Brother Secur, first of all Shalimar Television Network (STN) and Network Television Marketing (NTM) launched the first private television station in Pakistan way back in 1990.
Secondly, ask someone senior to you why the father of Gazi Brothers was tasked by the Tyrant General Zia-ul-Haq to recruit fighters from Pakistan for Al-Qaida Al-Subah... you may also learn how Al-Qaida Al-Subah also ended up with Stinger Missiles in their hands during that period.
Thirdly, what was Pakistan's military doing recognising the Taliban Government from October 1999-October 2001? Maybe you can also enlighten us on Pakistan military's role with the highjacking of the Indian plane during that time.
Fourthly, what's it got to do with the Muslim Ummah Brothers? Are they armed with nuclear weapons and also have the 6th largest military in the world? Did Pakistan's enlightened military even approach the Muslim Ummah Brothers for help or did they simply decide to sell Pakistan for $20 billion (in return for $100 billion of damage and counting - lets just blame the Prime Ministers in exile for that).
Fifthly, so you're saying Pakistan's Armed Forces found safety in cowardice... Well done. In my humble opinion, I think every General, Air Chief and Admiral of Pakistan Armed Forces should be given medals for this Great Valour till Qiyamat. Shabaash.
Sixthly, which of my statement you do not understand when I say Pakistan's Nominal GDP ranking crashed from the 43rd position in 1999 to the 48th position in 2008?
List of countries by past and future GDP (nominal)
I will rephrase it for you , during who's rule , you saw an upsurge in the number of private channels allowing the flow of free and unbiased information to the Pakistani public ? When exactly was the private sector encouraged to launch their own T.V channels ? Why does it happen that not a single proper new channel was launched after the STN which itself wasn't allowed to broadcast its own news and current affair programmings ?
In 2002, the then government opened up new ways for the media industry of Pakistan by
allowing private TV channels to operate openly even to telecast their own news and current affairs content. Prior to that the only private TV channel of the country NTM was not allowed to transmit its own news and current affairs programmings. Indus Vision, ARY Digital, Geo, Hum, and then list went on and on.
Really ? What exactly does it have to do with what those terrorists did later in Islamabad ? The so called Afghan Jihad and Zia-UL-Haq are the worst things that ever happened to Pakistan . I need not ask anyone about what happened in the 80's . The policies and the actions of the Commander of the Faithful in the wake up of a extremely hyped up and exaggerated threat of Soviets coming to warm waters and the state endorsement of a particular brand of Islam which was violent , barbaric and intolerant in known to everybody . The Soviets , Americans and the Saudis left properly , leaving Islamabad to clean the mess by itself . This is no secret that the extremism and intolerance was introduced in the Pakistani society during the Afghan Jihad , destroying the very fabric of our society and allowing the militant to preach and practice their inhumane interpretation here . A certain ideology was introduced and mated , which resulted in the events of today where you see the radicalized masses - ready to kill you on the mere difference of opinion ? At what cost was the two superpower's battle in Afghanistan won by the tyrant ? It wasn't our war by any chance since the Soviet never indicated by words and actions that their ultimate aim was to conquer Pakistan . Fast forward to today , who asked the Ghazi brothers to take up arms against the state , convert their Madarsa into a battle station , train the students for battle and challenge the writ of the state by burqa dance on the streets of Islamabad ? Did someone bother to tell you that ?
Protecting the interests of Pakistan by ensuring a friendly Govt in Afghanistan and that the soil of Afghanistan isn't used against Islamabad's territory . I am again not a big fan of supporting the terrorists but at times , it becomes necessary seeing the ground realities . Bordering that hell hole country comes with problems and I am fully cognizant of that .
Cherry picking much , are we here ?
So , you will quote a certain part of my post and leave the rest , post something and then expect me to answer that ? We pride ourselves on our Ummah brothers for whom we dont even care for our own national interests too . Since , we help them just so much , I expected them to help them Pakistan during that troubled time when the threat of the U.S. bombardment was approaching . The Saudis being a petrodollar ally of Washington must have interfered and let the Yanks know that they shouldn't threaten their ally . Did they ? Despite having an influence that most people cant even imagine , they didn't interfere in the whole darn thing . Pakistan's enlightened military in the absence of any Ummah help from any Muslim country and knowing fully well what the American war machine is capable of , chose what was best for their country and the lesser of the two evils . Nothing more , nothing less .
Not again . The whole Pakistani nation found safety by accepting American demands back then . Why single out the military or would you have liked a Pakistan as same as Afghanistan - indistinguishable from the time the Alexander set foot on Afghan soil after the B52's leveled it up ? Because then the Americans were in rage and furious after 9/11 and their threat wasn't to be dismissed as mere threat . Do you understand having no or little choice in different matters or you are much too delusional of some divine help from somewhere ? Afghanistan has had nothing to lose since well its but a graveyard and it can afford to harbor terrorists and then let its country be destroyed by not handing them to the Americans but the same was and isn't true for us . We have a proper fully functioning country and hence made the decision and the sole choice , we had to save our country in the absence of any help from our allies . I can assure you that if Nawaz Sharif or even the Mullah Brigade was in charge at that time , they would have done the same but in a much worst way seeing the deals that they are negotiating today with the murderers of 50,000 Pakistanis . Can you come out of the idealist world you live in ?
I asked for more credible data rather than rankings . Which of my statements did you not understand about comparing the growth rate , currency exchange rates , GDP , prices of common commodities and the investor attraction during Musharraf's rule ? You seriously want to compare the economic legacy of Musharraf with that of the corrupt to the core PPP Govt under the command of Zardari ? Ok , but do not cherry pick this time and fixate on a single indicator . Get me a link for the proper ranking of Nominal GDP first of all . Economic performance is measured in term of percentage not value - calculate GDP growth in % and compare it with democratic govt. - Not to mention the economic reforms i.e. telecom sector, media industry and many other happened under military rule.
All I get from your link is this .
IMF Estimate for Pakistan from 1990-1999 | 48,457 | 55,007| 59,407| 62,880| 63,389| 74,066| 77,345| 76,261| 75,966 |71,248
IMF Estimates from 2000-2009 74,080 |72,268 |72,685 |83,501 |98,093 |109,595|127,489|143,203 |163,892 |161,819
Now , do the maths and compare .
Second , since you couldn't find the data which I asked for , here see this now . Economic comparison of Pakistan 1999–2008
1999 2007 2008 2009
GDP $ 75 billion $ 160 billion $ 170 billion $ 185 billion
GDP Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) $ 270 billion $ 475.5 billion $ 504 billion $ 545.6 billion
GDP per Capita Income $ 450 $ 925 $1085 $1250
Revenue collection Rs. 305 billion Rs. 708 billion Rs. 990 billion Rs. 1.05 trillion
Foreign reserves $ 1.96 billion $ 16.4 billion $ 8.89 billion $ 17.21 billion
Exports $ 8.5 billion $ 18.5 billion $ 19.22 billion $ 18.45 billion
KHI stock exchange (100-Index) $ 5 billion at 700 points $ 75 billion at 14,000 points $ 46 billion at 9,300 points $ 26.5 billion at 9,000 points
Foreign Direct Investment $ 1 billion $ 8.4 billion $ 5.19 billion $ 4.6 billion
External Debt & Liabilities $ 39 billion $ 40.17 billion $ 45.9 billion $ 50.1 billion
Development programmes Rs. 80 billion Rs. 520 billion Rs. 549.7 billion Rs. 621 billion
Answer me this . Was your democratic Govt able to sustain and keep continuing the same growth rate as Musharraf did or is the economy of Pakistan today at the state of decline and on the verge of collapse and near halt ? Why are we seeing a constant drop in the same values you take as indicators since then ?
Pakistan's tax base and government revenue collection more than doubled from about Rs. 500b to over Rs. 1 trillion. Pakistan's GDP more than doubled to $144b since 1999. Most recent figures in 2007 indicate that Pakistan's total debt stands at 56% of GDP, significantly lower than the 99% of GDP in 1999.
The strong consumer demand in Pakistan drove large investments in real estate, construction, communications, automobile manufacturing, banking and various consumer goods. Millions of new jobs were created. By all accounts, the ranks of the middle class swelled in Pakistan during Shaukat Aziz's term in office. According to Tara Vishwanath, the World Bank's lead economist for South Asia, about 5% of Pakistanis moved from the poor to the middle class in three years from 2001-2004, the most recent figures available. In 2007, analysts at Standard Chartered bank estimated that Pakistan has a middle class of 30 million which earns an average of about $10,000 per year. And adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), Pakistan's per capita GDP is approaching $3,000 per head.
Pakistan positioned itself as one of the four fastest growing economies in the Asian region during 2000-07 with its growth averaging 7.0 per cent per year for most of this period. As a result of strong economic growth, Pakistan succeeded in reducing poverty by one-half, creating almost 13 million jobs, halving the country's debt burden, raising foreign exchange reserves to a comfortable position and propping the country's exchange rate, restoring investors' confidence and most importantly, taking Pakistan out of the IMF Program.
Since the takeover by the PPP-PML(N) coalition, there has been a sharp decline in Pakistan's economy. Summing up the current economic situation,the Economist magazine in its June 12 issue says as follows:" (The current) macroeconomic disarray will be familiar to the coalition government led by the Pakistan People's Party of Asif Zardari, and to Nawaz Sharif, whose party provides it “outside support”. Before Mr Sharif was ousted in 1999, the two parties had presided over a decade of corruption and mismanagement. But since then, as the IMF remarked in a report in January, there has been a transformation. Pakistan attracted over $5 billion in foreign direct investment in the 2006-07 fiscal year, ten times the figure of 2000-01. The government's debt fell from 68% of GDP in 2003-04 to less than 55% in 2006-07, and its foreign-exchange reserves reached $16.4 billion as recently as in October."
The current government hailed the performance of Pakistan's economy under President Musharraf's watch as follows: "Pakistan's economy witnessed a major economic transformation in the last decade. The country's real GDP increased from $60 billion to $170 billion, with per capita income rising from under $500 to over $1000 during 2000-07". It further acknowledged that "the volume of international trade increased from $20 billion to nearly $60 billion. The improved macroeconomic performance enabled Pakistan to re-enter the international capital markets in the mid-2000s. Large capital inflows financed the current account deficit and contributed to an increase in gross official reserves to $14.3 billion at end-June 2007. Buoyant output growth, low inflation, and the government's social policies contributed to a reduction in poverty and improvement in many social indicators". (see MEFP, November 20, 2008, Para 1)
Haq's Musings: Musharraf's Economic Legacy
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