The Plan To Topple Pakistan Military

Son Of Kashmir Sahib,
I have responded to your excellent question in your ilog and am repeating it here for your review. Thanks,

Bradrum Janaab Pisser-e-Kashmir Sahib,

As promised, I am responding to your question directed to me. My dear friend, ZK, alerted me to your query and I apologize for not having had the time to indulge your numerous points compounded into a single question - talk about getting your money's worth. :)

By now you have hopefully read my response to a similar question from Ally Sahib and can understand my position regarding my high regard for Punjabis as well as other Pakistanis, including Sindhis, Pathans, Baluchis, Kashmiris, Mohajirs, and Baltis. Please accept my explanations which I have expressed in a spirit of Pakistani nationalism, Islamic beliefs, a solid faith in humanity, and a passion for justice tempered by a degree of humility.

My responses are in BOLD and please don't misconstrue the emphasis as an attempt to overpower you.

{"a question to mr.salim
Mr.SALIM
In my life i have encountered lot of karachities . Many of them are great patriots but a small minority which is very powerful are absoloute racists and fanatics and filled with all kind of gibberish ."}

Oye Kashmir de Puttar Payee,
Please don't fall in the same trap that often confines me when I retaliate against a few enemas who happen to be Paki Punjabis. When Ali Ibn-e-Puta, the Axeman, Ass Lame, Madame Demi Flatulence, Wolfie, or Hypo Chacha Al Butteesi express their venomous and racist profanity at ALL Urdu-speaking Mohajirs, I often strike back with an unintentional shot-gun approach and a devastating ten-fold effect. Thus, I end up alienating many other Pakistani Punjabis - not to mention a stray Indian Potohari here and there.

A lesson learned is that one swallow does not a Big Gulp make. :)


{"I feel amazed that a person so rich and so widely traveled should be filled with so much hatred."}

Sir, while I am quite well-to-do, calling me "rich" may be stretching things a bit. Anyway, prosperity is relative. So, thanks for the kind gesture.

As for hatred, I don't hate anybody. In fact, the amount of traveling that I have had the opportunity to undertake has made me quite liberal, tolerant, understanding, and friendly.


{"But anyway let me tell you that previously punjab used to tolerate this nonsense . Now we have suffered so much during the last 8 years that this time there will be no tolerance shown . it will be tit for tat . Nawaz Sharif ,leader of punjab and NWFP is back, benazir leader of rural sind is back . together they have 80 percent of pakistan with them . Very soon country will be rid of the kARACHI mafia and retribution will began on a massive scale. Let me tell you that we people from northern pakistan never had any bias towards your community . but now we will guard our self interest . "}

Kashmir ke Nur Chashm Bhai,
If Bezamir Bhutni and Najaaez Besharif and their supporters constitute 80% of Pakistan, then I must invoke the 80/20 rule. That piece of wisdom states that 80% of the real work in any group is performed by 20% of the people. While we are only 10% or less of Pakistan's population, we Urdu-speaking Mohajirs are proud to serve Pakistan in ways that surpass our meager numbers. :) If you are stating that the last eight years have been devastating for Punjabis, then I must ask you to replace the batteries in your cheap Chinese calculator - or is it a manual abacus?


{"Having read your article with or without musharaf i can't help commenting. I laughed a great deal on your statement that Hyderabad and Karachi have an inalienable right of self-determination . You deny this same right to us kashmiris on the grounds that if we become freee and join pakistan , we might start oppressing you!Let me make it clear that Karachi and Hyderabad are an integral part of Pakistan and of province of Sind. There will be no more 1971s . We will fight to the last drop of blood if there is any move to separate these cities from pakistan to form Jinnahpur or urdusdesh . Punjabis and Sindhis have lot of differences but let me make it clear that on this point, we are united rock-solid . On one hand you spew hatred against punjab and on another hand you talk of confederating with freedom loving sindis and baluchis. Even more amusing is this line "We need to restore and strengthen our relationships with ethnic Sindhis, Pathans, Baluchis, and Punjabis who have lived in Karachi for generations". Why the hell would sindis living in karachi conspire to form another singapore . Their first loyalty is to Sind and not to you . They view Karachi as the Jerusalem of Sind. As for Pathan and Punjabis , their loyalties lay with rest of pakistan and not with racist ethinic bodies and entities filled with idealogues like you . The fact is that Sindhis will always remain majority in Sind and Punjabis in Pakistan . Most sindhis have accepted the later fact . Sindhi nationalists like Qadir Magsi ,mumtaz bhutto attended Nawz SHARIF'S APC in London . So you see Karachi will always remain tied to these evil disorganized poor illeterate punjabis ,pathans, sindhis. There will be lot less bloodshed and fighting if you accept this and agree to integrating with rest of us instead of insisting to violently mantaining your separate status ."}


Ya Shaikh Ibn-e-Srinagar Al Poonchi,
Please explain to me why Najaaez Besharif needed an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) in London, of all places? Also, I am quite impressed by your ceaseless and persistent protestations about the affection that permeates among Punjabis, Baluchis, Sindhis, Pathans, and every Paki with an alien accent in Urdu. Notwithstanding the barrier set up by Kalabagh Dam, the situation in Wanna Wanna, the uncontrolled gas of Baluchis, and the noisy FM radio station of Mulla Fadloola, I am reassured that your own information is much more factual and timely than my mediocre understanding of reality up north. May the love fest among humans and the nature of Muslim brotherhood sprouting in the northern areas never afflict Hyderabad and Karachi, Ameen. Also, please don't bring up all that bloodshed stuff. It doesn't impress us anymore. We are not your grandfather's "Bhayya HindustaaNRa Panahguzeer" Mohajirs. The repression and slaughter of the 90s by our own soldiers has made us numb, immune, stoic, and most of all disappointed and alienated from most people up north - who did not do anything, or even say anything, against the butchery of the soldiers sent by them and their leaders.

TeghoN ke saaye meN hum pal kar jawaan huwe heN
AasaaN nahiN mitana naamo nishaaN hamaara.

Before you advise me to integrate and assimilate, please understand that I have Indian, Pakistani, Irish, Bulgarian, Iranian, and Turkish relatives professing Hinduism, Christianity, and BOTH Shia and Sunni Islam. Now, if you know any agreeable Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists, and even Jehovah's Witnesses, please send me their e-mail addresses and CVs so that I can take your guidance to the hilt - and Hamidumdum Sahib does not qualify as any of those mentioned. :) Also, thank you for taking the time out to read my notorious article and even laughing at its contents. Do you think that I should keep my day job?


{"Musharaf shares your views . His record of military appointments in senior ranks is an ample testimony of his bias . In 2002 elections ppp was the biggest party in sind with 68 seats while mqm had just 41 . but out of pure ethinic bias , he handed over sind to mqm . i would heartily have agreed to a ppp-mqm govt but this was not to be . Mohajirs for 5 years called all the shots in sind . the most plum ministries of interior and finance went to mqm while sindhis were handles unimportant ministies like agriculture and rural development . under our constituion , the Governor is a figurehead but in sind he enjoyed executive powers . Today an average Sindhi is hurt , angry and mad that he is denied a just share of power in his very own province and after this 5 year honeymoon there are still people like you who have the gall to complain and whine."}

Baramula ke Betay, Ladakh ke Lakht-e-Jigar, aur Jammu ke Jaleel Jawaan,

Mushy may "share my views," but fortunately I don't share his views. As you may have noticed he talks like, walks like, thinks like a Punju and you know what they say ... "If it walks like, talks like, quacks like, ..."


{"Then one hand you bittery decy partition and creation of pakistan . For you it was a mistake , pakistan an excercise in futility . But then you have the nerve to demand repatriation of biharis . what a joke!Let me tell you that we people of northern pakistan never opposed this demand. It was the sindhis who opposed it to the last man . Im his first tenure as PM, Nawaz Sharif had started the repatriation process and brought 300 biharis to settle in punjab. But then Nawaz Shrif's own ministers from sind rebelled . No sindhi even those in pay of MQM will agree to it . Even MQM to its credit does not support this divisive demand . Let me tell you that if Sindhis were to somehow agree , i would be the first person to support the repatriation of biharis."}

Kargil ke Kabootar Bhai,
Repatriating 300 so-called "Biharis" is like kissing your sister. You get all the embarrassment with none of the pleasure - he should have done the right thing by repatriating ALL of them.

Also, I am perplexed by your lofty principles of repatriating these "stranded" Pakis (whom you guys pejoratively dismiss as "Biharis") and then having this stance subjected to a Sindhi veto. Show some guts and do or support the right thing, my friend.

My comments about Pakistan were based on my perfect 20/20 hindsight. If the results of partition were that Pakistan was safer, more advanced, more educated, more liberated, more democratic, more peaceful, healthier, and more united than the mother ship, I would have thanked God and would be manning the border to facilitate an orderly exodus of Indians escaping to Pakistan.


{"Right now our energies however are focused on saving pakistan from general musharaf. he like yahya khan (another non-punjab,non-kashmir) general will fight to the last to stay in power even if country breaks up . the odds are overwhelming . we the original inhabitants of this great land will go through hell and fire to tame the establishment and establish free and fare elections. Its a pity that Karachi and Hyderabad are not supporting us . Your forefathers were with us 60 years ago in creation of pakistan. By supporting musharaf , you have sown seeds of misery. Do you really think that once benazir and nawaz sharif come to power and chief justice is restored, we would forget your open support to musharaf . Would not we want to repay in kind? For once mr.salim,your right,urdu-speakers have put all their eggs in one basket and this will lead to horrible dividends. "}

Dear Son of the Soil,
Finally, you don your gay apparel of Pisser-e-Zameen - I guess 'tis the season and you have every right.

Please don't beat around the bush or threaten us with more violence. Just do the right thing and repatriate the "stranded" Pakis. No nation on earth has ever turned its back on its own citizens. How do you think that makes us Urdu-speaking Mohajirs feel in Karachi and Hyderabad? The message from Punjabis and Sindhis is clear - you guys don't want any more of our type of people to come to Pakistan - regardless of their nationality. And you expect us to come out in the streets and join you in protesting against Mushy - the guy who put an end to our slaughter? We may chew paan now and then but we don't allow that stuff to go to our brains. :) Thank you for this opportunity to exchange views. I appreciate your views and your time.

And sir, What is your rank in the Pakistan Army?

Re: # 74 Are all Indians who peruse chowk juvenile delinquents?

Re: # 72 tahmed, while speaking of Hitler and Nawaz Sharif you completely forgot about Zulfy Bhutto, and his daughter! It is unfortunate that each time there has been even a small scope of a democracy, it has been derailed or hijacked one way or another by the very people who have been clamouring for democracy all the while. It's quite amazing that the fairest of all our democratic elections took place in the times of the debauch and alcoholic dictator, Yahya Khan. Therafter Bhutto completely vandalised the outcome, as you may know and remember. Actually each charlatan politician that has had even the smallest opportunity for taking the appropriate path after coming into power and has not done so because of corruption and personal gratification is each the biggest criminal of the nation. Unfortunately the same ilk of corrupt politicians still abound. Who and where are the selfless leaders here, the Nelson Mandelas?

Matrix,

Indians have a lot to offer. We have told the pakistanis several times, forget about democrazy, it is not for pakistan. Become a true islamic republic led by a mullah general and that is the best scenario for india. Once that happens, pakistan will be iraquised, divided intto another three and then only there will be peace in south asia.

Another optiont oregaim sovereignity is the north korean option.

Now, is it not good enough options for the pakistanis.

I would say that the article brings out some interesting facts and there is need to look at role US and India. On the other hand, I don't buy this as an excuse for ignoring rule of Law and democracy. That is the best antidote to foreign interventions and bring unity.
It is also instructive to see the reaction of Indians posting on this article. My question to them is that why any Pakistani should care about their opinion since they have nothing to offer.

#70 Goldfinger: You have answered your own question, and by and large you are right. The exception that proves this rule, btw, is Hitler - who was elected, and once elected got rid of the democratic infrastructure that brought him to power. Nawaz Sharif tried to do the same - but Pakistan today is vastly different from the Germany of almost a century ago.

The judiciary, the media, and the middle class are providing the backbone of democracy, and they will be a force to be reckoned with in future just as Musharraf has learnt the hard way.

Urstruly #54
You have too much faith in politicians.
The only reason the politicians are going to boycott is if they know they are going to loose.
I think Nawaz Sharif will play the CJ card and will carry APDM alongwith it.
In current scenario PML (N) will get slightly more or less seat than last elections.
No sane party who has vote bank will leave the field open for someone else.

Re: # 69 But what ought to be done when corrupt politicians become corrupt dictators? And when these same corrupt politicians who turned corrupt dictators come back to haunt you and aspire to again become your dictators? Obviously in democratic setup the political parties themselves would debar such criminals to show their faces to the public ever again...if such happens then we would be on path to democracy bit by bit

Indian #68 Corrupt politicians and ambitious generals will be there as long as human nature is what it is. But corrupt politicians in a democracy cannot destroy the pillars of a nation the day musharraf did on November 3 e.g. when he destroyed the Supreme Court.

I think the answer is there for all to see actually - corrupt politicans and ambitious generals need to be taught that corruption does not pay and ultimately they will be brought before court for their crimes.

Re: # 64

TAhmedsahab,

Nobody knows the answer to your question. In case of India it is corrupt politicians and in case of pakistan it is the Generals. It is infinite loop. These 500 pound gorrilas are sitting on our back for 60 years. People tell educating and empowering masses may be the answer but that will take another 200 years..

sunhari ungal yar, before 1971 india was only 5 times as big, now its 7 times as big as pakistan i think.

The armed forces and the corporate sector



By Farhatullah Babar
If the prime minister's finance adviser thought that by living in denial he could allay the widespread concerns about the army's growing involvement in the corporate sector he was gravely mistaken. In saying this, I am referring to a report in your newspaper titled 'Salman denies army role in corporate sector', and published on April 28.

If he did not know it, here is a partial list of the military's corporate enterprises as recently placed before the Parliament in reply to a question besides the several dozen similar enterprises run by Shaheen Foundation and Bahria Foundation of the Air Force and the Navy respectively.

Fauji Foundation : Fauji Sugar Mills, (more than one), Fauji Cereal, Fauji Corn Complex, FONGAS (Natural gas supply company), Fauji Poly Propylene Products, Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC), Fauji Jordan Company, Fauji Cement, Fauji Oil Terminal Company Project (FOTCO), Fauji Kabirwala Power Company Limited.

Army Welfare Trust: Askari Stud Farms, Askari Farms, Askari Welfare Rice Mill, Askari Welfare Sugar Mill, Askari Fish Farm, Askari Cement (more than one plant), Askari Welfare Pharmaceutical Project, Magnesite Refineries Limited, Army Welfare Shoe Project, Army Welfare Woollen Mill, Army Welfare Hosiery Unit, Travel Agencies, AWT Commercial Plazas, Army Welfare Shops, Army Welfare Commercial Project, Askari Commercial Bank, Askari Leasing Limited, Askari General Insurance Company, Askari Welfare Saving Scheme, Askari Associate Limited, Askari Information Service, Askari Guards Limited, Askari Power Limited, Askari Commercial Enterprises, Askari Aviation, Askari Housing Schemes (at several locations)

The adviser claimed that retired military officers were involved in private businesses and that too for welfare purposes but is the Fauji Foundation really a private concern like any other.

Under its Scheme of Administration the Fauji Foundation is allowed "to receive from government or other bodies or person any contribution to the Foundation". Which other private enterprise gets contributions from the government also?

The Fauji Foundation is administered by a committee whose chairman is the defense secretary and its members include four principal staff officers of the GHQ and two senior officers of the Pakistan Navy and the Air Force, all paid out of the public funds. A three star serving general was appointed in 2002 as its chief. What a fine example of a private enterprise run by serving military officers and defense secretary.

During question hour in the Senate last year it transpired that the finance ministry accepted loan liabilities of 9 billion rupees of the Foundation. Which other private concern had been provided such a preferential treatment?

Worse still, after being declared 'private' they are declared as unaccountable too. In reply to a question in the National Assembly in 2005 it transpired that the Khoski Sugar Mills belonging to the Foundation had been sold at 300 million to an entity that had not even participated in the bidding process. The highest bid of 387 million was ignored. When the Senate Defence Committee asked the head of the Fauji Foundation, himself a former chairman of NAB, to appear before it he refused and chose to refute the allegations through newspaper ads. We were told to shut up.

If the FF and AWT are claimed to be private entities what are other entities like the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and the NLC doing in the private commercial sector in a playing field that too is tilted in their favour? According to information placed before the Senate on December 30, 2005 the National Highway Authority (NHA) alone awarded twelve contracts costing over 18 billion to the FWO without bids between 2001 and 2005.

Further, not only the contract of collecting toll tax on toll plazas have been given to FWO and NLC without bids but contracts already given to private parties were cancelled and given to it according to information placed before the Senate.

The military's growing interests in corporate businesses and land has now begun to attract national and international attention and criticism but we are living in self-denial.

That was why the former British High Commissioner in Pakistan Mark Lyall Grant publicly stated about two years ago in Islamabad that the military's corporate business interests had increased manifold. He also said that it was hampering poverty reduction efforts and effectiveness of the bureaucracy and judiciary in the country. An un-named senior official of the Foreign Office promptly announced that a demarche had been served on the high commissioner for his critical remarks as 'unwarranted and inaccurate besides being an infringement of diplomatic norms'. But that did not change the reality.

Are the defence housing authorities also really private bodies competing with other private entities in a level playing filed? Is there any other private housing society that is headed by a serving corps commander and whose executive functionaries such as the Administrator are serving senior army officers drawing salary from public exchequer? Is there any other private housing authority that can get land at a price as the DHA Karachi got sometime back and against which the provincial government even moved the court?

During question hour in Parliament it has transpired that military officers get one after 15 years of service, a second one after 25, a third one after 28 years and a fourth one after 33 years of service each worth more than 15 million rupees in the open market. To call it a welfare activity is stretching the meaning of the word a bit too far.

The un-level playing field to the military's industrial and commercial enterprises, the dispossession of tenants from farmlands in Okara belonging to the Punjab government, the acquisition of additional 870 acres of prime land in sector E-10 at dirt cheap price of Rs 200 per acre for the new GHQ (in addition to the 1470 acres already earmarked), the setting up of strings of defense housing authorities, first in Karachi and Lahore and lately in Islamabad, and converting state lands meant specifically for defense purposes into golf courses and housing colonies as disclosed in the Parliament are clear manifestations of military's growing corporate and real estate business. The issue will not disappear merely be denying it.

Come on Mr Adviser! Instead of living in a state of denial let us address the issue and do something about it.

The writer is a former PPP senator and a member of the Senate's human rights committee. Email: drkhshan@isb.comsats.net.pk

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MPs assets

Last week the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development (PILDAT) released a study of the assets of members of parliament. It analyzed who was the richest MP, who among the women members was the richest and which party had the richest MPs in its ranks. The source of the study was the declaration of assets by MPs and published in the official gazette as public document. The study made an interesting reading and PILDAT also praised the MNAs for "setting a good example of transparency by declaring their assets".

The MPs are required to annually declare their assets that are also made public. Civilian officers in pay scales 17 and above also submit every year declarations of assets to their respective departments. Their declarations, however, are confidential that are not made public. The presumption is that these are scrutinized somewhere and notice is taken of any unusual increase in the assets of a government servant. On September 19, 2003, I asked a question in the Senate, "Whether the practice of assets declaration by army officers before the Central Officers Record Office is still being continued or has been discontinued; and if discontinued, why". On Dec 19, the question was disallowed through a curt reply; "The chairman Senate has been pleased to hold the question to be inadmissible under rule 47(xvii) (d) and 47(xvii) (a) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 1988".

A month later on October 17, 2003, I moved a resolution, "This house resolves that as in the case of legislators all the judges of the superior courts, the one, two, three and four star generals, and members of civil bureaucracy in BS-21 and above should also be required to annually submit a statement of their assets and liabilities and such statements should be made public." Again a curt reply said that the resolution "does not deal with one definite issue" and declared "inadmissible under rule 121(3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 1988". The resolution was resubmitted on May 6, 2004. It was again disallowed on the ground that since it had previously been rejected therefore it had now become inadmissible under another rule 121(3).

PILDAT analysis merely answers the question as to who among the MPs is the richest. It does not answer which class in the country is the richest. To find an answer to this question it has to dig deep and carry out an analysis of why some critical questions, motions and resolutions were killed in the chamber and not allowed to come up before the house.

Senator (r) Farhatullah Babar

No to real estate

By Farhatullah Babar


The News deserves to be complimented for calling into question the military's growing involvement in the real estate business (re: its editorial, 'No to real estate', published on November 26). The editorial was in response to General Musharraf's remarks a day before in Lahore claiming that the military was not involved in property business and that it was the biggest tax payers' institution of the country.

Over two years ago in August 2004 while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of a power and desalination plant for the Defence Housing Authority Karachi, General Musharraf had lashed out at the critics as being 'pseudo-intellectuals' who were 'jealous of the good work' being done by the DHAs. In Lahore now he rejected the apprehensions but refrained from denouncing harshly the critics. There is hope.

To give plots to military officers for building their own houses is a genuine welfare activity and no one would grudge it. But is the building of multi-billion integrated luxury homes with golf course townships in a posh locality in Lahore or the multi-billion dollar development of Karachi beach in association with foreign partnership also a legitimate welfare activity that should be undertaken by the military?

It is claimed that the DHAs are private bodies and they purchase land in the open market and after development sell them to all. But are the DHAs really private bodies competing with other private bodies in a level playing field? Is there any other private housing society that is headed by a serving corps commander and whose executive functionaries such as the administrator are serving senior army officers drawing salaries from the public exchequer?

During question hour in the parliament it has transpired that military officers get one after 15 years of service, a second one after 25, a third one after 28 years and a fourth one after 33 years of service each worth more than 15 million rupees in the open market. To call it welfare is stretching the meaning of the word a bit too far.

It is also said that both military officers and civilians benefit from these schemes. In reply to a Senate question on September 16, 2005 about the quota in DHA Islamabad it transpired that serving army officers with over 15 years of service had 52 per cent quota and another 10 per cent reserved for retired army officers. Serving PAF and Naval officers had 5 per cent. Civilian employees of all grades, members of parliament and the journalists were allotted 5 per cent. But the ads inviting applications do not disclose the quota of each category of applicants so everyone is lured to apply and pay a sum of five thousand rupees as 'processing fee' that is eventually forfeited to the DHA.

Welfare activity should also not be undertaken in a manner that raises questions of legality and propriety. During question hour in the Senate we learnt that the military had transformed six agricultural and dairy farms spread over several hundred acres of land into golf courses and army housing schemes thus raising many questions.

The inability to address issues of propriety unfortunately has attracted widespread criticism even from eminent international figures. In an article with reference to Pakistan in the Wall Street Journal recently, Lord Patten, former EU Commissioner for external relations made some very hurting comments. "Pro-dictatorship voices regularly argue that those parties were highly corrupt.

But they refuse to condemn or even acknowledge the military's large-scale, institutionalised corruption. So much has been grabbed by the military that it will take years just to catalogue it. The military has acquired vast tracts of state-owned land at nominal rates; its leaders dominate businesses and industries, ranging from banking to cereal factories".

On the eve of launching of the Country Assistance Plan (CAP) of UK's Department for International Development (DFID) in March last year the British High Commissioner Lyall Grant remarked that during the last 28 years the military's corporate business interests had increased manifold. It was hampering poverty reduction efforts and the effectiveness of the bureaucracy and judiciary in the country, the CAP report had said.

The military may be the largest taxpayer as is claimed but what we know from the proceedings in the parliament is that its business and commercial activities have received the largest preferential treatment. On December 30 last year the Senate was informed that out of a total of 94 contracts awarded to the FWO (another military outfit in the business of roads and infrastructure building) 57 projects costing over 25 billion had been awarded without bids. In some cases the private toll collectors' contracts were cancelled and given to the FWO and the NLC.

In February this year the Senate was informed that by November 30, 2001 over 13 billion rupees of loans owed by the Fauji Fertilizer Company Jordan had been paid by the government of Pakistan - out of taxpayers' money.

"Yes. The outstanding non-official development assistance loan in respect of the FFC, rescheduled under the Paris Club Agreement, was accepted by the government of Pakistan in December 2001. The total liability of US dollars 221.96 million as of November 30, 2001 was picked up by the government of Pakistan", said minister of state for finance Omar Ayub in reply to the question.

Welfare of some must not be seen as dispossession of others. In a December 2003 case titled Brigadier Bashir versus Abdul Karim, the Supreme Court while declaring the allotment and lease of the state's agricultural lands as illegal also quoted a paragraph from John Steinbeck's novel Grapes of Wrath that aptly put matters in perspective.

"The great owners (of land) with access to history must know: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. When a majority of the people is hungry they will take away by force what they need. Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored three cries of history.

The land fell in few hands, the number of dispossessed increased and every effort of great owners was directed at repression. Means to destroy revolt were considered while the causes of revolt went on".

The apex court then went on to give a chilling advice to the appellant asking him to be satisfied with a "few hundred acres of land allotted to him" and spare the few acres allotted to a landless tenant.

Faiz once lamented:

"Baney hain ahlehawas mudai bhi aur munsif bhi

Kisey wakil karein kis sey munsifi chahein".

When greed becomes the prosecutor and also the judge,

Where to find the pleader and from whom to seek justice?

#63 The big question is: What will it take to ensure that Musharraf is the last ambitious, lawless general who takes over Pakistan?

This typical diatribe of the advocate of the British founded colonial Pakistan army, which has to its credit scores of surrenders from Decca to Kargil to Kabul, and decades of pillage in the name of basic democracy (Ayub), Islam (CIA-ul-Haque) and the present thug, is virtually an enemy of native people. Such asinine theories are good to fool street people as Bush and his neo-cons successfully applied for Iraq. However, in the epistemological terms these are least likely to goof few at chowk. These hindustani bahias used the same scare tactics in 1947 that they can not live with Hindus and need a separate country. That resulted in their dual occupation of Pakistan an India and Pakistan. Now they preach that current armed struggle is by any means an Indian or foreign conspiracy is a lunatic cry. After 1971 defeat every Pakistani general has nightmare of Indian soldiers sleeping with their wives. Nukes - no way are any protection to Pakistanis. Nukes were produced for profit. Nukes have become a golden chain for Pakistani people. Nukes did not liberate Kashmir rather enslaved Pakistanis. They are being used to blackmail the west. To cut long story short, there is needs to overhaul the rotten corrupt system that is breeding criminals in Pakistan.