We Don’t Need You Shaukat Aziz

``Pakistan, in the process of doing America`s bidding has jeopardized its very survival. As a result of unrestrained service to the US, we are facing insurgencies in two of our provinces; our top ``leadership`` is in the crosshairs of al-Qaeda assassins; our urban centers are being devastated by bomb blasts; frustration, sectarianism, despair and crime are rampant; and the state and society are unraveling at the seams.``

****Interesting analysis. If Aziz is openly such an agent of America, then it would be interesting to do a contrast analysis with Musharraf. Also, it shows alot about the deep influence America has acquired in Pakistan. Remember, the very raison detr of the exixtence of Pakistan , nay even its origin, lies in the Britain-US machinations. The greatest tragedy for the entire Indian subcontinent was that Jinnah - undoubtedly a very sensible man - became a stool pigeon for their longterm strategy of hamstringing resurgent India.
As a consequence - I use this deliberately - the current effects tabulated in your paragraph became inexorable. Unless Pakistan assembles the common sense, guts and strength to recharter the path for itself, I am afraid the implosion and discombobulation within Pakistan will reach higher crescendoes.****

``Now is high time to say to the Americans, enough is enough; we have done enough of your bidding: ``above and beyond the call of duty`` as a faithful ally. We need to draw a line, though we should have done it long time back; otherwise like a virtuoso blackmailer, the US will keep on raising the ante.``

****Beggers are not choosers.****

``At the same time we should renounce the use of religio-militant entities, as proxies to further our strategic interests, by creating mayhem and violence in neighboring countries. We should also eschew any delusions of empire-building in our neighbourhood.``

****Can you realistically, under any circumstance, begin to achieve any of this? If you could then the first step is to collaborate in making a strong Indian subcontinent.****

#54 by nasah on September 8, 2004 8:23pm PT

``......and `this` time my Pakistani intellectual friends -- AGAIN -- think that they -- shoorly have a Lotto Jackpot Winner......in Sheikh Sycophant -- Shaukat Chilli -- and his basket of Citi Bank eggs.....``

Great stuff nasah saheb! Shaukat Chilli.......LOL!

Dear MQM Power. You seem to repeat the old argument that Karachi generates revenue that is used in other cities. This argument has been used by MQM for a very long time and has been used to feed the anger that exists in its cadre by saying that your money is being usurped by Punjabis. This argument is planily false. While it is true that a significant amount (maybe as high as 60%) of all federal taxes are collected in Karachi but that does not mean that they are paid by Karachities. If PSO sells oils all over the country and deposits its taxes on those profits in Karachi then it does not mean that those taxes have been paid by Karachi walas. They have been paid by people all over Pakistan who have consumed the products. Since all major companies are HQed in Karachi so they deposits their taxes here but they are earned by selling products all over the country and paid for by Pakistanis in all four provinces.

I agree with you that Karachi has the best human resource, (used to have) the best infrastructure and the only commercial port in the country. To go wrong after having so many natural advantages takes a lot of doing and has been only possible due to the policies persued by your party.

This is not a Lahore vs. Karachi deabte. This is to see what is good fot this nation. What is certainly not good for my country is to have a party rule its most promising city by fear and persue a policy of confrontation. Over the past few years your party has confrontation/issues with Army,establishment, feudals, sindhis, pathans, punjabis, Pakistan itself or whoever is the chosen opponent of the week. You need to mature as a party and be positive in outlook and not look for a favourite bogey of the week to beat up on.

Ministers told to outline six priority objectives

ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has directed all federal ministers, ministers of state and federal secretaries to submit by Sept 11 their six-point priority goals along with their proposed implementation deadlines.

A senior official of the prime minister`s secretariat told Dawn on Tuesday that a letter had been sent to all the ministers and secretaries reminding them of the prime minister`s speech to the cabinet members last week in which he had told the ministers to work with full dedication and time bound targets for achieving results. They have also been asked to give their proposed strategies to implement these targets.

He said all the ministers and secretaries would submit their six-point agenda and their implementation time line which would be reviewed by the prime minister at a meeting next week. The ministers and secretaries would attend the meeting.

He said the agenda and their implementation strategies would be approved by the prime minister with modifications, if so required, and would be given quarterly deadlines to meet those targets. The quarterly meetings to be presided over by the prime minister would examine the implementation status and approve targets for the next quarter.

The official said that the purpose of the exercise was to minimize red-tapism in the functioning of the government, introduce good governance and make full and effective utilization of the public sector development programme for reducing poverty and increasing employment opportunities through broad-based development.

He said the government had already directed all the ministries and divisions to incur 25 per cent expenditure of the development budget by Sept 30, 2004, to ensure maximum budget utilization during the current fiscal year.

Furthermore, all the ministries and divisions have also been authorised to incur 40 per cent expenditure of their current budgets during the first half (July 1-Dec 31) of the current fiscal year, 2004-05.

The sources said the government had been under criticism for low utilization of development allocations during first two to three quarters of each fiscal year that later resulted in bulk releases in the fourth quarter. This practice compromised the quality of funding utilization.

The government has to face questions every now and then that there is no use for announcing higher allocations for the development budget when real utilization remains usually low due to deterioration of the implementation capacity both at the federal and provincial levels.

It has, therefore, been decided by the government to authorise the federal secretaries to utilize 25 per cent of the development budget in each quarter so as to ensure maximum utilization of public sector development programme (PSDP) every year.

The government has already empowered the federal secretaries/principal accounting officers to utilize up to 50 per cent and 45 per cent of the social sector and other development allocations without prior approval of the ministry of finance.

In 11 months of the last fiscal year, the total utilization had amounted to about 54 per cent of the total allocation but remaining 46 per cent funds were utilized in the month of June 2004.

#51 by nukecular

``This article is a waste of space``

You got that right! You are quite intelligent.

So SA has reached his zenith too soon bowing before the `black stone` and using his thecratic technocracy (Nimaze Istasqa) in Saudi Arabia where rain seldom falls, for making rain in Pakistan. What a joke this man, the choice of Tharparkar, has started playing with us!

A request to posters - Please do not use the term `P*ki` in any future posts. It is a racial slur, and unless you unequivocally wish to racially abuse someone, please do not use it in your posts. (Note I havent ruled out `intent` altogether)

I trust we can show each other at least some respect. The forum moderators seem to have been caught napping (I assume?) - the use of such language should not be allowed, as it can, and probably already has, offended many people.

Lets try to be civilised shall we!

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````I am fully sure that whatever decision he (my Lord Musharraf) takes will be as per the Constitution as well as the law and in the interest of the country as well as the nation and we will back it,” (Shaukat Aziz to BBC)

Is he ``fully sure`` -- that his Lord Musharruf`s decision to STEAL a civilian government at gunpoint -- was ``as per the Constitution as well as the LAW``.....

....Can Shaukat DARE say that......in public

......that he IS ``Fully Sure`` that a renegade insurrectionist soldier committed a treasonous act of overthrowing an elected governmehntn by force -- ``as per the Constitution as well as the law``

.......may be -- in the Constitutional Pimp Pirzada`s Book of -- Counterfeit Constitution -- but not ``as per`` Pakistan`s Real Constitution....

and to hell with that odious phrase ``interest of the country`` .....every genocidal fascist, rightist leftist communist and a Mongloid Invader of a foreign land -- has used that same crummy phrase -- in the name of National Interest....

In Pakistan .....each and every Army Dictator of the Past 57 years in Pakistan -- has committed the same Crime -- and used the same phrase -- in the ``National Interest`` -- to justify it -- and and then fell flat upon his belly as a stinking Failure.....with disastrous results......

every time an army man became the Savior of the country there was a war and there was a defeat -- so much so -- that more than half of the population and half of the real estate of the country was lost for good -- never to come back again -- for ever -- for nobody else`s fault -- but thanks to these Stupid Army Dictators in glittering uniforms strutting like Peacoks -- as the St. Saviors -- of the hapless and confused country....

......and then AGAIN comes another one -- (hopefully last of the Khatimul al Guidas) -- of the Army Messiahs -- P r e s i d e n t General Pervaz-e Musharraf....

now this time -- `unlike` the Regressive One ZIA.....this one -- is supposed to be the ``Progressive One``..........but who in reality comes with the same same worn out script -- same old stinking Snake Oil in a new Bushy Bottle.....in ``the interest of the country``........

apparently to save the country -- from itself....the upteenth time

......and `this` time my Pakistani intellectual friends -- AGAIN -- think that they -- shoorly have a Lotto Jackpot Winner......in Sheikh Sycophant -- Shaukat Chilli -- and his basket of Citi Bank eggs.....

``Shaukat Aziz is a good man, a capable man. Now, in the polluted atmosphere of Pakistani politics and adrift in the sea of sycophancy surrounding him, he will need all his skills to keep his head and his balance.``(Ardsher Cowasji)

Indeed..... Shaukat is a good man and a capable man -- in fact an Olympian Swimmer in the the Sea of Sycophancy Surrounding his `Constitutional` Monarch Musharraf -- in fact he is the Prime Minister of Sycophancy -- here a glimpse:

``I am fully sure that whatever decision he (my Lord Musharraf) takes will be as per the Constitution as well as the law and in the interest of the country as well as the nation and we will back it,” he said.

He said there is nothing wrong in a General’s heading the country’s democratic system. In a parliamentary democracy, the holding of office of the President by the Army Chief is in accordance with the Constitution``.....

Urstruly...you should put more thought into your posts. Your last post was absolute garbage based on your personal prejudices against the Pakistani people. You should refrain from posting such nonsense, unless you are wilfully trying to make your fellow Indians look bad. Such uncouth posts are neither conducive to dialogue and are likely to produce even more vitriolic responses.

I hope you will try to think through your writings before positings next time.

Much appreciated.

Shaukat Aziz is the best! This article is a waste of space (in my view).

The jokers in the pack

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was duly freely and fairly elected as a member of the National Assembly on August 18 from two constituencies. The margin of victory in Tharparkar should have been somewhat of an embarrassment for him, as it was way out of realistic range, whereas in Attock his success was far more modest and possibly more claimable as a genuine triumph.

His choice of constituency may thus be explained. His election as prime minister in that most honourable of houses, the National Assembly, was competently stage-managed. The general chose well. Shaukat has been duly installed.

His electioneering in Attock cost the lives of three PPPP `activists`, law and order being a desired absentee. In the wilds of Sindh, despite the incredible margin, it was thought fit to harass members of the contesting PPPP. Aftab Shahban Mirani and Qaim `the Commuter` Ali Shah were both detained on several occasions whilst on the move in the area.

Nisar Khuhro was held near Mitthi for over two hours, Manzoor Wassan was arrested (no sympathy on that front) and six other MPAs were locked up in various police stations on the way to Mitthi. Sassu Palijo, that most active and vociferous MPA, was thrown out of a polling station in Diplo and then detained by an additional sessions judge of Tharparkar until the polling had ended.

This, of course, is meek and mild in comparison to how democrat of democrats Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of the then ruling PPP, now the much abused PPPP, dealt with his imagined opponents in the March 1977 elections which he would have won in any case. Why he was mad enough to decide to rig will never be known, but that was the beginning of his journey to the rope`s end. Qaim Ali Shah was active even in those days, busy printing ballot papers for his constituency at the government press at Khairpur.

In Zulfikar`s own constituency of Larkana he was opposed by Jan Mohammad Abbasi of the PNA, a completely harmless man with not a hope in heaven of winning, or even of getting anywhere near the Bhutto vote count. Abbasi arrived in Larkana on January 17 to obtain a certificate of enrolment as a voter. He was unable to do so as, apparently under orders, the district commissioner had sent the election officer off on leave to Sukkur. That same day, whilst Abbasi was sitting addressing a gathering of students he was summoned to the house of the superintendent of police.

On arrival, he was told that the SP had gone to Dokri. Abbasi was taken to Dokri by an armed escort and confined in the Seri Dak Bungalow with six other Jamaat-i-Islami leaders who were standing against Mumtaz Ali Bhutto. They were held there until the evening of January 19, and released after the expiry of the nomination period and the announcement of the unopposed return of the Bhuttos.

When Abbasi moved the Election Commission, affidavits prepared by dour-faced attorney-general Yahya Bakhtiar and Ghulam Ali Memon testified that Abbasi was very much in Larkana, free as a lark, on January 18.

So, we have made progress on one front over the past quarter of a century. The electioneering process has become more civilized. Fixing may still be a fixture in the national system, but confinement and abductions are things of the past - we hope.

Shaukat Aziz is a good man, a capable man. Now, in the polluted atmosphere of Pakistani politics and adrift in the sea of sycophancy surrounding him, he will need all his skills to keep his head and his balance. He has had an eventful professional life, constantly on the move, from post to post; he knows the world from west to east, from north to south.

Educated as he is, his priorities are right. Law and order he puts first on his list (which General Musharraf should have done five years ago). Shaukat is naturally geared to economic progress under which heading lies human development and all that this covers - education being its core, together with poverty alleviation which requires stringent population control, plus health care, sanitation and all public amenities due to the people.

Born in Karachi, 55 years ago, schooled initially at St Patrick`s, under the guidance of the good Fathers, Shaukat moved on to Abbotabad Public School, and then down to Rawalpindi where he graduated from Gordon College. Then back to Karachi, and to the Institute of Business Administration, where he was taught by my old friend Professor Adi Spencer.

Adi is the son of Lovji Spencer, a class mate of my father, Rustom. Lovji sent Adi to schools and colleges in which the teachers were highly educated and qualified - a prime essential lacking in our educational system. He was schooled at the BVS whose then principal was Dr Maneck Bejonji Pithawalla, D.Sc., followed by Behram Sohrab H. J. Rustomjee, B.T. Eng. Adi did his HSC in 1955 and then joined St Patrick`s College from where he graduated in 1959. Amongst others, his college teachers were Father Stephen Raymond, M.A. (Oxon) (Judge Edward Raymond`s son), Father Luperc Mascarenhas, M.A. (Oxon), his brother Oswin, also M.A. (Oxon), and the Dutch Father Elzyerus Bonke, PhD.

In 1959 he moved on to Karachi`s Institute of Public and Business Administration (as the IBA was then known), established by USAID helped by the United States Education Foundation, where at that time visiting professors from Wharton and USC taught and lectured. After graduating he worked for a while in his family business, then at the FNCB (as Citibank was then known) and in 1967 went back to teach at the IBA.

Shaukat Aziz was one of his star pupils, and under Adi`s guidance and instruction he was one of the young men head-hunted by the visiting Citibank officers keen on enrolling talent. Shaukat, an humble man, keeps in touch with Adi, still addressing him as `sir` (old habits de hard). When Adi once protested and suggested to Shaukat that he drop the old habit, he was politely told, ``I have always called you `sir` and will continue to so do.``

He now manages the finances of a vastly overpopulated country housing some 160 million, the large majority afflicted by poverty and a total lack of civic amenities, education and health care. He has limited funds at his disposal, the major portion being dedicated to the defence of the realm. Unless that fact undergoes a miraculous change he may not be as successful in his political career as in his private. Granted, when General Musharraf offered him the finance ministry in 1999, things on our economic front were grim and remained grim until 9/11 brought its sea-change.

Luckily for Pakistan, and for Shaukat, when the call came, Musharraf did the right and proper thing. Pakistan fulfilled the needs of the US, our men abroad considered their country to be a safe haven and funds flowed in. This time round, they had a competent and scrupulously honest manager so the money did not wander off course.

Given what is available on the ground, the president general has finally made the correct choice to fill the prime ministerial slot. But the political system under which he has chosen to operate demands that payoffs be made, that rewards be handed out, that blackmail be answered with bribes. Now Shaukat has the unenviable task of dealing with and shuffling a pack of cards - more than 52 of them, plus a full hand of jokers.

Yesterday Adi and I raised a jar to him, wishing him a safe journey.

I also join Cowasjee in wishing Mr. Aziz well. Good luck and safe journey Shaukat!

With all due respect, I agree with you that every effort has been made on the part of the establishment and the feudal powers to diminsh Karachi`s importance and to transfer the center of the economy to Lahore and other Punjabi areas in the same way as the capital was transferred to a more safer location (ie, closer to the border than ever before).

Through the tyranncal and despotic rule during the Nawaz Sharif administeration in particular, money raised in Karachi was utilized to polish up, clean, and shine Lahore, and portray Karachi as a run down devastated area. Benazir Bhutto, the army, and mian Nawaz Sharif are the prime reasons for the past law and order problem in Karachi, and this view has been documented and endorsed by numerous human rights organizations including Amnesty International. Therefore, without having lived in Karachi, without having studied the problem, I would be carefull not to comment on political situations in other places in the fair interest of the arguement.

Let me unequivocally state that Karachi has been blessed as a port city and thus will never lose its importance, prestige, and vigor regardless of such propaganda. Ask any Karachiite, and ascertain how closely do they connect to their city as does anyone else from any other land. Karachi has always and continues to facilitate political, religious, and economic immigration and emmigration of refugees and those seeking a better future. It has given to others more than ever. It has played host to millions of muslim refugees from both the East (India, Bangladesh) and the West (Afghanistan to Bosnia), as well as from the North (from all portions of the nation). We are proud of our heritage, our culture, our openness, our liberalization, our proactivism, our pragmatic approach, and our strength.

There is not one city in Pakistan besides Karachi that can claim itself to be a miniPakistan. Your argument that the moving of mills and textiles, etc to Lahore and other parts of the country is valid to some degree. However, it would not serve any economic prudence if you were to avoid utilizing Karachi as a port. The advantages of a port city are numerous including access to shipping, localization of production, a conglomerate of skilled workmenship, and a relatively educated populace. A lot of the industries nonlocal to Punjab established and running there for the most part face elevated overheads both in terms of production, raw material transport, and delivery (remember all havey exports and imports have to channel through Karachi and Gwadar). Therefore, the Pakistani consumer, your business interests, and finally your pockets are hit if you selectively avoid Karachi.

I have a lot of friends from Lahore, and they are proud Lahorities as they should be. Your city is a city of culture, a city of history, and it deserves its due share as an integral part of this country.

Your comments are quite ambigous. First you say that ``In my view this is by design because if Karachi develops than there will be no disconteted youth which is the reason of existance of your party. Its the anger of these young people that is your main support base and there will be no anger if there is peace and prosperity.``

Karachi has been quite an active political and economic center since 1947. Even before 1986, it`s inhabitants were quite active politically under PPP, JI, etc. Demographics has a role to play in this as well. The ethnic makeup of this city is different and has a tendency towards activism. Therefore, to base the assumption that MQM`s base lies solely on disgruntled youth, let me ask you that if the army were to launch an operation and eliminate up to 25,000 people in Lahore, wouldn`t that make a lot of families and friends disgruntled? We are not the only people upon whom an army crackdown was launched. There are other examples such as in NWFP (which should be called pakhtoonkhwa) and in balochistan where the price of protest and demanding one`s rights have been rockets and bullets.

`` Your agenda is not the agenda of this country. `` Well said, the agenda of this country is not the agenda of the people, it is the agenda of the aristocracy, the establishment, the army, and the feudal rulers. The money generated by these transferred industries goes into the pockets of the rick chaudery`s and vadera`s, not to the average lahori resident.

Your comments exhibit an animosity and negative distraught over the courage and valor of the people of Karachi. I invite you to join our hands and bring prosperity to this great nation.

Take a good look at this picture. This is not a picture of a helpless Iraqi father, it is a picture of all Muslims around the globe who are currently being ruled by foreign puppets and a social class that survives by sucking blood from their veins. This social class is the custodian of foreign imperialist interests in their respective countries. This is a picture of Pakistani nation. Just like this helpless man, the gun totting fauji criminals, their civilian goons, and plaincloth thugs have also taken the whole nation as hostage, gaged them, and put a hood on their head. A common Pakistani is as disenfranchised as he never was before. He does not have a constitutency. He has been rendered a foreigner, a refugee, a prisoner in his own home by these criminals. A Pakistani- whose only crime is the accident of birth; of being born in a lawless land that is being ruled by ruthless criminals. Today, he is not even sure how long the comfort that he finds in his family and children would last. He has nothing to offer to his children, accept a corrupt, indecent, and frustrated life in a lawless society and land - a land which was once his.

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