Men in Khaki

Hamidm Sahib:

Please go easy on Salim sahib, and continue to support him. He and Yasser stand out at Chowk. Salim was only correcting the fundoo Urstruly`s attempt to misinform chowkies. He, like Yasser, has tendency to let emotions take control.

#55 Zeemax {``Punjab alone is 2/3rd of the population. All the 3 other provinces plus the Northern Areas, FATA and AJK combined are 1/3.
Therefore, Punjab will always set the direction, and it is fair. Punjab is 2/3rd Pakistan, and no one should crib about it.``}

Mr. Zeemax,
Surely you exaggerate with that 2/3 ratio. Regardless, in 1971, Punjab was much less than 1/2 the population, now you say it is 2/3. At the rate you PPPs have been behaving, you will soon be 100% of the population. Good luck, sir.

Re: # 67

Mohajirs had it coming. Being a mohajir myself, I remember the slogans MQM used to have spray painted all over Karachi ``Crush the corrupt Pakistan Army``. They were the warlords before the operation started.

With their slogan of SOS (security ourSelves) they have provided Klashinkovs to every kid. With their unit incharges, sector incharge they were involved in target killing. If Altaf Hussain comes back, he will be killed by a mohajir (most probably some father, mother, brother or sister of some MQM worker who was sacrificed by Altaf Hussain).

On being power hungry, nobody is more power hungry than Altaf Hussain. Of all the ethnic communities in Pakistan, only Altaf Hussain is capable of killing his own party men i.e., Azeem Ahmed Tariq or Khalid Bin Waleed. They were behind the murder of Hakeem Saeed and would have even killed Edhi to achieve some political mileage.

#47 by hamidm2 on March 17, 2007 6:29am PT
{``Re: # 44
salim mian,
...... either way, you have lost it ! ........ i can`t believe that you are now siding with the mohajir military dictator because you think the ppps are against him ......... ``}

Hamidum Sahib,
I am siding with the ``Mohajir military dictator`` ONLY because he put an end to the massacre of Mohajirs in Karachi at the hands of the PPP Rangers. He also rid Pakistan of the corrupt and power-hungry yet ``democratically-elected`` ex-PM PPP Nawaz Sharif who has Mohajir blood on his hands. I am glad to learn about your lip-service to the so-called Biharis - the loyal Pakis ``stranded`` in BD. May Allah put some caffeine in your intoxicating refreshments.

#68, Dear Mr. Vanguad,
The sins of Altaf Hussain or Amir Khan should not be used to justify the killing, torture, and looting of Mohajirs in their own homes in Karachi and Hyderabad. If a terrorist group kills people for political leverage, it is still not right for the security forces of a nation to kill innocent citizens who may belong to the same ethnic/linguistic group as the miscreants. The good thing about Mushy is that he put an end to the massacres and the occupation of Karachi. If he goes, I am worried about more bloodshed by the PPP Rangers.

#68, vanguard {``Mohajirs had it coming``}

Mr. Vanguard,
Using your logic, my friend, maybe the Muslims of the world had it coming. 100% of the 9/11 WTC and Pentagon mass murderers and terrorists were Muslim. 100% of the Madrid train station killers were Muslim. 100% of the London subway bombings were Muslim. 100% of the attackers of the Indian parliament and various Kashmiri terrorists were Muslim. The plot against the US, resulting in almost 3,000 innocent deaths, was hatched, planned, and executed by Al Kayda leaders, who were in Afghanistan/Pakistan and are still being sheltered in the remote caves of Pakistan.

Re: # 71

salim mian,

``Maulana Urstruly`s defamation of a public figure`` ........ i am sorry, now who did he defame ?.......... i must have missed it ........ but you really shouldn`t pay too much attention to urstruly - he is a wretched soul who hates everyone ......

#65 by anil on March 17, 2007 12:28pm PT
{``Hamidm Sahib:

Please go easy on Salim sahib, and continue to support him. He and Yasser stand out at Chowk. Salim was only correcting the fundoo Urstruly`s attempt to misinform chowkies.``}

Anil Bhai,
Thank you for noticing and explaining my sense of outrage at Maulana Urstruly`s defamation of a public figure. Our steamed Hamidum Sahib will buy Urstruly a drink but will not spank him for lying in public - it`s a PPP thing.

Honestly, as an insignificant Mohajir and a hated traitor, I don`t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with the honorable future PM of Pakistani Punjab. :)

Ally Sahib #51 {``in my family at least my cousins dont speak Urdu i.. i feel there seems to be bit of a Punjabi renaissance, ...slowly Urdu will lose its prominence in Punjab as English takes over... ``}

Ally Sahib,
Very few of us Mohajirs are Urdu missionaries. We don`t care if you switch to Serbo-Croat or Swahili as your mother tongue. :)

Judging from the standard of PPP usage of English on Chowk, we can safely assume that Lahore will not be confused for London anytime soon. :)

Re: # 74

...... have you heard the one about sir arthur, his ahle-zaban knight and the chastity belt ?

Salim

That reply was meant for Hamid Sahib anywayus, I`m not really bothered what you think, Urdu is no longer just your language it is the national language and therefore everyone in the country will know some of it at least to get by... but as English is being used more people will know Urdu but not give it as much importance... this is happening all over Pakistan and India in those areas where Urdu/Hindi isn`t the native language for ppl... i dont associate Urdu with mohajirs for us its simply a link language that links the various ppl together... what you think or dont think is of no concern to me or most other ppl...

Ally #74 {``what you think or dont think is of no concern to me or most other ppl...``}

Ally,
Likewise - now we are getting somewhere. :) Most of us Mohajirs just want to be free from oppression. You go your way, we`ll go ours. Peace be unto you. :) You pull your Army out of Karachi and we will ask Mushy to come home. :)

#73 by hamidm2 on March 17, 2007 1:33pm PT
{``Re: # 71
salim mian,
``Maulana Urstruly`s defamation of a public figure`` ........ i am sorry, now who did he defame ?.......... i must have missed it ........ but you really shouldn`t pay too much attention to urstruly - he is a wretched soul who hates everyone ......``}

Hamidum Sahib,
Maulana Urstruly swore that Mrs. Sehba Musharraf is a ``Mirzaee.`` This is an utter lie and deliberate defamation against the First Lady of Pakistan. Had it been true, I would have defended her right to practice the faith of her choice.

I pay a lot of attention to Maulana Urstruly - for very good reason. While I am not at all frightened of the so-called `liberal`` PPPs such as Zeemax, Manto Bhai, and Chacha Buttees, Maulana Urstruly and his type are of significant concern - they have even managed to entice some stupid Mohajirs to their side. The ``liberal`` elite among the PPPs are a known group of Mohajir-haters that all of us recognize and none of us trusts.

Regarding #77 itself regarding #74,
...and Sir Lancelot (an ALLY of King Arthur) was speechless. :)

Re: bjkumar # 79

With all due to respect to the author, the article was more an emotional jab than an analysis of the situation in Pakistan and did not really address the basic issues. The unfortunate fallout of the crisis is that once again, we in Pakistan, are making the same mistake of hoisting our hopes on to a pedestal from which they will surely fall once more. The mistake in this case is that the person of the chief justice has been made into a hero and once more, we are wrongly concentrating on the personalities rather than the issues.

This crisis/situation is not about the charges filed against the chief justice of Pakistan or the dismissal of the chief justice himself, but hinge around the very basic constitutional issue about the legality of the reference itself.

The question at stake is who has the right to interpret the law in Pakistan; the judicial or execcutive branch of the government?

In my opinion, this is a unique situation, because the heart of the debate is not about sharia or liberal politics versus religious conservatism, but about consititutional law and within that, about the meaning of the idea of the separation of powers. The unique nature of the situation is that for the first time since 1947, a key political debate in Pakistan is being decided on a purely secular agrument of constitutional law and the issue of justice and not the ideology of Pakistan or the meaning of Pakistan. Whatever the final outcome of the debate, it will address the issues of balance of power and ``check and balances`` within the three branches of government in Pakistan.

Pakistan has a golden and a very rare opportunity, in the shape of the present crisis, to redefine its constitutional compass and to reassert the idea of the separation of powers that was constitutionally discredited by the judiciary itself in its legal decisions, since the 1950s, condoning extra-constitutional acts by the executive branch of the government. The opportunity does not merely come from the chance to revive the dead spirt of constitutionalism in Pakistan, but from the pleasant realization that the debate is being influenced and argued by secularists; educated members of legal community on a secular issue - constitutional law. It is for this very reason that the mainstream political parties or the religious alliance is not in the forefront of this debate and it is because of this very fact, the the politicans in Pakistan cannot use religion to score political points against the government, that this debate has assumed the proportions of pushing Pakistani politics towards a definitive point.

Will it make a difference? Yes; it will but only if the legal community in Pakistan is to able to argue the merits of consitutional issues and keep this debate limited to issues of justice and constitutionalism and does not allow the politicans to hijack this crisis for their own narrow minded interests.

Has anything changed that might a difference in the nature of political power in Pakistan?

Since 1950s, historically, the judiciary in Pakistan has acted in collboration with the executive to undermine the legislative branch but in this crisis, we are witnessing a new realignment of the judiciary with the legislative against the executive. Hence, the ratios of political power in Pakistan have already altered and for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the power of the executive branch has been checkmated.

I cannot answer about the future, but the crisis has already made a difference in Pakistani politics and from thesedifferences, we will see more ripple effects and one of these effects would be now the issue of the supremacy of parliament in Pakistan will have a constitutional momentum which was lacking since the 1950s` dismissal of the Constituent Assemby by the Governor-General of Pakistan.

It will make a difference, because Pakistani politics have turned a corner and whether turn will result in good or bad for the nation is another question. :)

Hope this answers your query.

Ciao

Dear Interactors,

Does anyone think that this thing with the judiciary is actually going to make a real difference to the way power is shared in Pakistan or is it just another mini-replay of what we have seen countless times before?

It is a genuine question, serious answers only, please!

My own guess is ``no`` - but my knowledge is less expansive than every other chowkie here!