Remembering the Presidential Election of 1965 HP: Something you may like to know: Afrasiab Khattak has become the NWFP provincial head of the ANP.

Remembering the Presidential Election of 1965 HP: Several books attribute Bhashanis sabotage of FAJ's election to Ayub Khans govt..I have also heard a similar story from NAP'ers and it is referred to in both Sherbaz Mazaris book as wel as a few others. The extent of ZAB's involvement was not mentioned. Bhashani is often mentioned to have pulled massive crowds in his various rallies?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,844753-1,00.html

Remembering the Presidential Election of 1965 A side note to this article; Bhashanis role in FJ's election was very unfortunate. He effectively blocked the first opposition candidate; ex general azam khan. He also never denied being bought off to sabotage FJ's election campaign. He used ideological terms (the sino tilt by ZAB) to cover it but it was more crass opportunism.

p.s: Manto this Bhutto bashing by you is quite a surprise, what triggered the change in your opinion?

Militarily Troubled Pakistan and Terribly Administered Tribals Quoted from adeel khans article on pakhtun integration:

At the same time, the Muslim League was launched in the non-Pukhtun district of Hazara by a Maulana Shakirullah, President of Jamiat-ul-Ulama, who became the first president of the Muslim League, assisted by the secretary of Jamiat-ul-Ulama, as the secretary of the Muslim League.33

The British Governor, Cunningham, instructed the big khans to meet each mullah on individual basis and tell him to serve the ‘cause of Islam’ for which he would be duly paid. The Mullahs were told that in case of good progress they would also be considered for government pension. A Cunningham policy note of 23 September 1942 reads: ‘Continuously preach the danger to Muslims of connivance with the revolutionary Hindu body. Most tribesmen seem to respond to this’,34 while in another paper he says about the period 1939–43: ‘Our propaganda since the beginning of the war had been most successful.

Militarily Troubled Pakistan and Terribly Administered Tribals Manto I believe your information is inaccurate, the KK movements reforms under Dr Khan Sahib and in general were seen as a threat by big landlords and Mullahs who were paid informants of the British.

I suggest you read Provincial Politics and the Pakistan Movement: The Growth of the Muslim League in North-West and North-East India, 1937-47. By IAN TALBOT.

Militarily Troubled Pakistan and Terribly Administered Tribals Some factual inaccuracies with Mantos comments, many hindko speakers are and were members of the KK & Congress/KK. The common factor to the PML in the province was it's reliance on big feudal landlords and Pirs like the Pir of Manki Sharif as well as other religious leaders.

The Corporation That Changed The World Does the book factor in the human cost in terms of famine affecting Bengal in particular during the rule of the EIC?

Rest in Peace Pakistan (1947-1974) Zeemax: I don`t believe parliament has that right in any situation, simply because there is no one definition of a Muslim universally accepted. Secondly I don`t think ZAB was pressuriesed i think he pandered, there is no proof that Mufti Mahmud wanted the ban on gambling or alcohol..

I`m gonna look around for more information about the 1970`s assembly debates..will post it if i find any.

Rest in Peace Pakistan (1947-1974) Zeemax & manto thanks for replying. The bit about the Nishtar Med college bit wwas interesting, I was not aware of the background events. But it doesn`t go into much detail about the committee and the proceedings and frankly I find little mention of it in books that deal with the 1970`s. On principle I am uncomfortable with any assembly legislating on who is Muslim and who is not, or who is Pakstani and who is not.

Rest in Peace Pakistan (1947-1974) A thought occurred to me, is there any research into National Assembly proceedings in general and in particular in those days of the 1970`s?

Imran Khan\'s Politics Nasim Zehra disillusioned IK supporter wrote this
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=61224
In Pakistan for multiple reasons the gap between mainstream politics and ethics is barely shrinking. Imran Khan, the maverick politician who combines ethics, principles and politics functions largely without party machinery. He may influence the urban vote bank as an electoral partner of a party such as the PML-N. On his own for now he is the emerging voice of conscience on Pakistan`s power scene; he is to Pakistan`s mainstream political scene what Asma Jehangir is to Pakistan`s human rights scene.

An Appeal to Honourable Supreme Court Justices I’d commenced the journey alone, but people kept on joining it and it became a caravan.
--Iftikhar Chaudhry speaking in Lahore

Imran Khan the Politician A few side points, Imran was in Sahiwal at the time of the WPB..his attempt at holding an anti Musharraf rally was thwarted by the local administration. Secondly someone said the JI bakced Imran in the last elections..which is something of a joke because the JI has no presence in Mianwali.

As far as his falling out with Musharraf is concerned, and I quote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,799827,00.html

In July the general`s powerful principal secretary, Tariq Aziz, tried desperately to convince Mr Khan to join a pro-military alliance of political parties. But their meeting ended in acrimony. ``You will never win your seat now,`` Mr Aziz told him.

Imran Khan the Politician I sympathise with Imran Khan (and those who have read my posts in the past would accept when i say I used to be singularly unimpressed by him ), he is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. He is stubbornly sticking to his guns and hitting the streets to gather support for his ``Musharraf out`` scheme. Unfortunately his only automatic allies in that struggle are the PML-N, MMA and PONM. The first because it lost power at Musharrafs hands and it`s leader is obviously bitter about that, the second because parts of it (the JI/JUP)see Musharraf as ideologically incompatible with their view of Pakistan..and the last because the Army and provincial rights is a contradiction in terms. You throw in his opposition to being pro US and Imran is stuck as being neither here nor there politically.

What choice does he honestly have? Many of the good people in his party have either been unable to handle Pakistani politics, or been poached by other parties (particularly by Musharraf) and the old hangers on thinking they`d get a shortcut into power on his coattails have left having done enough damage. If he were to strike a deal with Mush like the PPP he would in turn havebeen accued of selling his principles, if he doesn`t he is seen as hypocrite becase he sits with the MMA and PML-N..who ayed a role in smearing him in his early tentative years in politics.

It is a tragedy, in the end he is an imperfect politician who has as a person, social worker and cricketer done some superhuman things. Yet while people warm to him they would happily vote for him but not his party.

Understanding Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Zeemax that last quote refers to Ghous Bizenjo..who was the only opposition leader to ask for clemency for Bhutto. A fact which speaks even more for the level of hatred and polarisation his approach created in his opponents.

The Great Wrong HP: don`t you think you are confusing ethnic rights with provincial ones, except for the Punjab, the remaining 3 provinces are not homogenus.

The revenue argument is silly ..no federal system on earth distributes resources on the basis of revenue generation. Although in the same breath no country has a revenue system distribution based on population either..as a rule the federal system gives encouragement to poorer units.