Word: samina
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...Instead, says Samina Ahmed of the International Crisis Group, Zardari's government has muddled the message: rather than punish those who used terrorist tactics, he originally met their demands in Swat. Wajiha Ahmed, a Pakistani-American graduate student at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, hopes that the current chaos holds a "silver lining ... It might put pressure on the military élite and the political oligarchy to finally change the country's outlook so that it focuses on bettering the condition of its people." But for decades, talented exiles - writers, bankers, software engineers and international civil servants - have been...
Will anything work? "The military has pursued two bad policies in the tribal areas--appeasement and excessive use of force," says Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director for the International Crisis Group. "Either way, all they have achieved is empowering the militants, helping them in recruitment and in obtaining funding." She laments the lack of a coherent strategy. "Militaries are blunt instruments; they are not good at counterinsurgency," she says. "The police would be a far more effective instrument, but there is no coordination between the military and the civilian government, so political reform and economic development--essential elements...
...encouraging foreign investment and privatization - moves that have been anathema to his socialist-leaning PPP. The pro-business Muslim League may prove useful. "At this point in time, given the state of the economic crisis, it actually makes sense to have a coalition between these two parties," says Samina Ahmed, South Asia project director of the International Crisis Group. "The workers have a voice in government as much as the industrialists, traders and the business community." If they can work together, she says, they may be able to form a compromise that pushes the economy forward...
...They have established Shari'a courts and executed "criminals" on the basis of Islamic law. Even Pakistani-army convoys are sometimes escorted by Taliban militants to ensure safe passage, a scene witnessed by TIME in North Waziristan one recent afternoon. "The state has withdrawn and ceded this territory," says Samina Ahmed of the International Crisis Group. "[The Taliban] have been given their own little piece of real estate...
...heavy-handed tactics seem to be backfiring. Whatever his intention, Musharraf's move has become a lightning rod for opposition by moderate Pakistanis frustrated with the slow pace of democratic reform. "This impinges so directly on the independence of the judiciary," says Samina Ahmed, Islamabad-based project director for the International Crisis Group. "This is the type of issue that will change the way people look at the executive - the last few apologists for this regime. There's a certain amount of desperation...