Bellicose bonehead
From Mr Randhir Singh Bains Sir: Bruce Anderson argues (Politics, 23 October) that military rule may be good for Pakistan, provided it is headed by a man like General Franco or Pinochet. General Pervaiz Musharraf, however, is no Franco or Pinochet; he is a typical Pakistani general who does not like to have peace with India.
When the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, visited Pakistan to start the Lahore peace process, General Musharraf refused to meet him. He was reported by the Pakistani press as saying that he could not stand saluting the prime minister of an enemy country. Worse still, when Musharraf was signing the peace agreement with India, he was busy plotting a military confrontation over Kashmir.
Bruce Anderson describes General Musharraf s predecessors (Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Zia-ul-Haq) as 'bone- heads who should never have been promot- ed beyond the rank of a lance-corporal'. I fear the same assessment must apply to the current ruler of Pakistan.
Randhir Singh Bains
34 Shere Road, Gants Hill, Essex
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