Breaking: Musharraf has resigned as President of Pakistan

reply to post by zealman


Why the obsession with Russia?
Sure, they may stir things up just to cause a bit of a nuisance and try to further national interests but why would they want to cause a major nuclear confrontation?
Explain to me exactly who benefits then?

Putin is a strong, nationalistic politician but he is also shrewd and intelligent, (has to be to have survived in Russian intelligence and politics for so long), and he knows it serves no-ones interests to push the world to some sort of M.A.D. scenario.

Be under no illusions, it is the spread of fundamental Islam which is the most likeliest to drive us towards this, not Russian imperialism or expansionism.

Musharraf's resignation may well provide the opportunity for Islamic extremists to make a push for power in Pakistan.
It is a difficult situation.
Yes, Musharraf was an odious, corrupt murderer but he kept the extremists at bay.
Will anyone else be able to do so?

I sincerely hope the Pakistani people rise to the challenge and resist the march of Islamic fundamentalism.
I suspect not.

We then face likely confrontation and escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan.

How will Israel react?

We may also face the alignment of Pakistan and Iran.
We can only hope that the historical religious differences between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, (conflict between these two continues to devastate Iraq), prevents this.

No matter what, we are in dangerous times.

reply to post by StellarX

Where does the idea come from that Pakistan was or is secular? Why do you think Pakistan is so pro western any ways?

I don't. I'm not blind.

I realise Pakistanis were jumping for joy the moment he signed out of office I'm just saying, Musharraf was a necessary evil.

I mean it could have been a lot worse. Need I remind you of 1979, Iran?
Another unpopular Islamic party could have easily risen up in Pakistan and turned back the clocks 50 years.

Be thankful it ended the way it did.

Now you might but i doubt it would have got so out of hand without all the episodes of foreign intervention?

Which episodes are we talking about here?

The US has hardly been influential in politics in the Indian subcontinent as opposed to the Mid-East.

Pakistan has been a Western ally since Day 1 after independence from the Raj. America has seen hardly any need to intervene in Pakistani affairs for decades now.

India always leaned closer to the Russians (especially in recent times what with all the arms deals) and that was historically Pakistan's main threat to stability apart from India.
Throughout the 1970's and especially during the war next door in Afghanistan, Communist insurgency in Pakistan was at an all time high and there were great fears of a revolution in Pakistan.

As President Zia said he feared Pakistan would become "one more drop in the red sea".
So they turned to Communism's arch-nemesis for stability, it was a necessity for them.

They were members of SEATO and CENTO before most other South-Eastern Asian countries.
In return America got it's hands on another staging ground bordering the Soviet Union and a good way of subverting and hampering Soviet operations in Afghanistan by funnelling weaponry through Pakistan.

US-Pakistani relations go back to the 1940's.
Traditionally, they have been very pro-Western and all these radicalists vying for power in Pakistan are a recent phenomenon.

You don't often see anyone at that level of power that is insane and i doubt we will be that unlucky. Either way you can't do much with nuclear weapons you can't use

Pakistan using them isn't the worry, Proliferation is.
Radical Parties would be all too eager to cooperate with terrorists and supply them large amounts of Weaponry in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Say what you like about Musharraf, he's comparable to Saddam in the end.

As much as he was a reprehensible character, his country was better with him in power than out of power.

With this vacuum, inter-religious tensions and extremism will spread through Pakistan the same way it did through Iraq.
And then the minor annoyance you had before turns into an epic #storm.

Life's about compromises, Musharraf WAS one of them.

Dont many of the Taliban Fighters come from Pakistan?

Not only that but they have a large support base along the tribal ares bordering Afghanistan. This is where the new power struggle for control of Pakistan will orginate from, and I think that it may have already started-

www2.irna.ir...

Taliban fighters forced Pakistani soldiers to retreat from a militant stronghold near the border with Afghanistan over the weekend, after a three-day battle sent civilians fleeing from government air strikes.

The pullback from Bajaur, an area of Pakistan's tribal region where the Taliban and al Qaeda have forged particularly close ties, came after the military launched an offensive there late last week.

What I beleive you'll see here is possibly a buildup of Taliban forces and those that are loyal tribes with them within Pakistan concentrate now on getting command and control of the Pakistani government.

By getting a coaliton of Taliban forces both in Pakistan and Afghanistan together, fighting for their common goal, it would cause a huge headache for troops that are within the region as a whole.

It opens a totally new battle front, on the border of Iran that might bring Iran into the mix. India will not allow that to happen and would be the major force in any future conflict in the region. They (India) cannot allow a nuclear armed Islamic Extremist run state on the border.

Glad Im far from there.