Pakistan’s Prevailing Political And Economic Mess I see that a few points have been missed out here.

First is the assumption that under General Musharraf, everything was going fine. Completely incorrect. Had that been the case, the spontaneous movement of the lawyers rallying behind Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, would not have been a hands on success.

In fact, for the first time in Pakistan's entire history, Islamabad had become a city of political controversy and terrorist attacks. Now it may be recalled that even when Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto led his movement against the army dictatorship which finally culminated on December 20 1971, or when the Pakistan National Alliance launched a vicious campaign against Mr Bhutto, Islamabad as a city, was not the centre of political controversy.

As against all this, the ongoing War on Terror has been fought on the streets of Islamabad. the forces of moderation, freedom and democracy did clash with the forces of autocracy and ignorance in Islamabad, whenever a journalist was attacked, when Geo Tv's offices were attacked, when the chief justice was suspended, when the Lal Masjid was raided and when there were bomb blasts in the compound of that mosque earlier in this month.

These things stand unparallel in our history.

I agree that Mr Nawaz Sharif and Mr Zardari have a lot to answer, but at least it is that despite the riggings and stuff, during their reigns of power, they did have a popular mandate.

A civilian autocratic government, is by far more tolerable than a Ayub, Yahya or Zia-Musharraf style military dictator. Inevitably, as reported by the Herald magazine in its last November issue, it was this thought which had inspired the Supreme Court of Pakistan, under Chief Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui in 2000, to clear Mr Nawaz Sharif of all charges of corruption and sedition that were labelled against him by the then Army Chief, General Musharraf.

it was only when it was leaked out to the General by the Army bureaucracy's most trusted and time-tested lawyer friends, Mr Sharifuddin Peerzada and Mr Malik Qayuum, that the Court's decision was to be anti-Musharraf (actually it was an order to reinstate the Nawaz Sharif government), that the 2000 PCO was issued.

Its sad to see that history had repeated itself 7 yrs later, the only difference was that now we had Justices like Mr Iftikhar Chaudry and Mr Rana Bhagwandas taking the fight to General Musharraf!

Pakistan’s Prevailing Political And Economic Mess I see that a few points have been missed out here.

First is the assumption that under General Musharraf, everything was going fine. Completely incorrect. Had that been the case, the spontaneous movement of the lawyers rallying behind Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, would not have been a hands on success.

In fact, for the first time in Pakistan's entire history, Islamabad had become a city of political controversy and terrorist attacks. Now it may be recalled that even when Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto led his movement against the army dictatorship which finally culminated on December 20 1971, or when the Pakistan National Alliance launched a vicious campaign against Mr Bhutto, Islamabad as a city, was not the centre of political controversy.

As against all this, the ongoing War on Terror has been fought on the streets of Islamabad. the forces of moderation, freedom and democracy did clash with the forces of autocracy and ignorance in Islamabad, whenever a journalist was attacked, when Geo Tv's offices were attacked, when the chief justice was suspended, when the Lal Masjid was raided and when there were bomb blasts in the compound of that mosque earlier in this month.

These things stand unparallel in our history.

I agree that Mr Nawaz Sharif and Mr Zardari have a lot to answer, but at least it is that despite the riggings and stuff, during their reigns of power, they did have a popular mandate.

A civilian autocratic government, is by far more tolerable than a Ayub, Yahya or Zia-Musharraf style military dictator. Inevitably, as reported by the Herald magazine in its last November issue, it was this thought which had inspired the Supreme Court of Pakistan, under Chief Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui in 2000, to clear Mr Nawaz Sharif of all charges of corruption and sedition that were labelled against him by the then Army Chief, General Musharraf.

it was only when it was leaked out to the General by the Army bureaucracy's most trusted and time-tested lawyer friends, Mr Sharifuddin Peerzada and Mr Malik Qayuum, that the Court's decision was to be anti-Musharraf (actually it was an order to reinstate the Nawaz Sharif government), that the 2000 PCO was issued.

Its sad to see that history had repeated itself 7 yrs later, the only difference was that now we had Justices like Mr Iftikhar Chaudry and Mr Rana Bhagwandas taking the fight to General Musharraf!

Political Issues Ahead of Pakistan Elections The thing actually is that the agendas and the results of the elections have already been decided. This was amply proven at the time when the Human Rights Watch unraveled evidence suggesting that Attorney General Malik Qayyum already had first hand knowledge of election rigging.

The issues taken up in the report were highly technical issues and speaking as an honest reporter, it was not an easy task toning down the language and contents, after talking to tens of people that included journalists, lawyers and university teachers.

Any criticism how so ever would be taken up with a big heart.

Coming to the issue of voting, there is another question. When will we as a nation grow and not be fooled by what we get to see?? When would we as a country get out of the world of simulacra?

In order to challenge the realities and the system based on those realities, we first need to understand that how does the system work. Talking about Pakistan, its imminently well known today that decisions amounting to great political importance in Pakistan, are taken in places like Dubai, Ryadh and Washington. Therefore, when the Arabs and Uncle Sam have decided upon how would next government arise and who would be there, these votes are a mere public exercise have no political significance. I am not discouraging the people to go out and vote, after all the ballot boxes still have the capacity to unite the nation against a dictatorship and bring long lasting social changes in the country.

But then again, to change the system, you have to be in the system and to be in the system, you need high levels of public literacy and commitment towards fair accountability, freedom of judiciary and the freedom of the media. Pakistan at the moment, has unfortunately none. Our social notions are indeed based upon our illiteracy!!!

Pakistan’s Emergency and the International Media Basically I would like to disagree with the points mentioned by people before me over here. Firstly, what had drawn me towards penning down this article was the idea that people need to really know that what we see see or read in the Western media about Pakistan must not be taken at face value. The hidden Western agenda must be understood, so must the fact that Musharraf is by and large playing down into the hands and laps of the West. That's what drove me to pen down this article.. However, what should now be made clear to Mr. Musharraf, at least by the civil society, is that we would not settle for anything other than the complete restoration of the judiciary as it stood before November 3 and the laws that curb the freedom of the media, should be taken back. It is high time that the journalist organisations like Karachi Press club and the PFUJ, along with the media owners start demanding from the government that it should rap up the PEMRA and come up with an alternative watchdog where all the employees and the board of directors who are promoted on the basis of merit, that being the strength of an individuals' educational background (liberal arts education shall be given preference at all levels) and the number of years individuals have worked in the media industry!

Things need to change in Pakistan, and for the better. For the first time, the nation's judiciary and media is giving the society the leadership that can bring the nation together on one platform. We must firmly cease the occasion and finally start working dedicatedly for the future of Pakistan. I feel that in the ongoing movement, ideas and analyses would play a lead role and therefore, wrtiers, citizen journalists, professionals, students, etc. can make a lot of different if they are united on one platform and that being the future of not only one country, but one nation as well, Pakistan Zindabad!

The National Reconciliation Ordinance Blanket Cover 'Corruption may not hit the masses directly the way poverty does'

True indeed. But there is seemingly enough research available to suggest that levels of political corruption in a country have a direct impact on the levels of poverty. This is because corruption is one leading agent that leads towards destruction of political and democratic institutions within a society. Once the institutions are mutilated and then forcibly cobbled together forimg wobbly structures which are used by dictatorial and autocratic governments around the world, especially in the third world countries, a democratic outlook. Pakistan is no different. However for reasons for personal security I should not delve into these indepth matters at the moment. however, in order to keep our argument simple and to the point, it would be relevant to conclude that even we have had institution presently and in the past whose malfunctioning primarily due to seething levels of political corruption has been a major propellant for poverty in the country over the last two decades, at least.

As for some other points, I needs to be noted that while talking about democracy, Benazir is not committed to strike its real route, i.e. she does not want to promote democracy within the ranks of her own party. We have seen how she blatantly ignored sane advices of delaying her return. There is evidence creeping out from different sources suggesting that Thursday's devastating bombings had a hidden involvement of the government and the PPP and that it was an endeavour taken in order to create some sympathy for Benazir and the PPP among the urban middle class in Pakistan, especially in Sindh. The endeavour might have been a failure if media coverage is anything to go by. And talking about media coverage, there has been a gross distinction between the coverage given to all this brouhaha in the predominantly urdu languge electronic media and the English language print media and DAWN NEWS. The majority has been swayed by Benazir's 'magic' probably because of some shoddy journalism of the urdu language media, predominantly the biased GEO TV!!! I guess that is about it for the time being.

Pakistan’s Political Future Still Hanging on a Flimsy Thread Well it could be.. The contempt of Court petition taken up by the Supreme Court after the deportation of Nawaz Sharif have not been pursued in full sway! This shows that the judiciary though more assertive (I would not call it independent) is not capable of facing off in a head on collission with the military establishment. On the other hand, the court has now seen the levels of public agitation against General Musharraf in some parts of the country. Clearly, the ball is in their court and they can understand that a verdict in Musharraf's favour would lead to what BB called 'street agitation,' something her father could lead with expertise... The court is clearly in a very precarious situation!!

The Current Mess in Iraq—putting things in perspective Lol, but as I said before that not many understand the workings and the ways the AIPAC functions!!!

Secondly, with regards to Muslim countries, there had been a lot of polarisation within the Arab and Muslim society during the Cold war and since the end of the war, there has been a lot of dictation being taken in from Israel and America! No wonder that Bush 41 and Clinton used the Pressler Amendment as their trump card to suspend aid for Pakistan as it did not follow the western toelines and agendas with respect to its nuclear programme.

no wonder that Americans now enjoy full control of Saudi Arabia's oil and policy making so much so that the Saudi regime is now seen as a virtual American puppet in the region!!!

this dictation comes out mainly because of the largely corrupt political systems and complete misunderstandings and misperceptions about essentialities like national security and national interests. I leave that discussion to some other day!!!

The Current Mess in Iraq—putting things in perspective The problem with the US is that its politics is as murky a business, as it is misunderstood!In my past articles on Iraq that have been put up here, I have tried to analyse the roles played by Israel in the actual planning and implementation of the invasion of Iraq and in policy making thereafter. Despite the obstacles that came (because the US media does not report much on this aspect, I had to do a lot of rigorous research primarily using non American media and other sources of information to get the essential facts right, before I could pick up my pen and work my minds on it!), I did try to unravel many things that the American media has generally concealed from the masses! I will pen down my ideas on this topic in a later essay that has to be part of this series!

Actually there are not many in the Muslim world or the west who understand that how AIPAC, the powerful American Israeli Public Affairs Committee works. According to many, it is atually here, and not the White house where most of the American policies, especially during the years of incumbent Republican presidencies, are made. But that again is different topic altogether, so I leave it thereof!!!

The Current Mess in Iraq—putting things in perspective As it goes for the boys in Sandhurst and Pentagon, it seems that they have lost their knack of studying history, especially the Americans. As it goes for the british, many senior in service and retired Generals, including sir Richard Dannat have called the British support to the invasion of Iraq, a colossal mistake and they have indeed been pretty irritated at the attitude that the American policy planners have made.

As it goes for those who want to read my stuff on affairs inside Pakistan, here come the links!

1- President Musharraf, you are wrong!

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=125374&catID=1&c ategory=World&rtFlg=rtFlg

2- The Red mosque confrontation, going beyond the headlines!

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=125761&catID=1&a mp;a mp;category=World&rtFlg=rtFlg

Dodging Pakistani Sleuths to Cover a War and a Coup The arguments that Sadna makes here are quitre laudable. however that does not mean that the press or the political environment in India is more free, translucent and transparent than in Pakistan. And if my worthy opinionated predecessor thinks that I am wrong then could you please explain to me that why has the press not taken corrupt politicians to the book? Why has the press in India not been rigourously reporting about the alleged female infanticides that are now rampant in northern India?

Why has the press in India never questioned the official positions on KAshmir and why did the Indian press not lash out at Indira Gandhi when she ordered troops to march into East PAkistan in 1971???

Contradictory to this, the press in Pakistan has not, at least in the last eight to ten years, buyed out or toed the official lines on Kashmir, the policies of the state, such as General Musharraf's decision of not advocating implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir anymore, have been challenged and questioned quite critically in two of PAkistan's largest English language papers, Dawn and The News!

It was the media in Pakistan that had recently mobilised the masses behind Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry. It was the media in Pakistan that did question General Musharraf's ideology of enlightened moderation. Even the alleged deals b/w Musharraf and Benazir bhutto have not gone scott free.

On the social side, the media has raised issues about commercial and sexual exploitation of children and women, journalists and columnists have discussed issues such as AIDS, consensual sex outside marriage, education problems, infrastructure and health care problems, etc. quite openly and have been critical of the government most of the time! Has such a thing happened in the Indian press, I do not think so!!!

Dodging Pakistani Sleuths to Cover a War and a Coup The arguments that Sadna makes here are quitre laudable. however that does not mean that the press or the political environment in India is more free, translucent and transparent than in Pakistan. And if my worthy opinionated predecessor thinks that I am wrong then could you please explain to me that why has the press not taken corrupt politicians to the book? Why has the press in India not been rigourously reporting about the alleged female infanticides that are now rampant in northern India?

Why has the press in India never questioned the official positions on KAshmir and why did the Indian press not lash out at Indira Gandhi when she ordered troops to march into East PAkistan in 1971???

Contradictory to this, the press in Pakistan has not, at least in the last eight to ten years, buyed out or toed the official lines on Kashmir, the policies of the state, such as General Musharraf's decision of not advocating implementation of UN resolutions on Kashmir anymore, have been challenged and questioned quite critically in two of PAkistan's largest English language papers, Dawn and The News!

It was the media in Pakistan that had recently mobilised the masses behind Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry. It was the media in Pakistan that did question General Musharraf's ideology of enlightened moderation. Even the alleged deals b/w Musharraf and Benazir bhutto have not gone scott free.

On the social side, the media has raised issues about commercial and sexual exploitation of children and women, journalists and columnists have discussed issues such as AIDS, consensual sex outside marriage, education problems, infrastructure and health care problems, etc. quite openly and have been critical of the government most of the time! Has such a thing happened in the Indian press, I do not think so!!!

The Day We Killed Bob Woolmer The other thing which would have taken a toll on Woolmer is that our entire cricket board is run on an ad-hoc basis, there is no permanent set of rules being followed and no democracy at all.

Woolmer`s frequent tussles with the board cost him his life. The PCB`s arrogant mistakes are the ones which took Woolmer`s life. The PCB should have already acknowledged that he is not the man for Pakistan. The politico-bureaucrat-soldiers of the PCB, i.e. Tauqeer Zia, Sheryar Khan and Naseem Ashraf, along with their supporters down the authoritative heirarchy, are responsible for the alleged poisoning of a cricket genius!

The Day We Killed Bob Woolmer Whatever it may be... Giving a fit and final vrdict on Bob Woolmer right now, is too early. True, his contribution to the game of cricket has been immense. South Africa has evolved as a strong team and they are largely indebted to Mr. Woolmer for that.

But wait a minute, even before appointing bob Woolmer, the PCB should have taken some historical aspects in mind. First is that Pakistan has never performed well when they have had foreign coaches. What happened with Richard Pybus?? Geoffery Boycott was hired for a mere fifteen days as a coach ahead of Pakistan`s last tour to New Zealand, except for that one face saving double century of Mohammed Yousuf (then Yousuf Youhanna), nothing on the tour went (even remotely) Pakistan`s way. Boycott was paid fifteen thousand pounds for those fifteen days!!!!

If Pakistan has ever performed, then that has only been when the entire hierarchy is composed of retired Pakistani cricketers. Throughout the 1970s, until the cricket coup led by Mr. Tauqeer Zia, Pakistan`s performance was generally good. This was not only because we had had fighting champions like Imran Khan, JAved Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar and Moin Khan (whome I consider to be better than Rashid Latif), but also to the top PCb hierarchy which had seen people like Zaheer Abbas, Haroon Rasheed, Asif Iqbal, Wasim Bari and Majid Khan at the top hierarchical levels. No wonder we did not have a full-time coach at the time when we qualified for the World Cup finals of 1992 and 1999.


It was by and large PCB`s mistake to ignore the fact cricket comes naturally to Pakistanis, just as Soccer comes naturally to the Brasilians. Keeping this reality in mind, the board should have known that foreign coaches have always aggravated our problems and made our issues more complicated rather than trying to solve them. The board should have realised that those thousands of pounds would have been better utilised if they would have been used to fund domestic cricket and local cricket academies like the one of Rashid Latif. Everyone knows about how domestic cricket is dealt with. The board should have known that our players only do well when their coaches are renowned, but retired Pakistani cricketers. Why does the board/President not look forward to offer contracts to Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Saeed Anwar (ignoring his tilt towards religion), Javed Miandad, Ramiz Raja, etc. not only as coaches, but also in the senior positions of our cricket board?

Invasion of Iraq, the hidden story This is true..... A close analysis shows that just like stupid Bush, even Ronald Reagan perhaps did not even have any real presidential authority. The war is probably not going on as Bush would have wanted. Mr. Ayaz Amir is right when he says that the IRAQ study groups was just short of one thing-- officially asking for the impeachment of all those responsible for creating all the mess in Iraq!

Religion is probably not the factor here. This is all so because America`s treatment of Muslim and non-Muslim states has been the same. The whole reasons and details regarding Iraq`s recent history and the American foreign policy to that state, would be the key ideas for debate and discussion in my upcoming articles.... So, keep your fingers crossed!


http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00007192&channel=civic%20center
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00007356&channel=university%20ave&start=0&end=9&chapter=1&page=1

Iraq Study Group, a day late and a penny short! This one is surely a good piece..........
However, the short comings are there. The idea that Iraq has been a success for the neocons in Washington, is some what a lacklustre concept. This is because the war is not going in the direction the Bush Administration officials perceived it to. What they surely wanted was to be received and remembered truly as liberators, just like they were welcomed in Kuwait, during the Gulf war. However, that has not happened.

The war has currently cost the Americans more than $300billion over a period of more than three years. The American mission of controlling the Iraqi oil, has failed as research is showing that amidst the growing violence, oil production has not increased significantly.
Also, the political cost for this war has been great. For the first time in over twelve years, did the Republicans lost control over both the houses of the Congress.

The cost and over occupation of the war in Iraq is clearly visible in the regions striken by Hurricane Katrina. Bush did not have the resources for funding the construction of new dams and levees.

The Bush administration has not been able to do anything in Iraq and for those who think that the occupation of Iraq has reduced the threats to Israel, continue fooling yourselves.
Iran is an emerging nuclear power and Israel has probably sown the seeds which would breed a new generation of anti-semities in the Middle East by invading Lebanon earlier this summer. The consequences of that seem to be far reaching. As it goes for carrying out and Osirik like nuclear strike against Iran, dream on. This shall never happen. Israel so far does not have the planes and required weaponry to strike deep inside Iran and we know that a large chunk of Iran`s nuclear facilities are underground. The Americans cannot do the task either, for they now have a clear idea about what Iran can do to their forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now this is what you call a real CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS!



http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00007192&channel=civic%20center
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00007356&channel=university%20ave&start=0&end=9&chapter=1&page=1

Invasion of Iraq, the hidden story Re: # 8

Basically not. Though Jews and Muslims have a whole history of religious conflict, this time round the battle of Iraq is not on the basis of religion. It is purely on political and strategic grounds. Like the United States, even Israel is in line in order to save the central Asian republics for controlling its oil and mineral resources. Israel surely wants to become a regional superpower which it knows would not be possible to become in the presence of counterparts like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein is out of the way now, Iran is the next target. Renown investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has recently published a book (I fail to recall the title) in which he has adequately mentioned about the role played by Jewish lobbies in the shaping and formulation of American foreign policy.

He is of the opinion that Hezbollah and Hamas are not terrorist organisations and do not threaten the security of Israel and the United States an iota. Then why do major western newspapers like the New York Times and The Washington Post continue to follow the Zionist toeline?

The current conflict in the Middle East has nothing to do with religion at all. It is surely a conflict for political, economic and social interests. In a recent documentary aired on BBC, Shimon Peres, former caretaker Prime Minister of Israel had to say that as the state of Israel has been attacked four times by conventional Muslim armies and has been surrounded by Muslim countries whose masses are still seen by Jews as Anti-Semities. In that case, according to his justifications, Israel had the right to develop nuclear weapons.

The gravity of the situation is surely based on political grounds.