Musharraf victim of liberal policy
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Pervez Musharraf is the victim of the success of his own liberal policies, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Secretary General Mushahid Hussain wrote in an article for Tehelka Magazine’s September 6 issue.Mushahid said in the article that Musharraf was a military ruler with a difference.

He had a liberal outlook and his economic policies led to the emergence of an assertive and articulate middle class. In fact, he was the victim of his own success, he said.Musharraf will be remembered for three major pluses, Mushahid said.He was the first military ruler to engage India in an institutional peace process. The main security threat to Pakistan was redefined, away from India, to the internally generated spectre of extremism.He presided over one of the fastest media revolutions in any third world country.

Within five years, Pakistan moved from one state-owned television channel to over 50 privately owned news and entertainment channels. The media revolution gave the urban middle class the confidence to challenge state authority, the PML-Q leader wrote.

The role and representation of women in Pakistan’s public life received a boost through Musharraf’s policies, ranging from reversing the wrongs of the Zia era, to promoting one-third representation for women in Pakistan’s electoral system.