Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Musharraf for end to student politics

This sounds like Musharraf is worried about a ‘velvet revolution’ in Pakistan. There apparently is an opposition that is infiltrating student groups and is pressing for early elections.

President Musharraf praised Pervaiz Elahi’s decision not to reorganise the Pakistan Muslim League’s student wing in Punjab. “All political parties should emulate this and let students concentrate on their studies only,” he said.

Recently students have been most effectively used to topple governments by the United States as seen in the "chain of Europe's velvet revolutions" in Yugoslavia, Ukraine and Georgia.

One of the most active "pro-democracy" groups in Ukraine's democratic opposition is Pora, which means "it's time". The student activists of Pora received personal tutorials in non-violent resistance from Serbian students of the Otpor ("resistance") group, which was in the forefront of toppling Milosevich in Belgrade. Then the Serbs helped the Georgian vanguard movement Kmara ("enough is enough"). So a Georgian flag was also being waved in Kiev's Independence Square. In Tbilisi, the rose-revolutionary Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili interrupted his first anniversary address to offer a few words of encouragement in Ukrainian to his "sisters and brothers" in Kiev. The reawakened cold warriors link the "chain of Europe's velvet revolutions" in this peaceful march of democracy to what the crowds first chanted on Wenceslas Square in Prague in November 1989. So a jaded pro-democracy Lech Walesa was there too in Kiev, just as he had been in Prague.

The Western media have only highlighted how youthful demonstrators can bring down an authoritarian regime, simply by attending rock concerts in a central square. The demonstrations supporting pro-Western Yushchenko have laser lights, plasma screens, sophisticated sound systems, rock concerts, tents to camp in and huge quantities of orange clothing. These are all spontaneous protests. Enormous rallies were held in Kiev and eastern Ukraine in support of Yanukovich, but Western TV channels hardly noticed them. Yanukovich supporters were denigrated as having been brought in by buses, while ignoring obvious questions such as where the "Orange Revolution" money has come from and how quickly the opposition organized. It appears to be another case of spreading democracy through the use of a civilian coup d'etat.
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Addressing a large gathering at Nat House, Musharraf said the opposition should patiently wait till 2007 for the next elections and not breach the peace while playing politics.

The Punjab chief minister. Pervaiz Elahi, also addressed the gathering, saying Pakistan and democracy would be strengthened with the PML’s empowerment.

“Those talking about elections should contest the local bodies elections later this year. These people are the souls who undermine the nest of democracy,” he said, adding that parliament had decided to favour the uniform and the issue was closed. Commenting on the PML’s preparations for the local bodies elections, Pervaiz Elahi said the party would hoist its flags countrywide to “turn President Musharraf’s dreams to reality”. “I like President Musharraf because he steered Pakistan out of difficulties after 9/11,” he added.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-1-2005_pg1_1

-Am

Musharraf for end to student politics


Staff Report

LAHORE: President Pervez Musharraf on Friday empahsied that students should not get involved in politics and that political parties should stay away from educational institutions.

“Educational institutions should be free of politics,” President Musharraf said in his speech at the concluding session of the 2-day Punjab Students Convention 2004 at Aiwan-e-Iqbal.

Punjab Governor Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Atta-ur-Rehman, Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood and vice chancellors of public and private universities were also present. President Musharraf praised Pervaiz Elahi’s decision not to reorganise the Pakistan Muslim League’s student wing in Punjab. “All political parties should emulate this and let students concentrate on their studies only,” he said.

The president said that the education sector had fallen into a state of neglect in the past but his government gave education the highest priority so far. “The federal government allocated Rs 800 million only to education five years ago. This was too small a sum to benefit the education sector. Therefore we increased this sum to Rs 9.1 billion, registering a phenomenal 900 percent increase,” he said.

He said the previous government allocated Rs 180 million for science and education, while the present government had allocated a huge sum of Rs 6 billion to science and education. President Musharraf stressed that students should acquire technical education to prepare for modern challenges. He also stressed improving the quality of education by reinforcing faculties at educational institutions. President Musharraf said that he did not believe in westernising society but wanted to make Pakistan an enlightened, moderate and progressive welfare state as envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The president said Pakistan had its own culture and tradition and which must be promoted by relinquishing fanaticism.

He said Pakistan’s close ties with the United States was acceptance of the fact that the US was the only superpower in the uni-polar world. But he denied that Pakistan was solely dependent on the US.

He said the country needed national solidarity and Islamic principles and Jinnah’s teachings gave clear guidelines to the nation on making the country a progressive and modern welfare state. “We need to be tolerant in our attitude towards transforming ourselves into a tolerant society,” he said. He lamented that although Pakistan was an atomic power, it was listed among the countries with poor literacy. He said serious efforts were under way to ensure quality modern education to young people. He said the government wanted to bring over one million seminaries’ students into national mainstream. He stressed students graduating from seminaries should have opportunities for playing a role in national development instead of becoming a cleric only.

The president said Muslims occupied 70 per cent of natural resources of the world but had only 600 universities whereas there were 1,000 universities in Japan alone.

Musharraf said the Organization of Islamic Countries was being revitalised and special focus would be given on the promotion of education, especially scientific education and training. He called on Muslims to learn English to meet the challenges of modern times, saying social reformer and educationist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had also asked Muslims to learn the English language. “Pakistanis should consider learning the English language.” The president suggested setting up centres of excellence in Islamic states. He also emphasised improving Pakistan’s image abroad.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-1-2005_pg1_1