Dysfunctional Pakistan—Terrorist Time Bomb

Winking at Musharraf

Comments (0) By Jason Vest Tuesday, Jan 8 2002

...continued from page 1

But to Gould and others, this is more than pragmatism; it is an opportunity to vindicate the whole notion of democracy. "It's true the BJP [India's preeminent political party] wants to lead a crusade against the Pakistanis," says Gould. "But my point is that it's virtually inconceivable that the radical Hindu right wing of the BJP would ever get that much power, because India's a viable constitutional democracy with parties that accept a consensual system. The BJP is the largest single part of a ruling coalition, with 25 percent of the national vote. Seventy-five percent of the country votes differently. And this is the reason that [Prime Minister] Vajpayee has emerged as a popular leader and statesman—because he represents the moderate wing of his party, and if you want to be successful in Indian democratic politics, you have to moderate. I believe the same thing can happen in Pakistan if the U.S. doesn't shovel more military aid to Musharraf and reads the riot act to him about returning the country to democracy."