The ‘shoey’ Side of Politics

#236 Posted by dost_mittar,

Dost, lemme tell you something. The MQM supporters wouldn't be so nice and kind if they were not in a defensive position now.

#239 Posted by treetop,

Really? I accepted IB's offer of peace because of him as a person, whom I think is a good person.

If I have anything with police, everyone knows you just have to buy a thana. I wrote about that in a previous post. Police waley apney baap key bhi nahi hotey (not IB of-course, I hasten to add). The CSS graduates are all good people who are inducted as ASP, but either they become thanedars or they can't function at all. Please ask IB if I'm wrong.

... not even mentioning who I know at the very top of Police personally ... in both Karachi and Lahore.

Honestly, I find Punjabis more compactable with us Urdus then Sindis, Phatans and Balcohis.

Arif Bhaisahab has a valid point that my brothers / sisters from North and Interior somehow do not have the problem with the suicide bombers or the venom from N.S and company. You see there’s a big difference in our perceptions.

There’s no doubt law and order situation went bad to worse on particular day in Karachi but compare that to the years when MQM ruled from 2002-2008 – apart from this 12th May, 27th December and this 9th April ; generally the situation has been satisfactory.

We sometimes confuse thugs and criminals as political goons – as someone who comes across with the criminals quite often I have witnessed that lot of minority members are part of the street crimes too apart from migrants from northern Pakistan in Karachi.

Btw, what do you guys think of ‘taking cases back of those who looted, raped, killed’ on 27th of December? The new Fascist PPP government is not prosecuting them just because they are “SINDHIS” and nothing more and this is why MQM is what MQM is in Sindh.

zeemax:

A slight digression.

I watched this superb two-hour CBC documentary on Afghanistan, which you would have liked. It showed Afghans who thought that Taliban were bad now think that the present rulers are worse - they are both bad and corrupt while the taleban were at least not corrupt. But that would be old news to you. The new thing that they pointed out was the changed character of the taleban commanders; they are much younger than the older ones and different from their fathers; while the earlier commanders were more tribal than islamist in their outlook, the reverse is the case for the new commanders who are more like al qaeda people. Does the same apply to Pakistani taleban?

Re: # 242
Why do you think IB is an exception?
CSS is not a feather i would like to put in my cap.i cleared my css exam but refused to join(my father threw me out of his house and i have to leave the country).

I think the real corruption in police lies deep down as rightly stated with the Head Constables, ASI(s) level. On a personal level I know some ASIs maintaining a flat in Clifton and know a DSP who travels on a public transport and refuses perks.

Having said that I am in no way ridiculing the junior officers – there’s a huge economical and social pressure on them to earn although this is not an excuse.

Just today a friend’s cousin was stopped by Head Constable of the Ferozadad Police Station and was kept under arrest without any charges until I called to say ‘Kay yaar khuda ka khoof karo’.

Honestly after working on the Punjab Police – let me admit that Sind police works under more political pressure then our brothers / sisters in Punjab Police.

Re: # 244
Given the history of PPP it is hard to imagine anything good will flow from PPP.I reluctantly support MQM just to keep Sindhis and PPP in check.

#248 treetop: the view from the treetop is obvioulsy different from the view on the ground - those who live on the ground believe that it is constitutional checks and balances and basic freedoms of speech and vote that keeps a check on the executive. not the ghoonda-gardi of criminal gangs like mqm.

#245 Posted by dost_mittar,

Dost ... correct. This is the 'neo-Taliban'. Much more potent than the Afghan war one. There was a lengthy article I had reproduced here by a British journalist who had interviewed many of them.

You see, what happened was that the previous 'Taliban' were just Afghan nationalists. Not anymore. Now they're Islamists - which of-course follows you think in Ummah terms and not any particular country. This is what happened after people tried to bomb them into oblivion for no fault of theirs. Now, they believe West is evil - period!

Sigh ...

#246 Posted by treetop re Re: # 242

Why do you think IB is an exception?

Why do I think IB is an exception? It is because he offered me tea & biscuits in a private message and regretted the mutual diatribe.

Is that too distant from your imagination, Sir?

#249 Posted by tahmed32,

tahmed32, Farzana Raja of PPP said something brilliant just now on Capital Talk. She said "Media key hotey huey hamain kisi opposition ki zaroorat nahi hai"

I think that is a fantastic realization ... and thanks Farzana Raja for putting your finger on it clearly.

...contd...#250

Yes. That applies to Pakistani Taliban as well. Actually, now they're one and the same with the Afghan Taliban. No distinction between them can be made.

Our future lies with Sindh and the Sindhi's (it has everything required to become a viable state). The Sindhi's will have to deal with it and so will we. However, co-existence can not take place when one community feels the other owes them something and blames them for all kinds of things they regularly pull out of their ass. The military establishment (which includes the jihadi maderchods), will once again be looking to use Karachi as a convenient distraction so they can kiss and make up. However, one community must resist the temptation of temporary gains and turn away the mercenaries sent their way otherwise it will be war aur end mein kuch bhi nahi bachay gaa.

I have a question with MQM supporters.

What happened to Dr. Imran Farooq? Where is he? Why is Saleem Shehzad the new spokesman of the MQM Secretariat in London?

#252 zeemax: the free press has been called the "watchdog of democracy" in the UK and US for centuries now. also called the "fourth estate". i.e. being the fourth power center, with the other three - in the european society of the middle ages at least - being of course the king, nobles and the church.

But she is only half right - how long can a free press be free if the executive is not curbed by constitutional checks and balances (i.e. the judiciary and the legislature)?

while at this time when the future of the nation has been put in jeopardy by the dictator (along with his coterie of lotas and racist and religious ghoondas), it is understandable for all democratic forces in Pakistan to form a coalition - once the nation has been stabilized (and ghoondaism and dictatorship put behind bars), we should hope for the coalition to be replaced by a respectable opposition.

So, coming to Ferzana Raja's statement, we should remain watchful for any tendencies towards downplaying any kind of check and balance - whether it is the need for a responsible opposition, or it is the judiciary. Thus - the judges should have been restored on day 1, when they were freed. The delays and mixed signals by zardari to this aspect is worrisome, although the PMLN clarity on this issue indicates that NS has learnt the lessons of democracy the hard way.