tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post1349477604238661591..comments2024-03-27T15:36:44.737-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Musharraf Launches Party, Offers Third Major Option For Elections in 2013Riaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-66922666169448223952012-01-09T20:23:44.362-08:002012-01-09T20:23:44.362-08:00Here are some excepts of a Washington Post story o...Here are some excepts of a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/musharraf-with-lobbyists-gets-back-in-the-game/2011/10/18/gIQA0aeOuL_blog.html" rel="nofollow">Washington Post</a> story on President Musharraf's speaking circuit and hiring of a lobby firm in Washington:<br /><br /><i>Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, a regular on the <a href="http://www.harrywalker.com/speaker/Pervez-Musharraf.cfm?Spea_ID=1169" rel="nofollow">foreign policy speaking circuit</a> in this country, is seeking access to top U.S. lawmakers as he plans his return home after several years of self-imposed exile. And so he’s hired a local lobbying firm, to the tune of $25,000 a month, to help facilitate the effort.<br /><br />So far, the investment appears to have paid off. Early this month, Musharraf met with six U.S. senators — including Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and ranking committee Republican John McCain (R-Ariz.), as well as Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), the senior minority member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.<br /><br />Musharraf also sat down with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who just four years ago denounced him as delusional and undemocratic after he suspended Pakistan’s constitution and imposed emergency rule.<br /><br />The congressional meetings were widely publicized in Pakistan, where Musharraf has struggled to maintain an image as an international player as he plans to return and run for president.<br />----------------<br />According to a foreign agent registration filed here last month, Musharraf has retained Advantage Associates International, a lobbying group of seven former House members headed by three-term Texas Democrat Bill Sarpalius, who was unseated by the Republican House takeover in 1994.<br /><br />The seven-month, $175,000 contract is financed by Philadelphia-based Pakistani-American Raza Bokhari, a wealthy physician-turned-entrepreneur and long-time Musharraf backer.<br /><br />Advantage “helped facilitate those meetings” with Congress, Sarpalius said in a telephone interview. “We just help open up some of those doors where he can meet with some of those members and tell his story.”<br /><br />Musharraf, Sarpalius said, is “not looking for any endorsements or anything like that. He’s basically been letting people know that he is looking at going back and running for president, and wants these members to understand his views and what he sees are some of the main issues facing Pakistan.”<br /><br />Along with Vice President Biden and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Musharraf spoke recently at the Washington Ideas Forum, co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic. He called on the United States to be more understanding of Pakistan’s “sensitivities” about India, and said the two South Asian countries were engaged in a “proxy conflict” in Afghanistan. India, Musharraf said, was “trying to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan.”<br /><br />Musharraf also said he had no knowledge, while president, that Osama bin Laden had been living for years in the town of Abbottabad, where a U.S. Special Operations raid found and killed the al-Qaeda leader in May. He said Pakistan may be guilty of “negligence” in failing to find bin Laden, but not of “complicity” in his concealment.<br /><br />As part of his current 12-city U.S. tour, Musharraf will speak this month at the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He also plans to return to Washington for an appearance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace....</i><br /><br />http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/musharraf-with-lobbyists-gets-back-in-the-game/2011/10/18/gIQA0aeOuL_blog.html<br /><br />http://www.fara.gov/docs/6062-Exhibit-AB-20110910-1.pdf<br /><br />http://www.harrywalker.com/speaker/Pervez-Musharraf.cfm?Spea_ID=1169Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-88866685648881308822010-10-08T11:15:46.610-07:002010-10-08T11:15:46.610-07:00I want Mushy to come to power. Atleast he can must...I want Mushy to come to power. Atleast he can muster enough power to complete the agreement India and Pakistan had worked out during his tenure. <br /><br />Advantage India if he becomes the PM. Very unlikely he will though.anoophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03953390714660751518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-50041661108976227882010-10-06T09:59:43.068-07:002010-10-06T09:59:43.068-07:00anon:"And i see a long dark tunnel for Pakist...anon:"And i see a long dark tunnel for Pakistan at least for the next 5 years. "<br /><br />And I see little hope for the 7000 Indians dying of hunger every day, and two-thirds of them defecating in the open, as you promote the "Shining India" PR around the world.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-36954558302019568682010-10-06T09:48:06.622-07:002010-10-06T09:48:06.622-07:00Pakistan's economy has consistently performed ...Pakistan's economy has consistently performed better than other South Asian economies from 1947 to late 1980s. Its growth was 2 to 3 times greater than India's growth of 2-3% a year, often described as the "Hindu growth rate".<br /><br />yes but that was over 20 years ago!!!<br />The Indian economy has consistently outperformed the chinese economy from 1947 to 1979....<br />It also avoided things like the great leap forward,cultural revolution and other upheavels...<br />No one gives a damn!<br />What matters is here and now.<br /><br />And i see a long dark tunnel for Pakistan at least for the next 5 years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-30492599197720377242010-10-06T08:41:32.946-07:002010-10-06T08:41:32.946-07:00Vivek: "Even during his rule, other South Asi...Vivek: "Even during his rule, other South Asian economies outperformed Pakistan's, so he's not got all that much to crow about."<br /><br />Pakistan's economy has consistently performed better than other South Asian economies from 1947 to late 1980s. Its growth was 2 to 3 times greater than India's growth of 2-3% a year, often described as the "Hindu growth rate". <br /><br />Pakistani economy grew at a fairly impressive rate of 6 percent per year through the first four decades of the nation's existence. In spite of rapid population growth during this period, per capita incomes doubled, inflation remained low and poverty declined from 46% down to 18% by late 1980s, according to eminent Pakistani economist Dr. Ishrat Husain. This healthy economic performance was maintained through several wars and successive civilian and military governments in 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s until the decade of 1990s, now appropriately remembered as the lost decade.<br /><br />Vivek: "Despite all the misgovernance under Zardari, one has to admit he got a pretty sour deal to start off with - "<br /><br />This is nonsense. Zardari government inherited a relatively sound economy on March 31, 2008. It's badly mismanaged it by not appropriately responding to the exogenous shocks of food and fuel prices in 2008 causing a payments crisis. <br /><br />Economist Dr. Ashfaq Husain Khan describes some of the missteps that led to it: "While the country was moving rapidly towards the IMF, the ministry of finance had prepared the plan to bring $4 billion by June 30, 2008 through four transactions. A kick-off meeting was scheduled on April 23, 2008 at the ministry to give a final touch to the various roadshows. These transactions were canceled on April 20, 2008. Who ordered the cancellation of $4 billion transaction? This cancellation prompted balance of payment crisis and the rest became history."<br /><br />Zardari inherited foreign exchange reserves of $13.3 billion, exchange rate at Rs62.76 per US dollar, the KSE index at 15,125 with market capitalization at $74 billion, inflation at 20.6 per cent and the country's debt burden on a declining path. The government itself acknowledged in the same document that "the macroeconomic situation deteriorated significantly in 2007/08 and the first four months of 2008/09 owing to adverse security developments, large exogenous price shocks (oil and food), global financial turmoil, and policy inaction during the political transition to the new government". (Para 3 of the MEFP, November 20, 2008)Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-70816235945357550972010-10-06T04:20:20.894-07:002010-10-06T04:20:20.894-07:00The growth of the economy during Musharraf's t...The growth of the economy during Musharraf's time also coincided with a global economic boom (or rather bubble). He lost power just about the time the bubble was bursting, so doubt if one could give him all that credit for the 2000-08 economic growth. Even during his rule, other South Asian economies outperformed Pakistan's, so he's not got all that much to crow about.<br /><br />Despite all the misgovernance under Zardari, one has to admit he got a pretty sour deal to start off with - Mumbai attacks ending the peace process, global recession dragging down the Pakistani economy, Afghan insurgency spilling over deep into Pakistan ... and now the biggest floods in the history of Pakistan.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14157477142062644931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-47099027332650370192010-10-01T17:05:22.577-07:002010-10-01T17:05:22.577-07:00Annon,
“the army hates him the establishment hat...Annon, <br /><br />“the army hates him the establishment hates him and the feudals hate him”<br /><br />Do you mind providing us the proof? <br /><br />The last three years of mayham has made Musharraff look like an angel. <br /><br />G. AliAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-44473578864238499602010-10-01T11:07:42.748-07:002010-10-01T11:07:42.748-07:00Musharaf won't make a comeback because his sup...Musharaf won't make a comeback because his support base is educated middle class and secular a very tiny percentage.Besides the army hates him the establishment hates him and the feudals hate him so....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com