Bartering away Sindh Rights to remain in power is a wound that would never heal!

By: Khalid Hashmani

It is an unimaginable tragedy that the political party that Sindhis overwhelmingly voted for has turned around and stuck the most devastating dagger in the heart of Sindh. Sindhis in Sindh and else where in the world are feeling deeply betrayed and hurt by this action of PPP. They are not likely to forget and forgive this betrayal by a political party that had pledged protect and advance Sindhi rights.

I feel embarrassed to have urged my family and friends back home to vote for PPP in the last elections. I feel ashamed to have pleaded with others on this forum to give PPP some more time to deliver on their commitments when others were expressing disappointment with the PPP after few months of their government.

I must admit that I had never expected that PPP will be the main architect of laying foundations for the dismemberment of Sindh and strengthening a system that denies equal rights to Sindhis in large cities of Sindh. I know of no example where a political party so bluntly and stupidly bartered away the aspirations and rights of those who gave their 100% support.

Two other examples come to mind from Sindh’s past history – Chanesar’s support of Alla-uddin Khilji’s attack on Sindh so that he will become ruler of Sindh and the act of Sindhi members in Sindh’s Parliament in supporting the creation of one unit. History is the witness that in both cases the unjust actions and changes were ultimately defeated. Dodo Soomro gave his life and left example of sacrifice and love for Sindh for generations to come and the annulment of “one unit” within few years.

I have a belief that like “one unit”, this forced imposition of unnatural, artificial, rejected, controversial dual system that creates two governance system in Sindh will too see the same fate. Sindhis must not accept this unpatriotic division of Sindh and must continue the struggle to have one uniform system governance in Sindh. The struggle for reversion must be continued as we did against “one unit”.

We must urge our families and friends never to vote for any political party or group that has supported or will support this artificial dual system. We must encourage and foster a movement that will result reversion of this unjust division in near future.

THIS ARTICLE SHOWS NO HOPE FOR POOR PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN IN NEAR FUTURE

Something has changed

By: Huma Yusuf

TWO weeks after Abbottabad, the jury’s still out on Pakistan. Who knew? Who didn’t? And does anyone at all feel bad about the whole thing?

While international journalists and US lawmakers continue to ask these questions, Pakistan observers are at pains to point out that the answers matter little given that nothing has changed — the status quo has been maintained.

Pakistan remains a military-dominated rentier state

Failed state or Weimar Republic?

Pakistan remains a military-dominated rentier state, still committed to American and Gulf Arab alliances

By Omar Ali

A friend recently wrote to me that Pakistan reminded him of the Weimar republic; an anarchic and poorly managed democracy with some real freedoms and an explosion of artistic creativity, but also with a dangerous fascist ideology attracting more and more adherents as people tire of economic hardship and social disorder and yearn for a savior. Others (much more numerous than the single friend who suggested the Weimar comparison) insist that Pakistan is a failed state. So which is it? Is Pakistan the Weimar republic of the day or is it a failed state?

Tsunami hits Japan after massive quake

The most powerful earthquake to hit Japan since records began has struck the country’s north-east and triggered a devastating tsunami.

Japanese TV showed cars, ships and buildings swept away by a vast wall of water after the 8.9-magnitude quake.

A state of emergency has been declared at a nuclear power plant but officials said there were no radiation leaks. …

Read more : BBC

Will Pakistan Follow Egypt’s Example?

Author: Jayshree Bajoria, Senior Staff Writer

Pakistan may be even more vulnerable than Egypt (The News) to popular discontent, with higher inflation, unemployment, and external debt, much of it exacerbated by the devastating flood of 2010 that crippled an already teetering economy. Many Pakistanis are sympathetic (PressTV) to the anger over corruption, surging food prices, and lack of jobs driving Egypt’s protests.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani rules out the likelihood of an uprising such as those in Egypt and Tunisia. “Our institutions are working and democracy is functional,” Gilani says (Daily Times).

Huma Yusuf, a Pakistan scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, says it is unlikely Pakistanis will unite against a common cause. “Decades of manipulative politicking under military regimes have fractured civil society (Dawn) and factionalized politics,” she writes. “We will always see ourselves through an ethnic, sectarian, or socio-economic lens before we see ourselves as Pakistani.” The murder of Pakistan’s Governor Salman Taseer by his own security guard in January, and support for Taseer’s assassin among many Pakistanis, exposed some of these growing divisions.

Like Egypt, Pakistan is an important strategic partner whose stability matters even more for U.S. national security interests, in neighboring Afghanistan as well as in U.S. efforts to confront al-Qaeda. But U.S.-Pakistan relations have been strained following the detention of a U.S. diplomat on possible murder charges. The Washington Post reports the Obama administration has suspended all high-level dialogue with Pakistan.

Read more : Council on Foreign Relations

SINDH – six months after floods

– Six months later, Pakistan’s flood disaster threatens to worsen.

The crisis in Pakistan is far from over and could get worse, international aid agency Oxfam warned today, six months on from the nation’s devastating floods.

In a report, “Six months into the floods” the agency warned that millions of people were still in dire need and that the situation could deteriorate further. The report says that although the aid effort has reached millions, it has struggled to match the immense scale of human need. …

Read more : Oxfam

Pakistan’s worst flooding

Hundreds of people have died in northwestern Pakistan after floods triggered by monsoon rains swept through the region.

More than a million people have been affected and thousands forced to flee their homes as bloated rivers washed away villages and triggered devastating landslides.

Rescue operations are underway to save the stranded, but submerged roads and destroyed infrastructure are proving to be major obstacles.

Al Jazeera’s Sohail Rahman reports from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.

Courtesy: AlJazeeraEnglish

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