The ‘shoey’ Side of Politics

#324 Posted by rf786,

I have many times asked the following of MQM supporters and never got a satisfactory answer:

What are their demands?

Re: # 323

{Mainland Chinese need work permits to come and work in special economic zones.}

Good example Zee, but then again China is state controlled by one party, communist party. Here we have people argueing for democracy and yet cannot accomodate each other for various reasons. Having said that, I have a soft corner for Baloch people, they have suffered for too long and deserve some kind of special situation. But that should not mean setting wrong precedents for others to emulate.

#320 Posted by IB,

Yaar the whole problem is that Karachi/Hyderabad are parts of Sindh. If HP agrees to make it a separate province, then you can do whatever you want under the provincial autonomy. Till then it's a big dispute. Same thing with Gwadar. It is part of Baluchistan and their Provincial cabinet can decide whether to give provincial voting rights or not.

However there are other examples. Mainland Chinese need work permits to come and work in special economic zones.

#320 Posted by IB
“How could one be allowed to apply for a work permit in ones own country? If that is allowed in Gawader then MQM has all the rights to enforce a similar system for the Phatans migrants or aliens to apply for a work permit."

The things you write w/o thinking really piss me off and then you ask me why I come after you. What right MQM has to levy any system in Karachi or any part of Sindh? They are not the majority party in Sindh nor do they own Karachi. Last I checked, they are not in the government either.

The situation in Baluchistan is different. They have suffered so much for so long, that it is the state’s responsibility to aggressively find solutions to the their problem. And if work permit is one way to help them, it is in the interest of the State to accept it.

Recent Rumors & Gossips among civil servants:

a) Dr.Siddique (yaaro ka yaar) owner of Ziauddin Hospital is being made Governor Sind.
b) Masud Sharif (ex-IB chief at the time of operation ‘cleanup’) will be accomadated as a special advisor to the PM
c) President had a long telephone call with Altaf Bhai and Zardari ( some say it was a conference call – from China)

Gawader sure is a special case.
As someone who owns a property there at the Zero Point (parents has the far slightness of buying couple of acre of land for Rs.20,000 in 1992 now worth a staggering Rs.10-15 million / acre – beach facing land) and is a regular visitor – I see Gawader developing in at least 30-40 years.

The political scale of Gawader is complex where there(s) a huge international interest specially (Chinese Investment plus huge Chinese presence in the newly formed port of Omara near Gawader) with regard to controlling the crucial Arabian Sea Routes and then there’s a vested interest of lot of tribal Sardars of Balochistan that Gawader should not develop.

The demands of Sardars that non-Baloch should not be allowed to vote is nothing more then a ‘topi-drama’ – what about folks whose child’s birth place be Gawader – he would have a Gawader domicile and would be eligible to vote. Then comes a point from my ‘all mohajir alter’ that why then you listen to a Baloch and Not us? Is that because they are pasre-e-zameen?

How could one be allowed to apply for a work permit in ones own country? If that is allowed in Gawader then MQM has all the rights to enforce a similar system for the Phatans migrants or aliens to apply for a work permit. You see the whole system of this land would collapse, foundations will break and hell will break loose.

Re: # 292

tahmed32

Yaar, I have provided your direct quote which clearly invites military action, now you can try to justify it by linking it with {"complete breakdown of law and order"}problem here is the basic principle of justice and separation of duties. You cannot assume the role of judge, jury and executioner and at the same time apply double standards. What happened in Multan yesterday, does that call for military action? Arson, destroying public, private property, open use of firearms, do these acts call for military action? How about the events of December 2007 post BB murder, again people were burnt alive and it was a case of total anarchy. I can go on.

Issue here is that who gave you the right or for that matter anyone else to decide who lives or not? When you preach independence and restoration of judiciary, constitutional supremacy then you should be the last person propagating the use of military force, sadly that is not the case and it makes it ever so more dangerous siice ideas such as these are pushed by the majority group (Punjab).

#310 Posted by tahmed32
“How could you possibly miss the tremendous coverage given by the media (with brave reporters risking their lives in the process) to cover the Vietnam and Iraq wars both with respect to news and of analysis?”

Obviously you did not follow what I said. The US media never challenged the Admin over its false claims of WMD in Iraq or supposedly the Mushroom Clouds over the US cities, if Sadam stayed in power in Iraq. I just can’t believe that the American Journalists embedded with the US army could have possibly reported any thing that did not favor the US aggression in Iraq. I don’t know how you can gloss over the facts and say that the US media was really doing a tremendous job.

To this day all reports from Iraq are cleared in the Green Zone. The US media failed to question the excuse for attacking Vietnam and it failed to report the atrocities in Vietnam until the differences within the US admin brought out some leaks about Mai Lai.

We will someday find out whether the US media was complicit in covering up Abu Gharib, until it was leaked, again due to rivalry between the State and the Defense department.

Not only the US media but pretty much all western media was part of the camouflage. Show me one mainstream media outlet in the US or in Europe that questioned the sorry ass excuse for the war.

I would like you to read this book if you can spend a few bucks to learn some truth about the media transparency in the US.
"So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits--and the President--Failed on Iraq" by Greg Mitchell. http://www.amazon.com/So-Wrong-Long-Pundits-President-Failed/dp/1402756577/ref=p d_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205770618&sr=1-1

This book’s tone is mild compared to what was deliberately hidden from people. I know for some it takes a long time for the reality to sink in. You really need to look around at things with a pinch of salt and you fill find out what the reality is.

As far as Pakistani journalists are concerned, for most of them it was all about the lifafa until they figured out more ways to make money. I hope you will get to know the truth about them some day.

#287 Posted by GT re #274

The new CM of Balochistan (Dawn, April 10)

“...Gwadar is a .... mega problem for the Baloch because settlement of outsiders will deprive the natives of their right to sit in this house. The settlement of outsiders will be conditional and they will have no right to vote or contest elections,”

GT, what he means is that Gwadar should be some kind of a special zone within Baluchistan. He has a valid point. The entire population of Baluchistan is 8 million, while Gwadar's is just a few hundred thousand. With the rest of Pakistan buying property in Gwadar and large scale industrialization planned there, indigenous Baluchis of Gwadar mandate will be severely diluted. He's not stopping anyone from coming there, but with some sort of a work-permit mechanism in a special zone.

Hindu worker lynched for ‘blasphemy’

Posted by Taimur Sikander

Jagdeesh Kumar, 22, was tortured to death by his co-workers in a leather garment factory in Karachi on Tuesday. According to Dawn, a discussion about religion among the co-workers became heated and the victim allegedly made some blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). This reportedly enraged the workers, who lynched Kumar until he succumbed to his injuries. When police arrived at the scene, they prevented the angry mob from burning the body. Family members and close friends, however, refuse to believe the official version of the story, and have cited personal feuds as the cause of death.

A senior police officer said they would register a case only after an autopsy report and further investigations. And so far none of the co-workers present on the scene have been taken into custody. “Jagdeesh was a simple man who knew little about religion. He had come to Karachi from Mirpurkhas to earn a living and not to indulge in debates over religion. And it is easy to kill a member of the minority community and then accuse him of uttering blasphemous remarks. And that is why there is a need for a proper and thorough investigation,” Raju, the brother-in-law of the victim, said.

Human rights groups have for long argued that the violence and discrimination against minority groups often go unpunished and seldom make it to the news. Police inaction in this case is a perfect example of that fact. Whether the factory workers killed Jagdeesh for personal reasons and brought in the raging issue of ‘blasphemy’ into the picture as a cover up remains a mystery. But whatever the reason, it will be interesting to see how the police handles the issue and how long they actually pursue the case. It is essential for the sake of Jagdeesh’s family and the harmony of Pakistan, however, that the killers are brought to justice and convicted.

Re: # 312
I just got out of rehab whats your excuse for staying on chowk 24/7?

#311 GT: but sir, i am on chowk 24/7. :-(

#308 Posted by tahmed32:

tahmed sahib:

Forget someone bigger. You have slapped me hard right here ... calling me a "distinguished chowk poster". From now on, I shall use the word "unwashed" only when you are not around. Deal?

HP #307 I dont see how you can even think that the media in democratic societies does not support the government. How could you possibly miss the tremendous coverage given by the media (with brave reporters risking their lives in the process) to cover the Vietnam and Iraq wars both with respect to news and of analysis? And now Pakistani media has demonstrated similar commitment to their profession as well. Why do you think Musharraf needed to introduce pemra if he thought the media was going to give a pass to his government. You are not kidding me, I hope!! I cant believe you even wrote this.