Day 2498: Tricky Times for Foreign Relations

Saturday:


President Pervez Must-be-having-a-laugh of Pakistan has declared a STATE OF EMERGENCY.

People trying to explode Ms Benazir Bhutto on her return from exile and people trying to explode President Must-be-having-a-laugh have given him the excuse he needs to suspend the Constitution and move against the JUDGES.

Even with the news that the elections set for January are STILL ON, this is very bad news.

Former Liberal Democrat leader, King Paddy of Bosnia, has always said that the most important first step to Liberty is always the RULE of LAW, whether in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia or Afghanistan and Iraq.

Without LAWS that people can rely on to protect them, their work and their property, guaranteed by impartial and independent judges, then you cannot develop a functioning society. Democracy alone won't work when it is NOT SAFE to express differing opinions and you can't vote in elections without FEAR of intimidation or corruption.

Or, to put it crudely, as Captain Paddy says:

"…we lovingly forget that item number one is always the rule of law. It is not elections, I’m afraid. If you have elections before you establish the rule of law then all you do is elect the criminals who ran the war."

The "emergency" in Pakistan has been widely seen as a move to hold onto power for longer. Although he had reached a deal with the opposition – that included granting Ms Bhutto the pardon that allowed her to return home – so that President and also GENERAL Must-be-having-a-laugh could stay on as head of state if he gave up some of his powers as head of the army, the judges were taking their time about deciding whether or not they would admit him as ELIGIBLE when the Parliament recently selected him to stay in the top job. Their intransigence – and perhaps a bit of taking fright at the sight of just how popular Ms Bhutto turned out to be – seems to have lead to this crisis.

Ms Bhutto herself has said that she DOES accept that militant and pro-Taliban factions were getting WORSE, but she thinks that the answer is MORE democracy, not less.

"I believe dictatorship has fuelled extremism. The extremists need dictatorship to flourish, and dictatorship needs the extremists as a pre-text to continue in place."

Liberal Democrat Leadership prospect, Mr Huhney-Monster has pressed Mr Millipede to side with the forces of democracy.

"When the regime does change – as it is bound to do in the case of General Must-be-having-a-laugh because this is the last throw of the dice for him – we are likely to find ourselves very isolated," he said.

With the huge international outcry and even both Great Britain and America considering their position on the huge aid packages that we give to General Must-be-having-a-laugh's government, we have to remain hopeful that he will remain open to persuasion, and that the Pakistani people will be quickly returned to a just and democratic state.

PS:

On a more TRIVIAL note: what a shame for Mr Balloon. The very week that he is praised for trying to play the IMMIGRATION card WITHOUT playing the RACE card (even if Mr Trevor also said he had a way to go yet), he only goes and gets TRUMPED by one of his own Conservatory Candidates playing the "Enoch was right" card!

As Liberal Democrat Mr Ed put it:

"This episode must raise serious questions, both about the Conservative Party's selection procedures and the views of at least some of their grass roots members".

The first of which is the one that Mr Paul asks:

Why has Mr Balloon gone so QUIET on the issue he was talking about so much last week?

Immigration is POSITIVE process, but one that we need to manage carefully, to ensure that we have the infrastructure and resources in place to meet the needs of the TOTAL population, new and old. Just saying: "Stop! We're full!" is a crude and nasty approach that does not address the needs of migrants OR Great Britain.


Many British immigrants and their families have ties to Pakistan, and they must be worried about their friends and relatives at this difficult time. They are all a part of our BRITISH family now and our fluffy thoughts should be with them.