Dua, who was recently in Pakistan Mr President, will you fight the 2007 election in uniform or without?
Please answer Yes, or No, asked an intrepid journalist of Geo TV, a private channel. Her question was direct, straight out of the box and very topical in Pakistan. President Pervez Musharraf paused a bit and answered: Yes, and No, in matching three direct words. The questioner was happy she had got a soundbyte from the President. For the audience, consisting of MPs and senior journalists from South Asian countries, it was a bit of delectable ambivalence which the rulers some time indulge in. The General himself laughed at what he said, or did not say, and he thought that he had parried a question he had not really wanted to answer two years before the next election. The MPs and journalists were meeting under the auspices of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) for its valedictory session at Islamabad last week. The Presidents wearing his uniform is the most discussed question in Pakistan these days. Essentially, it involves whether the President will continue to hold the high
