The morning after the revolution or was it?
Guest Blog by Zermeen Amira
I have to admit I started the day on a fairly jubilant note having woken up after receiving an SMS from an overseas friend that the Chief has been restored (I had gone to bed by mid night having watched the political drama incessantly for the past few days and as [...]
The Deal has been finalized, the show will go on, hero’s need to be made
I share with you an email circulated widely by journalist Afzal Khan today -
Its a worrisome analysis almost in line with my earlier post today morning – The Sharif’s are being seen to have been allowed free movement while lawyers and political leaders are being arrested country wide. This lawyers revolution is for now [...]
Country nears a Long March frenzy, but a deal brews underneath
I write this blog post early Sunday morning at around 5am, so my thoughts might not be all that coherent, but I feel some pressing points need to be shared before the Lahore stand off takes off in barely five hours from now at 10am on March 15th
Shahbaz Sharif had a very urgent meeting in [...]
Sharif brothers declared ineligible for Elections
The Supreme Court after prolonged hearing of Sharif brothers’ electoral eligibility case, finally declared today that the two brothers Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif are ineligible for contesting elections which were held in February 2008.
This decision will actually throw into confusion Shahbaz Sharif’s position as the Chief Minister of Punjab and consequentially create a stand-off [...]
Pervaiz Elahi audio tape
The latest twist to the political chaos where Ahsan Iqbal shares an audio recording of conversation of Ch. Pervaiz Elahi who seems to be talking to a contact about a plot to manipulate the judges in rejecting the bye-election papers of Nawaz Shairf and Shahbaz Sharif. My reaction to all this is that it [...]
Toothless Election Commission delays bye-elections
In a very surprising development the Election Commission of Pakistan has today announced that the by-elections for the vacant seats in the National and Provincial assemblies which was scheduled to be held in June have now been delayed for two months. Immediately at the outset President Musharraf denied any involvement in this development but the [...]
Restitution of judges: A case for constitutional survival
Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq
Huzaima & Ikram
After lapse of mutually-agreed and self-imposed condition of 30 days on April 30, 2008 for the restitution of judges announced in Bhurban on March 9, 2008, a new deadline of May 12, 2008 has been announced by Mian Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on May 2, 2008. This [...]
Educated Punjab’s Uneducated Chief Minister
Guest Blog by Amjad Malik
What goes around, comes around was a phrase I heard in my childhood and the fate of our outgoing political machinery is pitiful as they are still conspiring, aspiring and dreaming of forming government by hook or crook despite the fact that air is against them, and they do not find [...]
Pakistan Elections: Free, Fair and Transparent
Guest Blog by temporal who blogs at Baithak
The Pakistan elections are over and the people have spoken. But have they been heard?
It is after midnight Pakistan time and the results are trickling in. It appears from early results that PML (Q) the king’s party has received a massive defeat. And both opposition parties, the PML [...]
Pakistans Rich List of 2008
Short-listing Pakistan’s most influential business magnates or Groups has never been an easy task because there are the people who have been very powerful in nearly every regime that has held this country’s reins since the last 60 years and then we have had those seasonal species that maneuvered their voice to be heard better [...]
Update @ 1715: Shahbaz Sharif faces arrest
Dawn reports that Shahbaz Sharif faces a possible arrest over murder charges dating back to 1998. An anti-terrorism court in Lahore issued contempt notices to two police officers for not arresting Shahbaz Sharif for having allegedly ordered security forces to kill suspected criminals in a shootout eight years ago, when he was chief minister of [...]
PML-N to reverse boycott decision soon
There are reports coming in from a number of news agencies that PML-N will very soon reverse their decision to boycott and succumb to the demands of their party stalwarts and contest the election. I truly feel that contesting the elections will only provide Musharraf with even more legitimacy to continue his reign on [...]
Shahbaz Sharif’s nomination papers rejected
The Returning Officer Ashtar Abbas rejected the nomination papers Mian Shahbaz Sharif for one National Assembly (NA 119) seat and two Provincial Assembly (PP 141 and PP 142) seats. Tariq Badaruddin Banday, a candidate from NA 119 filed objection against nomination papers of Shahbaz Sharif that the brother of Nawaz Sharif was a bank defaulter. [...]
Nawaz Sharif’s Return and the Boycott Dilemma
Its all over the media that Nawaz Shairf has finally landed in Lahore after some serious arm bending negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Musharraf (mind you I use Musharraf as Pakistan does not figure anywhere in this equation). It was basically orchestrated to level the playing field as Benazir was apparently acting too erratic [...]
Update @ 1600: PTI Information Secretary sends activism message for students
As Pakistani security forces prepare to clampdown on new rallies today, I spoke to the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf — Imran Khan’s political party) Information Secretary — Akhbar Barbar, via phone, who sends out the following message to students organizing and attending peace rallies, while also echoing Shabhaz Sharif’s call last night, for students to [...]
