A 78-year-old man, whose brother was a close acquaintance of Pakistans Founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has described President General Pervez Musharraf as a poodle in uniform, and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a political poodle.
London, Aug.14 : A 78-year-old man, whose brother was a close acquaintance of Pakistan's Founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has described President General Pervez Musharraf as a "poodle in uniform", and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a " political poodle".
Echoing the disappointment of many Pakistanis on the occasion of the country's 60th Independence Day, Majid Nizami was quoted by The Times as saying that, "Because of the takeover by the military, Pakistan has not been what it should have been."
"The only solution is to have real elections. Bhutto is a political poodle, and Musharraf is a poodle in uniform. Together they would be utterly bad - disastrous," he added.
Independence veterans lament lost ideals of Jinnah, and particularly lament the presence of suicide bombers in the capital, rebellion on the borders, lawyers on the streets, and a military ruler clinging to power.
Today, they see a Pakistan in crisis - caught in a simultaneous struggle between democracy and dictatorship, and moderate and extremist Islam, that threatens its very existence.
Dr Rafiq and other pre-independence veterans run a summer school teaching Pakistani boys and girls about Jinnah's ideals.
"We want to create a sense of unity," he said.
Faisal Javed, a 38-year-old accountant, said: "Pakistan is not fully democratic. The Government doesn't teach this in schools. Here they learn how far we have to go."
Jinnah died in 1948 and Pakistan suffered its first military coup in 1956: it has had military leaders for 35 of its 60 years.
ANI