PERVEZ MUSHARRAF

A STUDY OF CHARACTER...

The telecast of President General Pervez Musharraf passing the baton of Chief of the Army Staff to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani over CNN and other stations which braodcast the event on Nov 27th was a priceless study in character. Musharraf exhibited a resoluteness and confidence throughout this whole handover process that was interesting to watch. He didn't appear as f he was putting on a show for the media - which is a clever strategy in itself in the first place (the man studied media management in India at one point, according to Wikipedia).

Whatever people say, General Pervez appeared to be sure footed. This particular broadcast was also very notable in that the women who witnessed the event all played secondary roles to the men in attendance. The wives of all the senior Pakistani politicians and army men stood by the side of their respective men (husbands, one would assume) as General Pervez walked about. All the women women smiled and nodded from behind their men but never ventured forward to congratulate General Pervez or General Ashfaq.

All said, Pakistan is still very much a patriarchal society and it is hard to imagine Benazir Bhutto wanting to assume political leadership of such a country. Anyway, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif already had a go at running Pakistan and nothing much good ever came out of their leadership there.