Pakistan's Female Students in UK admire Musharraf; Criticize Benazir, Nawaz
By Raza Mumtaz 'Pakistan Times' Executive Editor/UK Bureau Chief

LONDON (UK): Female students from Pakistan, studying at different universities in UK prefer President Pervez Musharraf to two ex-Prime Ministers Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, for bringing to end the discriminatory laws against women.

They call the regimes of the two former premiers as ‘corrupt and incompetent’.

But, a majority of the male students of Pakistani origin strongly oppose Musharraf's rule and support return of Ms Benazir and Mian Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan before the next year's general elections.

These mixed views both by male and female students of Pakistani origin came in light when they gathered at a reception which was hosted by the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Maleeha Lodhi.

The students were invited to the PHC for the first time. The students were of the view that in the past they found it difficult to even cross the gate of PHC to get their genuine problems resolved.

But, now things were quite different at the PHC London, for which they lauded Dr Maleeha Lodhi for her keen interest to help solve the problems of the people from Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, living in UK.

A student from Karachi Ms Fatima Malik, who is doing her Masters in Politics in London, strongly criticized the political leadership of Pakistan.

She was of the view that they had let down their own people as "both Nawaz and Benazir did not do anything for their countrymen during their tenures".

Ms Fatima said; Musharraf had given "stability" to the country and he had established institutions to further strengthen the country.

"Our country needed stability which both Nawaz and Benazir failed to offer. She said our democracy has been very fragile as our political leadership did not take the required steps and indulged in corruption," said Fatima and added that Musharraf was a "symbol of stability" in Pakistan.

Yet, Moeed Qureshi, a male student from Lahore, opposed the present government in Pakistan. He, however suggested that the politicians should learn from their mistakes.

Backing the return of Nawaz and Benazir to Pakistan, he said that they should participate in the elections.●