FILM “MAHA CHOR” (1976) STARRING RAJESH KHANNA, NEETU SINGH, PREM CHOPRA, ARUNA IRANI. MUSIC: RD BURMAN; LYRICS: ANAND BAKSHI; SINGER: KISHORE KUMAR; DIRECTOR: NARINDER BEDI.
» YouTube
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Imran Khan’s hollow slogans of change with people by establishment are not working in Sindh
Translation by Khalid Hashmani
Excerpt;
Jami Chandio is well-known Sindhi activist. Jami sahib in his interview with Geo Tv says that no political party can succeed in Sindh without having a strong local organizational structure in Sindh and addressing the key issues of Sindh. He says that it is quite possible that Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) may be able to attract few feudal family names as there are always some who are ready to join anyone who is likely to be in power. However, such addition of feudal names would not make any difference in an honest election.
Jami also says that for the first time, several nationalist parties have also decided to contest the upcoming elections so there is a likelihood of three-way contest in most constituencies. He concludes that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is likely to win elections in Sindh but with a reduced majority.
Courtesy: Geo Tv News ( Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath, 28th December 2011.)
Asma Jehangir ( Lioness ) interview with Aljazeera.
Husain Haqqani’s lawyer, Aasma Jehangir, speaks to Aljazeerah
Read more: Pakistani Siasat
What the security establishment has been doing for decades is now fleecing the country
The language of the talk show is urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: Rawal Tv (Bilatakalluf (Straight forward) with Tahir Gora and Arshad Mehmood)
Balochi song – (with lyrics translation)
A song in Balochi for all those who never heard the language, but have thrived on the resources of Baluchistan. Akhtar Chanal and Komal Rizvi performing Daanah Pah Daanah in coke studio season 4 episode 1. Translation is embedded in the video.
Courtesy: Coke studio » YouTube
‘Karachi Sindh Aahey’- (Karachi is an integral part and heart of Sindh)
- People of Karachi and rest of Sindh meet at CHOKUNDEE to pledge preservation of Sindhi Heritage and welcome New Year!
Every year on 31st December, Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF) arrange DUYA/ Pirathna for the prosperity of Sindh and rest of the world and bid farewell to the last sunset of every year at some selected place of cultural and historic importance.
Today we are going to gather at one of Sindh’s greatest sign of cultural richness CHOKUNDEE graveyard Karachi. Please join us having candles and flowers to say good bye to the last sun of 2011 and pray for the prosperity of humanity and revival of peace and tranquility in Sindh, Pakistan and rest of the world.
Meeting time is 4.pm sharp and own Karachi, an integral part and heart of Sindh.
Express News Tv – Frontline with Kamran Shahid – CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry also Violated Constitution
The language of the talk show is urdu (Hindi).
Courtesy: Express News Tv (Front line with Kamaran Shahid) » YouTube
PAKISTAN: Army is silent on the disappearance of Captain 33 years ago
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-250-2011
21 December 2011 – The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that an army officer of the rank of Captain was sent on a secret mission to Kashmir in 1979 and since then his whereabouts are unknown. The missing officer, who was identified as Mr. Ishtiaq Ali Khan Qaimkhani, told his wife before leaving that if he does not return from the mission within two years then she should contact General Headquarter (GHQ) of the army and the office will provide all his detail. Since 1981 his wife has been trying to get the information from the military and government but has yet to learn as to whether he is dead or alive. She has written many letters to the President, Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff and Chief Justice of Pakistan but no one has replied to her or conducted an inquiry into the disappearance of the Captain.
Saudi Arabia is not immune to the Arab Spring
Saudi Arabia: Renewed Protests Defy Ban
Release Imprisoned Advocates of Peaceful Reform
(Beirut) – Saudi reform advocates have staged several protests since mid-December, 2011, despite a categorical ban on protests issued last March, Human Rights Watch said today. In Riyadh, Buraida, and Qatif, security forces immediately arrested the protesters, who were peacefully protesting the detention without trial of hundreds of people held for long periods in intelligence prisons.
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry should immediately release scores of detained and convicted peaceful advocates of reform, Human Rights Watch said.
“Saudi Arabia is not immune to the Arab Spring,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The basic human right to protest peacefully is all the more important in a place like Saudi Arabia, where there are almost no other means of participating in public affairs.” ….
Read more » Human Rights Watch
PAKISTAN: The AHRC appreciates the Prime Minister’s resolve to place the army under civilian rule
A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission
AHRC-STM-213-2011 (12-23-2011): The Prime Minister has accused the Pakistan army of hatching conspiracies against the elected parliament and government. The PM, in an address to the National Assembly session, has hinted that conspiracies are being hatched to ‘pack up the elected government’ pointing at the army and making a strong assertion that parliament is the highest of all the state organs. He declared that all the state organs, including the military, are answerable to the parliament and the government would not allow anyone to claim to be state within a state.
Prime Minister Gillani’s speech was the outcome of the statements submitted in the Supreme Court by the Chief of Army Staff and the chief of the ISI, the inter services intelligence agency, in the case of the ‘Memo Gate Scandal’ wherein the former Ambassador to the US was implicated by a Pakistani-American businessman for writing a memo to former chief of the US army to use his offices to stop the Pakistani Army and ISI making a coup against the civilian government. Through the memo the Pakistani-American businessman was also accusing that President of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Zardari, being a boss of the Ambassador was involved in writing a letter against his own military top brass.
Who exposed the limitations of Parliament?
By Nusrat Javeed
I have been watching the rise and rise of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on political scene since 1985. In spite of ruthlessly sticking to clique-building practices that our politicians have to follow for surviving, he is mostly straight and honest. Friday, he disappointed me however by repeatedly wailing over the “loss of respect for this parliament.” He went on narrating various events, examples and practices to eventually declare the National Assembly he sits in as the opposition leader, as ‘dysfunctional’ before leaving the house. Make no mistake; he did not walk out in protest, nor did he express the intent of resigning. He only left to join the Jumma prayer in time.
Read more » The Express Tribune
Ram Bhi Maan Bhagwaan Bhi Maan
“Ram Bhi Maan Bhagwaan Bhi Maan” Poetry: Hazrat GM Mast Parwazi, Singer: Inayat Khaskheli.
» YouTube
Pakistan maintains top slot in Google search for ‘sex’
By Web Desk
With over 20 million internet users and growing fast, Pakistan has managed to secure the number one slot for searching the term ‘sex’ globally for all years.
According to a 2010 Fox News report, Pakistan had outranked all countries in Google searches for pornographic terms last year. Narrowing the analytics for the search term to just 2011, Pakistan maintained the number one position, followed by India and Vietnam. …
Read more » The Express Tribune
Sindh and Balochistan’s Issues are not the same as in the Islamic Republic of Punjab
Interview of Naseer Memon was conducted by “DUNYA” TV in the aftermath of a large gathering addressed by President Asif Zardari.
Translation by Khalid Hashmani
Excerpt of Interview;
The interview was conducted by “DUNYA” News Tv in the aftermath of a large gathering [Benazir's aniversary rally in Garahi Khuda Buksh made PTI-Imran's tsunami seen like a wall of jelly] addressed by President Asif Zardari in Garahi Yasin, near Larkano in Sindh. The interviewer wanted to know whether or not other political parties are making any headway into the minds and hearts of Sindhis. Naseer Memon sahib, as you can see in the video explains that people should not be misled by the number of people attending political gatherings. As the previous elections have shown that in Sindh and the rest of the Pakistan, the size of vote banks is not the same as the size of crowd attending a political rally. Often people attend the rallies of one political party but do not vote for them. Also, Sindhis may criticize PPP on not delivering on some of its commitments, it does not mean that they will not vote for it.
Memon sahib says that things that excite people in Punjab like Nuclear bombs and religious supremacy are not the main concerns of Sindhis. He adds that most Sindhis think that it is the expenses associated with nuclear bombs and military that are keeping people of Pakistan under poverty. He challenged the interviewer to find even one writing by a Sindhi intellectual that would praise ZAB’s words that “Pakistanis will eat grass but will make a nuclear bomb” even though otherwise he is considered one of their greatest hero. Naseer also points that most Sindhis want a secular form of government as the large minorities of Hindus, Christian and others live peacefully in Sindh. They are least excited by slogans of Islamic state.
Commenting on the performance of PPP in Sindh, he said people are quite angry because of the decaying of infrastructure (roads, bridges, transportation, etc.) and education and health services outside of Karachi. They abhor increasing corruption of PPP officials and want a quick end to it. He also criticized poor response of the government to recent floods in Sindh. He concluded that people are asking these questions from PPP. He warns PPP that they should not take Sindhi people’s grievances lightly lest they may be left with no Sindh card.
Civilian authority has come under Pakistan Army: Asma Jehangir
Pakistan’s Supreme Court backs the country’s Military Establishment over the Civilian democratic government.
History will remember this as the dark day of Pakistan’s judiciary which has capitulated to the Military.
– o — o — o — o –
By Sidrah Moiz
ISLAMABAD: Counsel for former Ambassador to the United States Asma Jehangir, speaking in reference to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Memogate case, said that the civilian authority had come under the army and that it was a “dark day” for the judiciary. ….
Read more » The Express Tribune » YouTube
More details » BBC urdu
Needed: a ‘bloody civilian’ at the ISI
By Kamran Shafi
In November 2009 I wrote an article arguing the case for a civilian head of the ISI, our equivalent of Britain’s MI5 (Security Service) and MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service); Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND); France’s General Directorate for External Security (DGSE); Israel’s Mossad; and India’s RAW to name a few.
Of 16 Directors of MI5 and 13 of MI6 since the year 1909, only one military man served as director for each of the agencies; in the case of the German BND, of eleven presidents only one was an army general and that too during the Second World War; and in the French DGSE six were civilians and three soldiers since the year 1981.
And now to our special bug-bears: the Indian RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) and the Israeli Mossad: RAW has always had civilians head it, all civil servants belonging to various departments of government. Only in the case of Mossad have generals outnumbered civilians but even there have not had a monopoly on the agency.
Pakistani politicians start shivering at what ASMA JAHANGIR, the Iron Lady, can say about sacred cows
Beyond the mandate
ASMA Jahangir, legal counsel of Husain Haqqani in the memo hearings in the Supreme Court, may have had in mind a robust defence of her client while making strong statements about the political role of the ISI but her remarks in Courtroom No 1 on Tuesday are worth reflecting on in a wider context. Also, while ‘memogate’ may have pitched the elected government against the powerful army, the hearings in the Supreme Court could become a way of addressing hitherto taboo subjects, such as the responsibilities of the ISI, official and otherwise. The rub of the present matter is that the ISI appears to have ‘investigated’ its own political leadership and determined that the political leadership has grave charges to answer. In fact, from the statements of ISI chief Lt Gen Pasha filed in the Supreme Court, it would appear that the army prima facie believes the allegations of Mansoor Ijaz regarding the role of Husain Haqqani, and someone more senior to him on the civilian side, in the drafting of the now-infamous memo.
Did the ISI itself transgress official boundaries in the present instance? Also, what is the ISI’s legal mandate: is it a counter-intelligence and external-oriented organisation or does it have a more expansive domestic role? Part of the problem is historical. While there is some irony that the PPP’s founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is believed to have given the ISI a larger role and ingress into domestic politics, the real boost for the organisation proved to be the Afghan war in the 1980s. Organising and equipping the Afghan jihadis while serving the domestic needs of dictator Ziaul Haq, the ISI was an infinitely more fearsome institution at the end of the ’80s than it was at the start. By the time the so-called decade of democracy rolled around, the ISI was confident and capable enough to aggressively intervene in the democratic process. As the self-appointed custodians of the national interest, the army and the ISI established their own rules that only as a matter of convenience appeared to fit into the scheme of a constitutional democracy. For the civilians to assert their control over the country’s armed forces and its intelligence apparatus, many years, much sophistication in approach and honesty of purpose will be required. Sadly, none of that has been evident to date on the civilian side.
Inevitably, perhaps, the courts also must shoulder some of the blame. Had the verdict in the Asghar Khan case, which looked into the manipulation of elections by the ISI in the 1990s, been handed down, the hearings into the memo affair may not have become necessary. Having said that, the present hearing could be used to try and establish the mandate and parameters of the ISI.
Courtesy: DAWN.COM
Aitzaz denies he is replacing Gilani as PM
Aitzaz Ahsan
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik
ISLAMABAD: In an intriguing political development, PPP leader and former president Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, is being tipped as the likely replacement of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Highly informed sources close to President Asif Ali Zardari told The News that barring certain procedural hiccups, the decision to bring in Aitzaz may be as good as final.
Whatever else may be said about President Zardari, one thing is for certain: the co-chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party has a special knack for surprising his friends and foes alike. This Tuesday, addressing crowds at Garhi Khuda Bux on the fourth death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, President Zardari left political observers perplexed once more with his garrulous eulogising of Aitzaz Ahsan.
The president thanked Aitzaz for coming to Naudero and, in an unprecedented move, announced that Aitzaz’s speech was next, after the president’s. Indeed, Aitzaz Ahsan appeared to be the keynote speaker at the event.
According to a source extremely close to the president, it seems that serious discussions are underway about replacing Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani with Aitzaz. “It is a fact that this option is being considered,” the source told The News. “Gilani may go. It’s a serious option. We can say with certitude that Aitzaz as prime minister is becoming a bigger and bigger possibility everyday.” ….
Read more » The News
Memogate: the odds are even now – By Dr Mohammad Taqi
Even the arch political enemies of the present government would be hesitant to support any movement of the mechanised columns from Rawalpindi to Islamabad
If the recent slew of ISPR press releases is anything to go by, the Pakistani brass is one frustrated lot. What they thought would be a slam dunk is turning out to be a drawn out battle of nerves in which there are few, if any, legal and constitutional options for them to achieve their desired goal of sending President Asif Zardari packing. In the so-called Memogate saga, the odds are even now.
The Pakistani security establishment went charging into the memo affair and expected to deliver a knockout blow to President Zardari within days. To their dismay this is becoming more and more like the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ bout between the great Muhammad Ali and the fearsome Smokin’ Joe. In the PAF School, Peshawar, we had a partial day off to watch that 1975 Ali-Frazier fight. But my recollection of the event, then telecast live on the Pakistani national television, remained rather vague until its re-run last month to commemorate the death of the mighty Joe Frazier; it was a reminder how superbly tenacious Ali was.
President Zardari has been battered and bruised in the most recent of the many attempts by the brass to cow down the civilian leadership. Over the last 40 years they have done this to every single civilian head of the ruling party in Pakistan. Whether it was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Muhammad Khan Junejo, Benazir Bhutto or Mian Nawaz Sharif, they all faced the constant pugilistic attitude of an establishment unwilling to loosen its grip on domestic, and more importantly, foreign affairs. All these leaders lost their governments for standing up to the praetorian guard. The Bhuttos, of course, paid with their lives, not just governments. …
Read more » Daily Times
A death trap in Rawalpindi – D Asghar
BB was her father’s daughter in every sense and respect, who staunchly believed that the people are able to decide their own destiny. No matter who they are, what social sphere they belong to, they have a voice and a choice
My birthplace, Rawalpindi, has a strange notoriety: it has been extremely unlucky for the prime ministers of Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan became a victim of Syed Akbar’s bullet back in 1951, in what was then known as Company Bagh. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was murdered in 1979, at Rawalpindi Central Jail. I use the term ‘murdered’, although he was supposedly sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court, and the Supreme Court had upheld that verdict, for obvious reasons. It is commonly termed as a ‘judicial murder’. His daughter, twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto became a victim of an assassin’s bullet four years back in December 2007. What a strange coincidence that she died at the same Company Bagh, now known as Liaquat Bagh. Boy what a death trap that Company Bagh is. …
Read more » Daily Times
Asma Jehangir blasts Gen. Shuja Pasha for meeting Mansoor Ijaz
Asma Jehangir blasts Pasha for meeting Mansoor Ijaz
ISLAMABAD: A day after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had adopted a soft attitude towards the military leadership, the top spymaster came under intense scrutiny in the Supreme Court hearing a set of petitions in the memo case here on Tuesday.
“I called these petitions ‘benami’ (anonymous) because two of its respondents are the actual petitioners,” Advocate Asma Jehangir argued while alluding to Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha who are named as parties in the petitions.
In her usual assertive and hard-hitting style, Ms Jehangir, the counsel for former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, asked why one of the petitioners changed his mind two days after writing a letter to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and then filing petitions in the Supreme Court. …
Read more » DAWN.COM
The Generals, Pakistan’s General Problem – How Pakistan’s Generals turned the country into an international disaster
BY Mohammad Hanif
What is the last thing you say to your best general when ordering him into a do-or-die mission? A prayer maybe, if you are religiously inclined. A short lecture, underlining the importance of the mission, if you want to keep it businesslike. Or maybe you’ll wish him good luck accompanied by a clicking of the heels and a final salute.
On the night of 5 July 1977 as Operation Fair Play, meant to topple Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s elected government, was about to commence, then Army Chief General Zia ul Haq took aside his right-hand man and Corps Commander of 10th Corps Lieutenant General Faiz Ali Chishti and whispered to him: “Murshid, marwa na daina.” (Guru, don’t get us killed.)
General Zia was indulging in two of his favourite pastimes: spreading his paranoia amongst those around him and sucking up to a junior officer he needed to do his dirty work. General Zia had a talent for that; he could make his juniors feel as if they were indispensable to the running of this world. And he could make his seniors feel like proper gods, as Bhutto found out to his cost.
General Faiz Ali Chishti’s troops didn’t face any resistance that night; not a single shot was fired, and like all military coups in Pakistan, this was also dubbed a ‘bloodless coup’. There was a lot of bloodshed, though, in the following years—in military-managed dungeons, as pro-democracy students were butchered at Thori gate (Thorri Phaatak) in rural Sindh, hundreds of shoppers were blown up in Karachi’s Bohri Bazar, in Rawalpindi people didn’t even have to leave their houses to get killed as the Army’s ammunition depot blew up raining missiles on a whole city, and finally at Basti Laal Kamal near Bahawalpur, where a plane exploded killing General Zia and most of the Pakistan Army’s high command. General Faiz Ali Chishti had nothing to do with this, of course. General Zia had managed to force his murshid into retirement soon after coming to power. Chishti had started to take that term of endearment—murshid—a bit too seriously and dictators can’t stand anyone who thinks of himself as a kingmaker.
Memogate case: Asma Jehangir drags ISI chief into the ring
ISLAMABAD: The role of the country’s premier intelligence agency came under the spotlight at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as Asma Jehangir, counsel for former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani, defended her client in the Memogate case.
In an assertion that blurred the boundaries between the alleged perpetrators and the victims in the case, Jehangir termed Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s visit to London as a venture against the government.
“Many of us inside this courtroom are guilty of treason if the ISI’s statement is to be believed,” Jehangir said to a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
“The likes of Benazir Bhutto and Wali Khan are also traitors by its standards,” she said. …
Read more » The Express Tribune
More details » BBC urdu
Fazlur Rehman angry at Imran Khan and establishment
Fazl lashes out against establishment, PTI
By Owais Jafri
DERA GHAZI KHAN: Warning the army against ‘intervening’ in political affairs, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief said on Monday that all ‘power hands’ showing the way to the ballot, will, in turn, be shown their way back to the barracks.
Addressing a rally in Dera Ghazi Khan, Fazlur Rehman said that threats, in the name of the Haqqani network, to the government and the attack on the Salala check posts are outcomes of a ‘one man show’ and secret pacts of the past.
These pacts, he added, have cost the country’s economy $80 billion and killed 35,000 people, and urged that the perpetrators should be held accountable.
Dismissing PTI’s popularity
Regarding the rising popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the JUI-F chief said that the party is “just a paper, which will disappear soon”.
“All those with the illusion of power are joining PTI. They have no conscience and no fixed place as they are nomads,” he said, adding, “Today they are in PTI but tomorrow they will be with any other power giant.”
Talking about the strength of the rally in Karachi on December 25, Fazl said that his party will gather more people in a single procession of a district than PTI gathered from all over the country. ….
Read more » The Express Tribune
ANALYSIS: Imran Khan: tsunami or hot air balloon?
By Mohammad Ali Mahar
That the tsunami is coming looks for sure. What will be left of the country after the water tides recede is not known]
After wandering in the political desert of Pakistan for 15 years, Imran Khan finally seems to be led to the ‘promised’ land of power.
One wonders why all those who used to ridicule and laugh at Mr Khan’s TV talk show sponsored demagoguery for 15 long years have, all of a sudden, during the past six months or so, discovered a messiah in him. Why are the established puppets of the establishment making a beeline to join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)? Let’s examine. …
Read more » Daily Times
The story of Benazir Bhutto: A Tale of Tears
Courtesy: Front Line with Kamaran Shahid
– o — o — o — o –
If you watch the video of Imran Khan’s Karachi Jalsa, you will see Imran Khan coming to the venue by an Army helicopter and then escorted and surrounded by armed Army commandos. The Army and ISI provided full security to him, before and during the jalsa. A million dollar question is , where was the Army and ISI when twice prime minister of Pakistan, Chairperson of PPP, Benazir was speaking at Liaquat Park, Rawalpindi, a stone’s throw distance from GHQ? Why was absolutely no security was provided to her, even as is now disclosed by ISI that there was a specific plan to murder her? Was it because the generals perceived BB as a threat to expose them before the public?
Is their support of Imran Khan because Army generals think that he will get them out of the deep hole they have dug for themselves and get Talibans/ Jihadis and Americans off their backs, sustain their narrow destructive policies and that they can go back to their messes and golf courses and DHAs? [Above text is taken from Pakistani e-lists, e-groups, credit goes to TK for above piece]
Are general’s conspiring against elected democratic government through its partners to tether it and to do the job?
- Is Pakistan’s army conspiring to take over the government?
A scandal pitting Pakistan’s army against its civilian government has everyone talking.
By Suzanna Koster
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Massive political rallies coupled with persistent mudslinging by the political opposition broadcast live on local television gives the appearance here that an election season is in full swing. But, at least for now, Pakistan’s parliamentary elections are more than a year away.
One scandal after another, some reaching the the country’s Supreme Court, have plagued President Asif Ali Zardari and his the ruling party, the Pakistan’s People’s Party (PPP) in recent weeks, and have given rise to calls for the resignation of the country’s leadership and hopes for an early election.
And all this is taking place amid a widespread conspiracy theory that the army is lending a hidden hand to make it happen. Despite the opposition’s slander, however, the government and many of the opposing political parties agree on one thing: They are not interested in a military take-over. …
Read more » Global Post
One ship, three ministers, a dirty fight!
ISLAMABAD: (21 May, 2009) A multi-million dollar impending purchase of an old ship purportedly at an “inflated price of millions” for the Ministry of Science and Technology created ugly scenes in the federal cabinet meeting on Wednesday when three ministers blamed one another for the scam.
High-profile sources confirmed to our sources that Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati and Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghauri accused Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali of pressurising them to buy an old ship at an inflated price of millions, which otherwise was available at a much cheaper price. Swati and Ghauri blasted Sardar Assef in his absence in the meeting. Prime Minister Gilani has now summoned the deputy chairman to explain his position about the alleged scam that jolted the cabinet.
Talking to our sources, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali strongly rejected allegations levelled against him in the federal cabinet meeting. The details, which he shared with this correspondent, give a totally new picture to the subject. He lambasted Azam Swati for pointing finger at him, arguing how he could be singled out in the matter that had nothing to do with him or his Planning Division. ….
Read more » Pak Tribune
Limits to Imran’s magic
By Haider Nizamani
SPEECHES made at the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) rally in Karachi on Dec 25 were a perfect “motley mixture of high-sounding phrases … [and] adherence to the old routine”. It will hardly endear Imran Khan and his party to ordinary Sindhi and Baloch publics.
The issues speakers zeroed in on and the topics they did not touch upon offer an interesting insight into the ethos of the PTI and how out of touch it is with the Sindhi and Baloch political pulse. Both in terms of content and form there was little on offer for Sindhis and the Baloch in the vicinity of Jinnah`s mausoleum.
Start with what Imran Khan had to say about Balochistan. He quite correctly, and I am assuming sincerely, apologised to the Baloch for the wrongs done to them. Who was he apologising as? Was he doing it as a Punjabi? If so, he did not make it obvious. Nawaz Sharif did the same in a meeting with Sardar Ataullah Mengal only a few days back. Instead of echoing what Nawaz Sharif had said to Sardar Mengal, Imran Khan should have paid attention to the veteran Baloch leader`s response in which he considered such apologies hollow and minced no words in conveying to Mr Sharif that the Baloch youth viewed the army as a Punjabi army and not a national one.
Unless politicians from Punjab are willing and capable to rein in the army there is little hope of winning over the hearts and minds of the people of Balochistan. Imran Khan`s answer to Baloch alienation is to bring `development` to the province. Mention `development` to a Baloch and she/he immediately thinks of boots on the ground and men in khaki hunting down Baloch nationalists. `Development` in the Baloch perception means systematic exploitation of Balochistan`s natural resources and a denial of political rights spanning half a century.
Imran Khan quite naively invoked West Germany`s example of helping East Germany in the reunification of the two. He wants to play West Germany to Balochistan, conveniently forgetting that it was the East Germans who brought the Berlin Wall down to be one with their West German brothers.
In the case of Balochistan, the situation is almost the exact opposite where there is an ever-increasing aspiration to get out of Pakistan instead of an urge to be part of it. When it comes to Sindh, the PTI bowled, to use Imran Khan`s favourite cricketing analogy, a wide on Sindhis in both form and content. topi
Let us look at the form first. The team that Imran Khan chose to surround himself with on the stage did not even have a token Sindhi among them. Sindhis have not patented the Sindhi (cap) and it would have done no harm to adorn one when attempting to put up a mega political show in Sindh.
If you are going to punctuate speeches with songs then not having any Sindhi song on the playlist only sends a wrong message. Whether or not you appreciate Shah Abdul Latif`s poetry, it is customary to pay tribute to Latif when politicking in Sindh.
`Tsunami` may be a nice and thunderous word elsewhere but in the coastal areas of Sindh people associate it with misery not merriment. The list of such symbolic follies is too long for a newspaper column.
In terms of content there was little that Sindhis could identify with but a lot that would keep the PTI on the political margins in the province.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi`s speech was, again using cricket analogy, akin to Misbah-ul-Haq`s innings against India in the 2011 World Cup semi-final. Misbah scored only 17 runs during the first 42 balls he faced thus contributing to the cost incurred by Pakistan.
Qureshi did the same for Imran Khan in Karachi as far as PTI`s immediate fortunes in Sindh are concerned. Qureshi chose to play the nuclear nationalism card and accuse President Asif Zardari of being not as strong a nuclear nationalist as an ideal Pakistani president should be. He went on to educate, or rather bore, those attending with concepts such as no-first-use, Cold Start and asymmetric warfare.
The speech sounded more like a pitch to secure the slot of foreign minister in any future government than connecting with the masses in Sindh. Simply put, you don`t talk about that stuff in public rallies in Sindh. It finds little resonance with Sindhis.
Imran Khan was equally off the mark if one purpose of the show was to win the support of Sindhis. His road map was a motley of generalities guided by political naivety that made him look up to England as a model welfare state when he first set foot there as a teenager.
His solutions to complex socioeconomic and political issues are sought in simple steps like computerising the land records because a computer does not accept bribe or aspiration to provide free legal advice to 80 per cent of the population.
And no such talk is complete without customary tribute to Lee Kuan Yew`s ways of `developing` the tiny island of Singapore. These propositions resonate with the urban middle classes of Punjab and possibly Karachi but have little to do with various segments of the Sindhi population.
For Imran Khan the only hurdle in the way of exploiting coal deposits in the desert Sindh may be the law and order situation in Karachi but for Sindhis the issue is more complex and requires provinces having a greater say and decision-making powers when it comes to natural resources.
Imran Khan and his party have an attractive platform for the urban middle classes of Punjab but his slogans have little appeal where the Baloch and Sindhi political path is concerned, at least for now.
The writer is a Canada-based author. hnizamani@hotmail.com
Courtesy » DAWN.COM
A tribute to Benazir Bhutto in the Globe & Mail, the day after they killed her: “She died as her father did: bravely”
She Died As Her Father Did: Bravely
By Tarek Fatah
It was the summer of 1966. We were mere teenagers meeting Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had just resigned as Pakistan’s foreign minister and was about to launch a new left-wing political movement, the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Shaheed Rani; Remembering Benazir Bhutto
By Omar Ali
Hasan Mujtaba’s famous poem on the occasion is an absolute classic. I have translated it with his approval (I have taken some poetic license at places, and I am not a poet… so beware):
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
This lament is heard in every house
These tears seen in every dwelling place
These eyes stare in the endless desert
This slogan echoes in every field of death
These stars scatter like a million stones
Flung by the moon that rises so bright tonight
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
The one you killed is now fragrance in the air
How will you ever block its path?
The one you killed is now a spell
That is cast upon your evil head
Every prison and every lock
Will now be opened with this key
She has become the howling wind
That haunts the courtyards of this land
She has come to eternal life by dying
You are dead even while being alive
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
You men in Khaki uniforms
You dark and long bearded souls
You may be blue or green or red
You may be white, you may be black
You are thieves and criminals, every one
You national bullies, you evil ones
Driven by self or owned by others
Nurtured by darkness in blackest night
While she has become the beauty that lives
In twilights last glimmers and the break of dawn
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
She was the nightingale who sang for those who suffered
She was the scent of rain in the land of Thar
She was the laughter of happy children
She was the season of dancing with joy
She was a colorful peacock’s tail
While you, the dark night of robbers and thieves
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
She was the sister of those who toil in the fields
The daughter of workers who work the mills
A prisoner of those with too much wealth
Of clever swindlers and hideous crooks
Of swaggering generals and vile betrayers
She was one solitary unarmed girl
Facing the court of evil kings
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
She was the daughter of Punjab
Of Khyber and Bolan
She was the daughter of Sindh
Karbala of our time
She lay drenched in blood in Rawalpindi
Surrounded by guns and bullets and bombs
She was one solitary defenseless gazelle
Surrounded by packs of ruthless killers
O Time, tell the long lived trees of Chinar
This tyrant’s worse nightmare will come true one day
She shall return, she will be back
That dream will one day come alive
And rule again. And rule again.
How many Bhuttos will you kill?
A Bhutto will emerge from every home!
To read complete article, Shaheed Rani; Remembering Benazir Bhutto – By Omar Ali, Click HERE
Courtesy: Brown Pundits
http://www.brownpundits.com/2011/12/26/shaheed-rani-remembering-benazir-bhutto/
Listen General (r) Naseerullah Babar, rare interview, Who Killed Bhuttos?
Courtesy » Geo News Tv ( Maray Mutabiq with Dr. Shahid Masood, 13 Apr 2008)
via » chagataikhan » YouTube
Marvi Sirmed remembers the day they killed Benazir Bhutto
BAAGHI: Remembering Benazir Bhutto, personally! – By Marvi Sirmed
One wonders what potent challenge she posed to the establishment that they had to invest all their might, money and resources to gather all the opposing political parties on one platform against BB’s PPP
“Is she okay?” I was screaming at the top of my voice on the phone with my husband while madly driving towards General Hospital, Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. “It is over, Marvi,” my husband cried and the line disconnected. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan, had paid the highest price anyone could ever pay for continuing to engage with people and carrying on with the democratic process.
It has been four years since BB, as she was commonly called, has left us but there has not been a single moment in the crisis-ridden politics of Pakistan that she was not missed. Without going into the achievements and failures of her governments, I just want to remember her as she was — a strong leader with a political vision not paralleled by any living politician. The struggle that she chose for herself when she was just 23 years of age was not an ordinary one. At a broader level it entailed dealing with an all-powerful military dictator, being imprisoned and later exiled, losing family, organising the most popular political party of the country during the worst times of persecution, etc.
At a personal level it posed many additional challenges to a young Pinky. Her being a woman never hindered her; so much so that when the forces opposing her tried to use her biology against her, she turned it around. When she was expecting Bilawal, they announced elections around the dates they thought she would be in maternity. I cannot forget her coming to the political rallies with her intravenous drip in her hands. She later wrote in her book, Daughter of the East: An Autobiography, that Begum Nusrat Bhutto, her mother, had advised her to never let her physiological issues come in her way. When she was expecting Bakhtawar during her premiership, the crisis was once again carefully chosen to coincide with the dates of her delivery. She did not make herself absent from her office for more than 48 hours.
All through her political life, she struggled against the hegemony of the oppressive deep state that used every jape that they could, and from right-wing rhetoric that was nauseatingly misogynist and anti-people. From scandalous attacks on her character, assaulting family, facilitating all odd political characters of the country that had only one common thread among them — hatred of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Bhuttos — the establishment put to use every antic. What they could not do was separate BB and the people. When I was growing up, I did not understand the love people had for her. I was in high school when BB came to power for the first time. I did not even pass my higher secondary when her government was dismissed on charges of corruption. Like every youngster, I hated corruption but was amazed to see people from the lowest of the lower strata who were crazy for BB and her PPP. In an industrial exhibition in Lahore, I met an artisan woman selling her handmade fans. She had woven BB’s picture on one of the hand-fans. She broke into tears while telling me how every cruel oppressor in this country has joined hands to bring BB down.
At the Lok Virsa last year, I met a family from southern Punjab who had brought their snakes and were showing snake tricks to earn meagre money. One of their children was wearing a locket bearing BB’s picture. The woman of the family was swearing against Musharraf, the army, feudals and extremists who had snatched their beloved leader. The anger in her voice was so intense that I for once thought she must be a blood relative of BB. She was not.
I recall women of my own family when BB took oath as the prime minister in 1988. My family, being a landholding Punjabi orthodox religious family, has been strongly against a progressive and socialist Bhutto. The men in our family frequently borrowed right-wing arguments against a woman head of the government being un-Islamic, while equally conservative and religious women including my grandmother vociferously confronted the argument. It was amazing to see these women drawing power from a woman prime minister with whose political views they did not even agree. Our village women, very conservative in religious and cultural views and who were made to believe that the PPP was an anti-religion party, could not help loving BB. Women, I can still remember, got new dreams of playing a powerful role in society.
Her struggle did not end when her party came to office in 1988. Seeking office was incomplete without power, which still rested with the all-powerful establishment that had delayed nominating her as prime minister despite her party’s clear majority. They did never rest after that. One wonders what potent challenge she posed to them that they had to invest all their might, money and resources to gather all the opposing political parties on one platform against BB’s PPP. Her clear-headed vision that led the country throughout the years of crisis distinguished her from the rest of the lot who started appearing pygmies in front of her.
My last meeting with her was in November 2007 when she calmly heard our criticism on various recent decisions that we thought would give a lease of life to a dictator. How patiently she heard, how diligently she took notes and how sagaciously she responded to every single concern of ours. When she arrived in October 2007, she had changed in many ways. One could see the strength of her resolve seeing a sea of people ready to sacrifice their lives for her. Despite strict security warnings, she would not stop from going to the hospital to visit the survivors of the October 18 terrorist attack on her rally.
Prior to that, she was the only leader among the entire bunch of expedient politicians of Pakistan who spoke openly against terrorists and their apologists. She was the only leader who tried to lead people’s opinion against the militants who had forced the tragedy of Laal Masjid (Red Mosque), instead of criticising the military action against the militants or terming the Laal Masjid militants as ‘innocent students’ like almost every politician did.
The unusual courage she displayed was not without a vision of possible consequences. She knew the price she might have to pay. Nothing deterred her. She went on and lived up to every challenge. And boy, what a life she lived! Salutes to a leader par excellence, to a woman with unfathomable courage and resolve, to a politician of exemplary vision, to a committed democrat who never failed the test of pragmatic and inclusive politics. Rest in peace BB. Pakistan misses you.
The writer is an Islamabad-based commentator on counterterrorism, social and political issues. She can be reached at marvisirmed@me.com and tweets at http://twitter.com/marvisirmed
Courtesy » Daily Times
Tribute to Benazir
Courtesy: Geo Tv » YouTube
Time servers in Sindh are joining PTI
Who will join PTI in Sindh?
By Imtiaz Ali and Jan Khaskheli
Sindh: With the PTI’s momentous rally at the Quaid’s mausoleum in the city on Sunday, Sindh’s political landscape is likely to undergo significant changes within the next 15 days, as political loyalties are going to alter at an alarming rate.
Some influential political leaders of the province are likely to join the fast-growing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf in the next few weeks. Liaquat Jatoi from Dadu may join the party by January 15 while Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Arbab Ghulam Rahim would jump on the PTI bandwagon during Imran Khan’s rally in Thar in January, sources told The News. The sources said that the change of political loyalties would see its climax on February 15. …
Read more » The News
Memogate: ‘Pasha stepped beyond jurisdiction when he briefed Kayani’
By Faisal Shakeel
ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday said that Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Shuja Pasha stepped beyond his jurisdiction when he briefed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani about his meeting with Mansoor Ijaz in London.
“He should have known who he was supposed to report to,” the federal government stated this in a reply submitted to the Supreme Court in the form of an affidavit. The nine-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had asked the federal government on December 19 to “accept or deny” the statements filed by Kayani, Pasha and others in the memo case.
The reply said the COAS did not immediately inform the prime minister of his meeting with the ISI chief on October 24 with regard to the details on the memo. However, he chose to divulge the details to the prime minister on November 13.
Both Kayani and Pasha have taken an entirely different position to that of the government before the nine-member bench of the court on Memogate.
The generals insist that the memo is authentic and needs to be thoroughly investigated, while the government has termed it a conspiracy and urged the SC to dismiss petitions outright.
Courtesy: The Express Tribune
