Pakistan: Sikh MPA takes oath

Stand out parliamentarians: First Sikh MPA since partition takes oath

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: Saturday marked a historic milestone for the Sikh community in the province. A Sikh representative, for the first time since 1947, took oath as a member of the provincial assembly in Punjab at its first session.

He was nominated on a seat reserved for minorities on a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket.

Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora walked into the assembly hall wearing a traditional white shalwar kamees and an orange turban. Several parliamentarians and assembly officials shook hands with him and welcomed him. Several of his family and friends were there to support him as well.

“As the first Sikh to have taken oath as a parliamentarian in the Punjab Assembly since 1947, I am absolutely delighted to be part of this august house. The position certainly comes with a lot of responsibility. I will not only be representing my own community but all the minorities in the province,” Arora told The Express Tribune after taking the oath.

Read more » The Express Tribune
http://tribune.com.pk/story/557678/stand-out-parliamentarians-first-sikh-mpa-since-partition-takes-oath/

Pakistan: Will the Court punish officials who violated their oath?

Evidently, the state of Pakistan is rotten when its former Chief of the Army Staff, who does not stop touting himself as a true patriot, prima facie, violated the constitutional oath he undertook. It is not just Mirza Aslam Beg whose nefarious involvement in politics has been the subject of discussion in the courts and TV channels but countless others in Pakistan who have been upto similar transgressions and getting away with them.

After the death of Gen Ziaul Haq in 1988, military rule only changed its clothes. It survived and flourished for a decade until the Emperor threw off his civilian façade and took over in 1999 through a proper coup d’etat citing the same old excuse of saving the country. The history of 1988-1999 is yet to be written for it has remained hostage to the obfuscations of a political class created by the army itself and its loyalist intellectuals who rule the media and are found in Pakistan’s moribund academia as well.

I am ashamed of being Pakistani…! Fozia Ejaz Khan in Federal Assembly of Pakistan

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Indian Parliamentarian takes oath in Sindhi

MP Mavindra Singh

Not only do many in Western Rajasthan (Eastern Thar) speak Sindhi as a native language, others Rajasthanis also know and prefer Sindhi to Hindi/Urdu. Member of Parliament (Rajasthan, India) Manvendra preferred to take oath in Sindhi which is recognized as one of India’s constitutional languages. Not only do many in Western Rajasthan speak Sindhi, the language and culture of all of Thar is very much like Sindh’s. People sing songs of Shah Latif in this area.. Mumali Raarno is a folktale from this area that is remembered through Shah Latif’s poetry in Sindh and all over Thar. Plenty of other MPs had their families cheering too from the Distinguished Visitors’ gallery. There was the Pilot clan — Sachin Pilot’s mother Rama, wife Sara Abdullah, sister Sarika and brother-in-law; Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra had his wife, mother, and brother cheering. The former finance minister himself preferred a relatively obscure seat in the Rajya Sabha gallery from where he could watch his son who took oath in Sindhi (as Rajasthani is not a recognised language, Manvendra later said).

Courtesy: –  Indian Express, Friday, June 04, 2004.

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Unfortunately, Pakistan not only refuses to recognize Sindhi as a national language of Pakistan and has effectively blocked the implementation of Sindh’s decision to use Sindhi as its official language in Sindh.

Justice Chudhry v/s Justice Dogar

by Manzoor Chandio, Karachi, Sindh
The writer works in daily dawn Karachi and he can be reached at catalyst2pk@yahoo.com
Blog: http://manzoorchandio.blogspot.com/
Justice Chaudhry took his oath from military dictator Musharraf. Justice Dogar took his oath from military dictator Musharraf. What’s the difference?.. As far as Justice Chaudhry’s performance is concerned, I think Justice Dogar is second to none.
Justice Chaudhry worked his entire tenure under an unconstitutional military regime. Justice Dogar worked most of his tenure under a constitutional government.
Justice Dogar took hundreds of suo moto actions, including eight after reading Kawish. These cases related to the violation of human rights, abuses of women and children.
Late BB, the PPP and we all supported the reinstatement of judges not the removal of judges. The PML-N kept demanding the removal of judges which is against the Constitution.
There is a provision in the Constitution that judges can be appointed but judges can’t be removed.
We’ve always deliberated that all problems are created by military regimes which continue spiraling affecting democratic governments for years. The judges’ issue was created by a military government which has domino effects till today and it will continue for years. What is dangerous now that the PML-N are not ready to look forward to make a fresh start?
Yes Punjab and PML-N have right to protest. And there should not be police and army to stop them. For the last 63 years, establishment turned the green of Bengal into red, they raped thousands of women, they killed and maimed thousands of Sindhis during the MRD for demanding democracy and they killed and bombed the Baloch for demanding freedom.
Even during the lawyers’ movement, we saw bodies of Sindhis lying on Shahra Faisal. Hundreds of people were killed and hundred others were injured. But guns were silent in Punjab on the same day. Even lathis were not used. Why this difference?