Mr. Musharraf has put Pakistan first. Politicians should desist from pursuing this matter any further. If PPP and PML-N go for more political instability, they will show that neither is fit to run the country. As for Musharraf himself, history will certainly be kinder to him than his opponents have been. Moreover, it will be far kinder to him than to them. He has made mistakes, his greatest being too close to U.S. But despite those mistakes, he has been that rare phenomenon in Pakistani politics: an honest man with good intentions who tried to serve his country to the best of his abilities. In a country like Pakistan, there have been few figures like him. If he had not been manipulated by the White House, he would still be a popular president. Certainly, the accusation of gross misconduct leveled at him by his opponents is political hypocrisy. It can be (and has been) leveled at them and with far greater veracity.



By ARAB NEWS

Tuesday, 19 August 2008.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM



JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia—In deciding to resign as president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf has done the honorable thing. He has chosen the path of self-sacrifice and fallen on his sword rather than prolong the country’s crisis over his position as head of state. In doing so and putting Pakistan first, he has enabled it to move on. For that, all Pakistanis should be grateful.

Let us hope that this will be the end of the matter. There certainly should be no attempt to pursue him further. If there is, it will be Pakistan that suffers. The country has very real problems that require the immediate and undivided attention of the Pakistan People’s Party-dominated government.

It needs to concentrate on tackling the county’s pitiful economic performance and the worsening violence. These must be the priorities. In all fairness, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani would probably agree. He wanted to put the issue of Musharraf on the back burner and get on with the real issues. However, the need for support in Parliament from Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League and its
insistence on pursuing Musharraf as the condition for its support proved to be a hurdle Gilani felt unable to ignore.

If the PML-N continues to insist on retribution for Musharraf as a political priority and the PPP kowtows to it or both spend all the time squabbling about who gets the presidency, then both will lose all credibility.

They will show Pakistan and the world that they are not driven by concern for the country’s well-being but by shallow self-interest, worse, in the case of the PML-N, by sheer vindictiveness. The conclusion will be that neither is fit for the job of running the country.



Meanwhile, the military, which was consulted by Musharraf before he announced his resignation, will be resentful and restless. So too will his supporters, of which there are probably more now than a couple of days ago.


As for Musharraf himself, history will certainly be kinder to him than his opponents have been. Moreover, it will be far kinder to him than to them. He has made mistakes, his greatest being that he was too willing an instrument of U.S. policy in the region without any payback for that support. It made him too easy a target for his opponents.

Nonetheless, despite those mistakes, he has been that rare phenomenon in Pakistani politics: an honest man with good intentions who tried to serve his country to the best of his abilities. In a country that has suffered so much over the years from corrupt and self-serving politicians, there have been too few figures like him. If he had not been manipulated by the White House, he would still be a popular president. Certainly, the accusation of gross misconduct leveled at
him by his opponents is political hypocrisy. It can be (and has been) leveled at them and with far greater veracity. They would be well advised to draw a line under the whole saga and devote all their energies in future to improving the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.



Arab News is a Jeddah based Saudi English-language newspaper.

It took a newspaper from a foreign country albeit a brother muslim country still to highlight that former President Musharraf will be remembered kindly long after he is gone. And I predict that soon majority of people who are rejoicing him gone will rue the day he resigned.

It would have been better if Musharraf had been less pro-American and tougher with the criminal politicians. Then he would have lasted a long time. Twenty years under Musharraf with 7-8% growth in GDP would have given Pakistan a $1 trillion + economy and it would have become quite a prosperous country.

Instead we have looters and economic collapse.