Sealed Off?

I wonder what that means. (Really.) From  Human Rights Watch:

ISLAMABAD will be sealed off so that President Musharraf can welcome US President George Bush to his capital. Bush is making the journey to compliment and compensate Musharraf on services rendered in the ‘war on terror’. Musharraf is hosting Bush to bask in the glory of a renewed alliance with the United States and to strengthen his faltering grip on power. Nowhere is human rights on the agenda. 

Comments

[Randy Paul]

Eric,

Kind of like an election in Iraq these days.

[Michael Roston]

I haven't been, but my understanding is that Islamabad has a reputation for being a bit of a Potemkin Village - like Brasilia, or Putrajaya (the new Malaysian "administrative center" outside of Kuala Lumpur), or Pyinmana (the place that the junta in Burma has holed up in), and other cities established by third world dictatorships as orderly capitals that can be subjected to total control when necessary.

Come to think of it, I can't help but wonder if Islamabad is essentially the model for all of the rest.

[Randy Paul]

Michael,

Brasilia, while an unpleasant and appallingly impersonal city, it was built under the auspices of democratically elected President Juscelino Kubitschek, who had previously served as governor of Minas Gerais and mayor of Belo Horizonte.

[Yusuf]

I've lived in Islamabad. Its a beautiful city, almost antiseptic with numerous gated and guarded enclaves. During Bush's visit, offices will be closed, roads leading to town sealed off and policemen ensuring people can't come out of thier houses. Sort of like an undeclared curfew.

Meanwhile Fuller-brush salesman (replace arms and death machines for Fuller) will be selling arms to India to fight off China and Pakistan, arms to Pakistan to fight India and keep its citizens under martial law, all the while increasing trade with China!

War against terror indeed! Its more like an underground arms dealer spreading his ware in the ghettos of the world.