The Future of Pakistan – By: Stephen P. Cohen

Comment by: Manzoor Chandio

Irrespective of what Mr Cohen predicts, Pakistan needs help of its own intelligentsia in correcting the house… any catastrophe that may hit the country from the Afghanistan-like state collapse to the Bangladesh-like break up, the ultimate sufferers would be the people… there could be mass killings… there could be mass migrations… there could be hunger and diseases in the wake of increasing eating mouths and shrinking economy… it is obvious Pakistan has failed to achieve state cohesion… the degree of discontent is much higher… killings in the name of religion, sects, politics, ethnicity are on the rise… most of the population is ill-equipped for the modern world because of illiteracy… more killings are taking place in Pakistan’s urban centers than in tribal areas because of people living in cities have yet not developed urban and metropolitan culture… intolerance is at the highest peak… the writer blames Pakistan has proved itself an irresponsible state in the community of nations because it harbours militants who then create troubles for other countries… as a result, the country has earned more enemies than friends in the world… why Pakistan has reached this state of affairs…?.. the writer traces the set of symptoms to its birth from a non-Muslim country… since then it revolves its survival to a very narrow-minded ideology of getting national cohesion that one religion (Islam), one language (Urdu), one national identity (Pakistani) and one patriot army is the binding force… the state is not ready to move away from this unnatural oneness… while on the ground natural Pakistan is different… it is home to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Pakistan’s 93 per cent people does not speak Urdu, Sindhis have 10,000-years old national identity of being Sindhi… Pakistani identity is only 64-year old… Punjabi elite hugged this policy of cohesion to get maximum economic benefit… their chauvinistic approach considers others as unpatriotic…

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Via – adopted from facebook

We All MUST Observe 12th October as A BLACK DAY for Democracy in Pakistan

– by Zulfiqar Halepoto

All military coups, dictatorial rules and martial laws in Pakistan were illegal, immoral and unconstitutional, which polluted political culture, destroyed social cohesiveness, killed diversity and unity of federating units and turned a country of progressive, peace and democracy loving people into an authoritarian and rough state. Pakistan today is considered as heaven of terrorism and all illegal doings because of illegal rule of extremists and anti-democratic forces.

But Musharraf rule was the worst. He was a racist dictator. He divided the nation and tried to weaken the federating units. He killed Benazir Bhutto, Mir Balach Mari, and Nawab Akbar Bugti and hundreds of patriot sons of soil. He hijacked democracy and tried to divide Sindh on administrative designs through local government system. He wanted to have a war among peaceful citizens of Sindh, He started civil war in Balochistan and push KPK in to Taliban’s trap, he undermined the interests of Siraikis, he add fuel to fire to weaken Punjab on sectarian and other lines.

October 12th, 1999 was the black day in the democratic history of Pakistan when Musharraf unconstitutionally ousted an elected parliament. We have seen that only PMLN remember the day and I think this day should be observed as black day by all peace and democracy loving people. Though Mian Nawaz Sharif Saheb also wanted to introduce MALOOKAT and obsessed to be a modern AMIR UL MOMNEEN through 12th-13th and 14th constitutional amendments mandate of the people of Pakistan to decide his fate in the next elections, his overthrown was never accepted by democracy loving people by the hands of a TALE AAZMA FAUJI GENERAL.

LET US WHOLEHEARTDLY CONDEMN MILITARY TAKEOVERS AND ESPECIALLY MUSHARRAF’s RULE.

Courtesy: Pakistani e-lists/ e-groups, October 12, 2011.

Sindh opposes dictator Musharraf’s repressive & discriminatory ordinance

by Khalid Hashmani, McLean, Virginia, USA

It is terribly disappointing to most Sindhis when their own representatives, who were precisely elected to protect and advance their interests do exactly the opposite. I know every Sindhi (except may be some die-hard supporters of PPP) feels betrayed and cheated by those very people who were considered the protectors of their interests. The irony is a statement by a so called Sindhi federal minister that says that the revival of the ordinance was a well-thought decision as it protects Sindh from breaking up. One may ask if this was such a great decision why did you decide to repeal it just few days ago? Was it just to ensure that dictator Musharraf would be absolved of the responsibility for enacting one of most repressive ordinance for native Sindhis and to make Sindhis responsible for this discriminatory ordinance. This ordinance is single-handedly responsible for denying access to Sindhis to their most valuable assets.

Anyway, someone said that we ordinary Sindhis cannot do much except to show shed their tears in frustration. I hope that Sindhi masses will wake-up and refuse to vote for those who are incompetent in protecting their rights. So, to vent my frustration, I have created an online petition that you can sign if you too feel being let down by the people you thought will capable, courageous, and believed the righteousness of Sindhi rights. The petition can be accessed by clicking http://www.petitiononline.com/KH110809/.

Much of text of this petition is based on the text that was formulated some patriot Sindhis in Hyderabad and circulated on some Sindhi Internet lists. The full text of the petition is given in above link.

Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, August 9, 2011

Two Young Sindhi Political Workers Ruthlessly Murdered in Sindh, Pakistan

By Khakid Hashmani

The people of Sindh once again woke up to the sad news that two of their young leaders Qurban Khawar and Roplo Cholyani were brutally murdered. They were travelling in a car along with another leader Noorullah Tunio who survived the attack. The three leaders belonged to a leading Sindh nationalist party. The party alleged that the murders were carried out by death squads of infamous premier Intelligence agency of Pakistan. As the news of their brutal murder spread through Sindh, a wave of sorrow and anger rose through many of cities, towns and villages. The shops and businesses closed in the protest and people came out in the streets demonstrating their resolve to continue their struggle for Sindhi Rights.

The surviving leader Noorullah Tunio was interviewed by the local police. In a video posted on YouTube, he is seen saying that two vehicles sandwiched their car and started firing. Once the car stopped, they threw petrol and lighted causing further destruction when the petrol tank blew up.

After the murders, leaders of several Sindh nationalist parties issued statements and demanded justice. One leader said that there is a secret plan to eliminate leaders of patriot Sindhi leaders so that the favorites of the establishment have a free hand in sabotaging Sindh’s rights movement. Another Sindhi leader said that the frequency of killing of Sindhi leaders has leads him to believe that there is a conspiracy to create Balochistan like situation in Sindh in order to eliminate Sindh nationalists and get rid of democratic set-up.

‘The killer of my father, Salman Taseer, was showered with rose petals by fanatics. How could they do this?

Thousands of Pakistanis showered rose petals on the assassin of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab who sought clemency for a Christian woman sentenced to death. Here his eldest son, Aatish Taseer, who lives in Delhi, mourns his death – and the nihilism of a country that could not tolerate a patriot who was humanitarian to his core.

By Aatish Taseer

[Excerpt] ….. Already, even before his body is cold, those same men of faith in Pakistan have banned good Muslims from mourning my father; clerics refused to perform his last rites; and the armoured vehicle conveying his assassin to the courthouse was mobbed with cheering crowds and showered with rose petals.

I should say too that on Friday every mosque in the country condoned the killer’s actions; 2,500 lawyers came forward to take on his defence for free; and the Chief Minister of Punjab, who did not attend the funeral, is yet to offer his condolences in person to my family who sit besieged in their house in Lahore. ….

Read more :  The Telegraph