Pinning hope on Biden

Pakistan conferred its highest civilian medal, the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam on US Vice President-elect Joe Biden for helping them get rid of Pervez Musharraf. This move has, however, kicked up a storm. Quoting PM Yousuf Gilani’s ‘justifications’, The News on January 13 reported: “Biden played a key role in the restoration of democracy. It wasn’t the political parties, but the pressure from the US and Biden that forced Musharraf to remove his uniform,” he claimed, terming Biden ‘pro-Pakistan’. Columnist Mahmud Sipra in Daily Times, on January 15 pinned high hopes on Biden as the next US vice-president. “Biden is no stranger to Islamabad. This visit should be viewed as the precursor of how Washington is going to deal with Pakistan during the next four years. It seems the Obama administration is set to expand the dirt road to Islamabad to a dual carriageway. The way it should be...That bit about being part of ‘America’s War on Terror’ ought to be re-branded as ‘Pakistan’s War on Terror’.”