CURRENT STATE OF FEDERALISM AND DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN

Report by Khalid Hashmani, McLean, Virginia, USA
Please note: Khalid Hashmani is a veteran human rights activist in Washington DC. He is the founding President of Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) and Chief coordinator of Sindhi Excellence Team (SET) that participates in advocacy activities on behalf of rural Sindhis. He can be reached at khashmani@hotmail.com

On Friday, March 20, 2009, the World Sindhi Institute (WSI) organized an international seminar on the topic of “Federalism and Democracy – Pakistan’s Experience and Challenges” at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC… The very well-known expert on Pakistan affairs, Mr. Stephen Cohen (Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution) attended the seminar and made brief comments.
A report of this meeting based on the notes that I took at the meeting is shared with you below and I hope you would find it worthy of inclusion in Indus Asia Online Journal.

The enemies within

by Manzoor Chandio, Karachi, Sindh
…Now come to the enemies within i.e. sardars, waderas, bhotars, gadi nashins, pir and mir. I’ve extensively written on this topic and do not want to reproduce the same here. There are some 33 articles on Sindh and Sindhis on my blog http://manzoorchandio.blogspot.com/
Most of the articles are about the incompetence of Sindh’s sardars, waderas, bhotars, gadi nashins, pir and mir.
The presence of this nakara class is an inherent problem of Sindh and almost all developed nations have gone through such processes. We Sindhis are still a part of a developing society and striving to make our society a developed one.
In the given scenario, you’ll have to be focused on efforts which contribute to the advancement of the Sindhi society. Do you think Sindhi society will make strides by supporting the PML-N chauvinists? What we saw during the recent long march that some Sindhis mistakenly supported chauvinists and obscurantists who are the great enemies of the Sindhi society…

They will never learn

by M. Raza

Why don’t the establishment accept 1940′s Lahore resolution of Pakistan ??? which says clearly the word **SOVEREIGN STATES**!! After losing half of country (east Pakistan or Bangladesh), the establishment still dreaming? Why shall the provinces who share 70% of revenue suffer? For what? In which AYAT it is written that Islamabad/ establishment can  exploit other provinces in the name of Islam and Pakistan.

ASK BALOCHI, ASK PASHTOON, ASK SINDHIS, ASK BALTISTANIS, ASK GILGITIES AND ASK SARAIKIS, WHY ALL OF THEM SAY THAT ESTABLISHMENT IS EXPLOITING THEM.

Article Six of the constitution of Pakistan

by Muhammad Saleem Jami
Since long politicians of Pakistan, specially Mr. Nawaz Sharif, his party leaders, Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, journalist, anchorss and thier followers and many others are urging, pressing and demanding the government or parliamnet to fix the General Pervez Mushraf Under Article Six and this is true, correct and appropriate demend from the people and politicians that the General Pervez Mushraf had abrogated, conspired and subverted the constitution by inserting the 17 th amnedement and other unconstitutional acts and he is guilty of doing high treason but prior demanding this one should remember and keep it in his mind that article six has sub articles too and for your convenience I reproduce the Article Six of Constitution as under:-
6. (1) Any person who abrogates or attempts or conspires to abrogate, subverts or attempts or conspires to subverts the constitution by use of force or show of force or by other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.

Dr. Lakhu Luhano of World Sindhi Congress attended Baloch forum

Report by Samad Baloch, Sec. Gen. BHRC
Recently, a seminar was arranged by Baloch Activists in Europe. Sindhi delegates namely Dr. Lakhu Luhano of World Sindhi Congress and Sindhi Baloch Forum attended this event.

CJP to remain PCO judge without fresh oath: Fazlur Rehman

Courtesy and Thanks: Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Chaudhry will continue to remain a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) judge if he does not take a fresh oath under the constitution, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam- Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman said on Monday. A private TV channel cited him as saying that he had not been taken into confidence over the reinstatement of the CJP. He claimed he had merely been a spectator in the decision taken by the government. He said that while the judicial crisis had been ostensibly resolved, there were still several glaring contradictions.

Pakistan militants strengthen in heartland (Punjab)

by Chris Brummitt
BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan (AP) – The compound bore no sign. Residents referred to it simply as the school for “jihadi fighters,” speaking in awe of the expensive horses stabled within its high walls – and the extremists who rode them bareback in the dusty fields around it. In classrooms nearby, teachers drilled boys as young as 8 in an uncompromising brand of Islam that called for holy war against enemies of the faith. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Dar-ul-uloom Madina school, they rocked back and forth as they recited sections of the Quran, Islam’s holy book.