PML-N, you are right. But kudos to army that with all its power and possibility, it has not interfered in politics since 2 decades.
Pakistan does not have “deep ethnic divisions” as you so gleefully write. Pakistan has 4 major ethnic groups and their loyalty to Pakistan is unquestionable. The western media and academics do paint a gloomy picture but that is due to their own cultural and political agendas. India has much bigger ethnic issues and to deflect the attention, it has tries to finance few groups in Baluchistan but did not succeed. Here again, thanks to Pakistan army.
I am astonished that you are praising Nawaz Sharif’s government that has been proven extremely corrupt, incompetent and without vision.
You mentioned Dawn’s tussle with military and claim that army controls most of the media. Please do some further research and you would see that apart from 2 TV channels, all Pakistan’s TV Channels ( there are 90 ) are privately owned and commercially run. DAWN is also private but is the mouth piece of Nawaz Sharif and his party.
Last but not least, I would not like to be suspicious of your intentions but publishing a negative article about Pakistani election and the Pak army in an Indian media outlet says a lot about the reasons behind Pakistan bashing.
Kind regards
Bashy Quraishy
Host – “Bashy’s Corner” TV Copenhagen- Denmark
Co-ordinator-ENAR Platform – Denmark
Chief Editor – MediaWatch – Denmark
Council Member – Institute for Human Rights – Denmark
Chairman – Ethnic Debate Forum – Denmark
Mobile; 0045 40 15 47 71 http://www.bashy.dk
Dear ROSITA ARMYTAGE
I read your article; As China and military transform Pakistan, voters weigh their options, dated 21 July, 2018, with great interest.
It is always beneficial to know, what non-Pakistani academics think of Pakistan and how they analyze the socio-economic and political development there from a distance.
Having said that, I have few short remarks on your article, which hopefully, you would consider. You start with a very damning sentence; “Possibility of Chinese neo-colonialism, excessive military intervention, and incoherent agendas of political parties are major challenges confronting voters.
The problem of deep ethnic divisions, the implications of Chinese-backed economic growth, and the influence of the military.”
So, to you, a long-term dependable friendship, steadfast support and injection of large capital in various projects in Pakistan by China is neo-colonialism. I am sure that as an academic, you would be aware that most developing countries in world, from Indonesia to Costa Rica have relations of some sort with many western countries like, USA, UK, France and Germany. How would you describe these relations? Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor is not a new project but was in the pipeline for a long time. A vast majority of Pakistani are grateful for Chinese help to develop the infra-structure and your assumption of Chinese enterprises infiltrating all areas of Pakistan’s economy is simply false and malicious.
Coming to “excessive military intervention”, a vast majority of Pakistanis respect and love Pak military because to them, it has safe guarded the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Without the strong and disciplined army, India would have eaten Pakistan alive. As far as incoherent political agenda, corruption of PPP and PML-N, you are right. But kudos to army that with all its power and possibility, it has not interfered in politics since 2 decades.
Pakistan does not have “deep ethnic divisions” as you so gleefully write. Pakistan has 4 major ethnic groups and their loyalty to Pakistan is unquestionable. The western media and academics do paint a gloomy picture but that is due to their own cultural and political agendas. India has much bigger ethnic issues and to deflect the attention, it has tries to finance few groups in Baluchistan but did not succeed. Here again, thanks to Pakistan army.
I am astonished that you are praising Nawaz Sharif’s government that has been proven extremely corrupt, incompetent and without vision.
You mentioned Dawn’s tussle with military and claim that army controls most of the media. Please do some further research and you would see that apart from 2 TV channels, all Pakistan’s TV Channels ( there are 90 ) are privately owned and commercially run. DAWN is also private but is the mouth piece of Nawaz Sharif and his party.
Last but not least, I would not like to be suspicious of your intentions but publishing a negative article about Pakistani election and the Pak army in an Indian media outlet says a lot about the reasons behind Pakistan bashing.
Kind regards
Bashy Quraishy
Host – “Bashy’s Corner” TV Copenhagen- Denmark
Co-ordinator-ENAR Platform – Denmark
Chief Editor – MediaWatch – Denmark
Council Member – Institute for Human Rights – Denmark
Chairman – Ethnic Debate Forum – Denmark
Mobile; 0045 40 15 47 71
http://www.bashy.dk