To coinside with the 79th birthday of general (R) Pervez Musharraf, the US award-winning magazine SouthAsia has carried a comprehensive cover story “An Officer and a Gentleman” in its current issue.
In his comment, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said that under President Musharraf, Pakistan became a very viable country. He says, “Internationally, Pakistan’s status rose high. Our growth was very good – in one particular year, it reached 6.8 percent. Even President Musharraf’s critics will agree that he was the only leader who came almost near to settling the Kashmir dispute.”
Mr. Kasuri adds, “At the Non-Aligned Summit in Malaysia in 2003, which was attended by leaders from all over the world, two leaders were particularly prominent. One was Cuba’s Fidel Castro and the other was Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. When the media learnt that he was one of the speakers, they rushed in like mad. The place was so full that there were even people sitting on the ground. There were many other world leaders also present there, such as President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Vajpayee. These are irrefutable facts that history will judge him with.”
The Cover Story carries Articles and Comments by such eminent persons as Lt. Gen. (R) Talat Masood, Lt. Gen. (R) Khalid Maqbool, Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Justice (R) Shaiq Usmani, Senator (R) Javed Jabbar, Riaz Muhammad Khan, Lt. Gen. (R) Asad Durrani, Lt. Gen. (R) Javed Alam, Maj. Gen. (R) Rashid Qureshi, Maj. Gen. (R) Aqeel Hussain, Fawad Chaudhry, Maj. Gen. (R) Inamul Haque, Tariq Ikram, Sirajuddin Aziz, Ambassador (R) Atiya Mahmood, Ambassador (R) Naghmana Hashmi, Diwan Muhammad Yusuf Farooqi, Senator (R) Nisar Memon, Senator (R) Kushbakht Shujaat, Tariq Kirmani, Brig. (R) Akhtar Gul Agha, Brig. (R) Akhtar Zamin, Hidayat Khaishgi, Nadira Panjwani, Atiqa Odho, Isteqbal Mehdi, Naeem Tahir, Aslam Sanjrani and Farah Naz.
The writers have covered various aspects of Gen. Musharraf’s personality and have brought into focus the key reforms he brought about in reviving Pakistan’s economy, recognizing the rights of women and minorities, introducing effective local governance and liberating the media.
The complete magazine can be found at the following link: www.southasia.com.pk
