Pakistanis have little faith in Obama 'change'
By NBC News' Fakhar Rehman
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- "As a Pakistani, I am not hopeful (Barack Obama’s) election will bring any positive change for Pakistan," said Zohra Aslam, 26, a lecturer of political science at Government College in Kohat, near the Afghan border.
Here in Pakistan, people all over the country followed the U.S. presidential campaigns with anticipation and in many cases skepticism. On election day, television channels stayed on air all night with special programming and analyses.
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| AP |
| A Pakistani man sells evening newspapers with the headline story of Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election on a road in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday. |
"Obama or McCain, either way it's a lose-lose situation for Pakistan regarding U.S. policies towards our country," said Yasmeen Khan, a housewife and mother of three, in Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of Balouchistan.
Khan said she closely followed the campaigns for months and felt she got to know both candidates and their policies towards Pakistan. "I really admire the American election process," she said, trying to add a more positive note to her analysis. "We don't have free and fair election campaigns here- we need to learn that from the Americans."
Akram Zaki, 75, a former diplomat, was not shy about giving his opinion on the new president-elect. "Obama will be as bad for Pakistan as Bush," he said. "As long as our own government has no coherent policy on this war on terror, then the new U.S. government will continue with the ways of the past administration and dictate policy to us," he said.
"It's time for Pakistan to wake up and shape up and demand the U.S. respect the resolutions of our own democratic Parliament and stop these drone attacks inside our borders."
‘Constant U.S. drone attacks’
A majority of Pakistanis still view the war on terror as America's war and the missile attacks by unmanned U.S. predator drones on al-Qaida and Taliban targets inside the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border as a violation of their sovereignty.
"Despite billions of dollars that the Bush administration has poured into Pakistan, the U.S. government has not been successful in changing the perceptions of the Pakistanis towards the U.S," said Imran Javaid, a property developer in Islamabad. "The constant U.S. drone attacks on us have made a considerable dent in our once good bi-lateral relations."
Aamir Sheikh, 40, a businessman in the city of Rawalpindi , a 20 minute drive from the capital Islamabad, gave a long sigh of relief. "I am so happy that Bush has lost," he said. "I know Obama will bring peace to Pakistan and resolve all our issues thru talks," he said.
Khursheed Akhtar agreed. Akhtar, 36, owns an electrical appliance shop in Islamabad and his business, just like the rest of the Pakistani economy, is bad.
"The only reason Obama won was the American people themselves were sick and tired of the Bush administrations policies which ruined their economy," he said.
"Now it is up to Obama to improve the political and financial situation in Pakistan and in the whole world."
