Pakistan's flawed and feudal princess

The Observer,U.K ^ | December 30, 2007 | William Dalrymple

[sukhoi-30mki]

Pakistan's flawed and feudal princess

It's wrong for the West simply to mourn Benazir Bhutto as a martyred democrat, says this acclaimed south Asia expert. Her legacy is far murkier and more complex

William Dalrymple

Sunday December 30, 2007 The Observer

One of Benazir Bhutto's more dubious legacies to Pakistan is the Prime Minister's house in the middle of Islamabad. The building is a giddy, pseudo-Mexican ranch house with white walls and a red tile roof. There is nothing remotely Islamic about the building .....

Which is, of course, exactly why the West always had a soft spot for Benazir Bhutto. Her neighbouring heads of state may have been figures as unpredictable and potentially alarming as President Ahmadinejad of Iran and a clutch of opium-trading Afghan warlords, but Bhutto has always seemed reassuringly familiar to Western governments - one of us. She spoke English fluently because it was her first language. She had an English governess, went to a convent run by Irish nuns and rounded off her education with degrees from Harvard and Oxford.

Behind Pakistan's endless swings between military government and democracy lies a surprising continuity of elitist interests: to some extent, Pakistan's industrial, military and landowning classes are all interrelated and they look after each other. They do not, however, do much to look after the poor. The government education system barely functions in Pakistan and for the poor, justice is almost impossible to come by. According to political scientist Ayesha Siddiqa: 'Both the military and the political parties have all failed to create an environment where the poor can get what they need from the state. So the poor have begun to look to alternatives for justice. In the long term, flaws in the system will create more room for the fundamentalists.'

[nwrep]

Calling Benazir Bhutto a “Pakistani” is like calling O.J. Simpson “a black man.”

[Candor7]

"According to political scientist Ayesha Siddiqa: 'Both the military and the political parties have all failed to create an environment where the poor can get what they need from the state.">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yeah right, failure of access to services provided by the state generates terrorists?

Man , these Brits sure have a thing for sucking on their government teats.

I have run out of unemployment benefits and it has surely turned me into a suicide bomber?

Man these guys are sure plowing the road for increased ME immigration to Britain.

[sinanju]

“The government education system barely functions in Pakistan and for the poor, justice is almost impossible to come by”
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The version of the story I read states that the feudal elites deliberately dismantled the public education system so as to keep the poor illiterate. The illiteracy rate is an absolute scandal, over 50%. Of course, the Saudi-funded madrassahs stepped into the breach and the rest is history...