BushClinton Forever is a fun exercise is prognostication. I was just explaining that in Pakistan, the Bhutto and Sharif clans have enough heirs to keep control for the next 80 years. It helps that the military will be able to control 3 or 4 sets of 12 year increments which is necessary for bringing about maturation in the sons and grandsons to be. Of course, the political dynasties in Pakistan are much more open to daughter-in-laws, nephews and second cousins on the father's side. Go Sonia Gandhi!
Related, I asserted to my friend raver that every Chief of Army Staff in Pakistan with mustaches assumed control while those without mustaches or with slight or ineffectual mustaches were pliable to civilian regimes. Proof in the pudding below the fold.
| Name | Term of Appointment | Mustache? | Martial Law? |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Sir Frank Walter Messervy | 1947 - 1948 |  |
No |
| General Sir Douglas David Gracey | 1948 - 1951 |  |
No |
| General Ayub Khan | 1951 - 1958 |  |
Yes |
| General Musa Khan | 1958 - 1966 |  |
No |
| General Yahya Khan | 1966 - 1971 |  |
Yes |
| General Gul Khan | 1971 - 1972 |  |
No |
| General Tikka Khan | 1972 - 1976 |  |
No* |
| General Zia ul Haq | 1976 - 1988 |  |
Yes |
| General Aslam Beg | 1988 - 1991 |  |
No |
| General Asif Janjua | 1991 - 1993 | No | No |
| General Abdul Waheed Kakar | 1993 - 1996 | Slight | No |
| General Jahangir Karamat | 1996 - 1998 |  |
No |
| General Pervez Musharraf | 1996 - 2007 |  |
Yes |
| General Ashfar Pervez Kayani | 2007 - |  |
... |
* Tikka Khan is not the exception if you consider the dictatorship he wrought on the people of East Pakistan.
Ok, I guess, this theory is as spotty as the hair I can produce on my own upper lip. But it did make me find images of these weird generals.
COMMENTS
neha | February 08, 2008
I see a PhD topic in the making - the machismo of mustaches and martial law. LOL!
huma | February 08, 2008
The generals who never imposed martial law must be heaping abuses on their razors right now.
Akbar | February 08, 2008
Re "I was just explaining that in Pakistan, the Bhutto and Sharif clans have enough heirs to keep control for the next 80 years." Really? Did they ever had control of Pakistan? Nice picture gallery but flawed hypothesis!
ADM | February 10, 2008
*boggles at the many implications*