Pakistan's Elite Show Anti-Americanism in Elections

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday October 15, 2002 14:37 by WW4

hmmm, similar story could be told about Kuwait... you'd think those muslims would be thankful for all that the Bush Family has done for them?! [smirk!]

Pakistan's Elite Show Anti-Americanism in Elections
By DAVID ROHDE
NY Times

While anti-Americanism has long had deep roots here, Western diplomats and Pakistani analysts all insisted that there was no great cause for concern because Pakistan's wealthy elite and urban middle class would never support the country's Islamic religious parties.

That changed on Thursday, when residents of Islamabad, with the richest and most well-educated population in Pakistan, backed the local candidate of a coalition of religious parties bent on expelling American forces from Pakistan, ending corruption and imposing Taliban-style Islamic law.

....

The religious parties did well not only in the religiously conservative provinces bordering Afghanistan. They also beat leading mainstream candidates in the country's cities for the first time, picking up one seat here in the capital, two in Lahore and two in Karachi.

Based on the final returns today, the religious parties will control two of the country's four provincial governments and will be the third-largest party in the National Assembly, holding a record 45 seats. Their best previous showing was 9 seats in 1993. That will give the party considerable standing in the assembly, where the party backed by General Musharraf won 77 seats and that of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto won 62. (A fourth group, the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took 15 seats.)

....

Western diplomats said the widespread belief in conspiracy theories here stemmed from an education system that teaches rote learning, not critical thinking.

The Pakistani news organizations also fuel suspicions. In the last two months, English-language Pakistani newspapers have reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted to open 200 offices in Pakistan and that dozens of American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, and highlighted accounts of discrimination against Muslims in the United States.

The tone of anti-Americanism in the English-language press has become increasingly acerbic, Professor Rais said. President Bush is strongly criticized in opinion pieces, and recent editorial cartoons have festooned his name and image with swastikas and stars of David.

more at
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/international/asia/13STAN.html