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Azeem calls bb, Nawaz ‘Machiavellian’

WASHINGTON: Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem has accused former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif of employing “Machiavellian” tactics based on the concept that the ends justify the means. In a rejoinder published in the letters’ column by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday following Bhutto’s piece appearing in the same newspaper on June 8, Azeem says the people of Pakistan were the “victims” of both former prime ministers because of their “intrigues” against one another and their “lust for power that precipitated the removal of their governments twice in 10 years”. He writes that the corruption charges Bhutto is facing in the United Kingdom and Switzerland were framed by Sharif, whose father was arrested by her on “frivolous charges”. While Azeem credits the Pakistani people with “enlightened thinking” when they voted for her – she a woman in an Islamic country - twice, she “proved to be a big disappointment by indulging in the worst type of governance” and “playing havoc with the public exchequer”. Sharif, he adds, “surpassed her when he froze $10 billion in foreign currency accounts in 1998 to meet his government’s exuberant expenditures”. Azeem writes that as far as Bhutto’s warning about the rise of extremism in Pakistan is concerned, the same warning can be validly given in the case of the UK and European countries which have suffered terrorist attacks. “Just because terrorist attacks have increased does not mean that the US administration or the UK government are incapable or lack (the) commitment to eliminate the scourge of terrorism.” khalid hasan

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