Musharraf : 'I've Lost My Marbles"

Well he really didn’t quite say that in so many words. But if one actually makes an attempt to gather some of his most recent public statements it becomes obvious that this is what he really means to tell us, even if the message is perhaps a bit subliminal.

So now over to Musharraf himself:

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After that brainless woman Dr Shazia Khalid complained of being raped in Sui in January this year, I took it upon myself to declare the chief suspect completely innocent. After all everyone knows that an Army officer can never be accused of any crime in Pakistan, let alone be tried for one - Navy chappies, such as that ex-Admiral Mansoor-ul-Haq, are of course exempt from this rule as they wear white - not khaki - uniforms.

During a visit to New Zealand in June I publicly announced that as President of Pakistan I had personally banned Mukhtaran Mai from travelling abroad. And when asked under what law was I allowed to do such a thing I simply shrugged my shoulders as modesty prevented me from telling the dim-witted Kiwis that I had absolute power to do anything I wished in Pakistan.

My latest broadside attracted the most attention simply because it appeared in the US Press. Actually what I told them was that George W, the Headmaster sahib, gave me a pass mark by not chiding me about my army uniform.

I also told these US journalists that:

"Leave the developing world aside; I think we are better than all of them. Bring the developed world and let us compare Pakistan's record, under me, a uniformed man, with many of the developed countries. I challenge that we will be better off."

Luckily no one asked me about the abject poverty of the majority of Pakistani citizens, the widespread illiteracy, and the absence of any rule of law or even tried to compare the GDP or GNP of Pakistan with say Italy or Germany.

Then the Washington Post chappie wrote that I had said:

"You must understand the environment in Pakistan. [Rape] has become a moneymaking concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped."

Everyone got worked up about this interview. As usual that anti-Pakistan organisation Amnesty International got on my case but it upset me to see that idiotic Prime Minister of Canada jumped on the bandwagon and ‘blasted’ me as well. I of course denied making such as a statement and CNN reported me as saying:

“These are not my words, and I would go to the extent of saying I am not so silly and stupid to make comments of this sort." Then they quoted me as saying that the remark had been made by someone else and not me.

But then that wretched reporter from Washington Post insisted he had a taped recording of the interview. The rascal then wrote:

The interview was conducted by three Washington Post reporters and was tape-recorded. A review of the recording yesterday confirmed that Musharraf -- who was surrounded by aides who took notes and also recorded the interview -- was accurately quoted.

To make matters worse in New York, while I was addressing a bunch of harridans – sorry women, all pandemonium broke loose. The sheer audacity of these Pakistanis, albeit women, to unequivocally and publicly disagree with me rendered me speechless with justified rage. But I quickly recovered and as Dawn reported the next day I managed to convey a few harsh truths across to these unbelievably rude women:

• “You are against me and Pakistan"
• “I am a fighter, I will fight you. I do not give up and if you can shout, I can shout louder”
• “Lady, you are used to people who tell lies. I am not one of them”
• “Are you a Benazir supporter? [The] lady was prime minister of Pakistan twice, ask her what she has done for Pakistan”
• “You have disappointed me. I am disappointed with people like you. You work with people who looted and plundered the nation. You are against national interest; you have your own agenda”
• “I know that there are people with vested interests and financial interests who are against Pakistan”

The newspaper further added that:

When the altercation began to get uglier, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Jehangir Karamat, who was Gen Musharraf’s senior in the army, approached the podium and moved the president away by gently patting his shoulders.

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Now back to your blogger:

Reading the above makes it pretty obvious to me that Mush is sending us a concealed message of sorts . An SOS perhaps?

I find it difficult to subscribe to the opinion recently expressed two days ago in the Khaleej Times:

It is indeed very hard to imagine the state of mind of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf when he said what he said in New York last week about democracy in Pakistan, his reasons for continuing to wear uniform and why rapes take place in his country. People are known to have spoken in such a manner either when arrogance of power had gone to their head or out of sheer naiveté.
…Clearly Musharraf seems to have stopped caring about what he says in public any more. Such arrogance comes to people when they come to believe in their own infallibility. Accountability of their deeds and utterances is farthest from the mind of such people.

Surely one can't blame our Commando-in-Chief of such worldly sins - it surely must be the fault of all the sycophants that he surrounds himself with - so all hail to our poor and helpless chief!

Shazia Khalid

Mukhtar Mai

Pakistan