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Posts tagged with: Benazir
Sep 6, 2009    |       34 comments

How a betrayer Lover and an unsuccessful Spy become PPP’s “Close Associate”

Guest Blog by Talkhaba

I’m unable to understand as why the news editor didn’t make heading of it. Was it important to tell that Brigadier® Imtiaz had once saved Nuclear Assets by arresting the failed lover cum spy, whose plans became known to Mr Bila only after when his annoyed beloved felt betrayed and not as result of extra ordinary efforts by our intelligence agencies or this fact is more meritorious for heading that the spy being arrested was set freed by PPP’s first government and he later joined the party?

After reading Rauf Klasra story about the failed love story which cost the US loose her spy being hired and trained as informer about Pakistan’s nuclear assets and his subsequent arrest, I even didn’t noticed the death and life imprisonment sentence as those were obvious. I thought the man; Rafique Munshi would have been hanged.

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Aug 14, 2009    |       3 comments

Killing of PPP’s JANISARS; The First by “terrorist” and second by “Police”

Why are all high profile murders always suspicious? One may call the narrative of these murders conspiracy theories but these are real theories on which if develop a case may lead us to the “real” culprit.

If look for similarities in Khalid Shehenshah and Waja Aqeel Ahmed’s murders , their Janisari for PPP occupies the top position in this list.

Khalid Shahenshah— who from student activist to PPP loyalist has vast experience of Janisari came to the limelight after the release of his video of suspicious movements on the stage in Liaquat Bagh where PPP’s BB was murdered.

He was made a member of the security team (Janisaran-e-Benzair) as he was a close aide of Munawar Suharwardy, another Janisar whose story ended in a target killing.
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Jun 27, 2009    |       86 comments

Zardari throws out Quaid-e-Azam from the Presidency

I was alerted of this development earlier in the afternoon courtesy of blogger Farhan where he wrote a blog post The Terrible Blunder at Presidency. Caught up in work, I made a mental note to check it out in detail, but at 9pm Geo reportedly carried a news item along the same lines showing picture after picture where the Presidency had apparently removed all pictures of Quaid-e-Azam

Pakistan Cricket team at the Presidency without the Quaid-e-Azam portrait

Having a close look at the picture you see four portraits namely Asif Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and followed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, nowhere do we see the portraits of the Founder of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohd Ali Jinnah or for that matter Allama Iqbal.

I hope this is just an accidental mistake and there is no attempt by the idiot President to alter our history in anyway whatsoever.

Jun 27, 2009    |       13 comments

Zardari’s Freudian Slip

Rickshaw Zardari FraudMuch could be said about the lackluster reception accorded to the Pakistan Cricket Team upon its return to Pakistan after having won the Twenty20 World Cup in England.  The heroic reception at the airport was put off due to security issues and instead the Prime Minister and the President both decided to honor the champions in separate receptions hosted in their honor.

The Prime Minister held an evening dinner to honor the champions, and the chaos which followed during the award distribution ceremony lacked the decorum of the Prime Ministers office, to make matters worse the stage show / comedy gig held ‘in honor’ was definitely an embarrassment.

Had if that had only been the end of the embarrassing run to garland the winning team we saw President Zardari flash his dental veneers at a lunch hosted at the Presidential House in the honor of the team.
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Apr 2, 2009    |       26 comments

I Told You So – by Mumtaz Ali Bhutto

This article was sent via email claiming that it has been banned from publication in newspapers by the Zardari government, as it has issued directives to all news agencies preventing the publication of all articles by Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto. His previous article Choas & Collapse was also prevented from going into print

mumtaz-ali-bhuttoReaders will recall my repeated warnings that a man with Zardari’s reputation, who has no educational or political background and lacks all the other prerequisites of leadership, will be an absolute disaster in a minor office leave alone the top position in the country. This has proved to be true in the short period of six months leading to a nation wide upheaval. His claim to fame rests entirely on being the husband of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and spending eight years in jail. Let us look at these laurels a bit closer: Shaheed Benazir, in her book “Daughter Of The East”, confesses to marrying him under relentless pressure from mother and aunts and his own perseverance in the face of repeated rejection, but hastens to add that there was no love or even affection involved. Of course it is also true that the last ten years of the marriage were spent in estrangement for reasons that are stated below. It is however surprising that she was unable to control him during her two terms in office when he went on a rampage for which he has acquired the internationally acclaimed and rather modest sobriquet of Mr. 10%.

For the veracity of this epithet let us not depend on the bouquet of corruption cases against him even though two, the Surrey Palace and money laundering cases, in Jersey and Switzerland stand proved, but recall the laments of the people at large and even Jialas. Accepting the principal that there is no smoke without fire and the fact that before marriage, the Zardari family had nothing to show but a cinema house in Karachi, many questions arise about his lifestyle not only in the country but more so abroad. The internet discloses mansions and lands in various countries, twenty seven bank accounts and forty five off shore companies, the minimum value of which is placed at over two billion dollars and this does not include the cash balances in the twenty seven bank accounts, which remains unknown.
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Mar 15, 2009    |      1 comment

Why CoD is not for this government?

Guest post by Naeem ur Rehman

Charter of Democracy, the most widely used term in the prevailing situation has a major flaw in it. Now the question is what flaw it can have when everyone loves it so much, even the lawyers. The CoD was created for specific personalities, their personal demands and to deal with a specific situation, there was no consideration given to the broader demands and the needs of the people of Pakistan or to a long term benefit to the country. Such documents will always struggle when it comes to its implementation, if a prevailing situation changes ever so slightly. After the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto, this CoD became not only useless to the current government but actually became the biggest hurdle to cross for Mr. Zardari. let’s have a close look at few yet most important clauses of CoD.

“The 1973 Constitution as on 12th October 1999 before the military coup shall be restored with  the provisions of joint electorates, minorities, and women’s reserved seats on closed party list in the Parliament, the lowering of the voting age, and the increase in seats in parliament and the legal Framework Order, 2000 and the Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment shall be repealed accordingly”
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Nov 19, 2008    |       13 comments

Politics & Policies of PPP & Asif Zardari

A Casual Look….
By Barrister Ali K.Chishti

Asif Zardari’s politics of reconciliation took him to the doors of a 120 yard head quarters of MQM who had a bitter relationship with the PPP because of Benazir Bhutto’s extension of the infamous Operation Cleanup apart from the Sindhi-Mohajir or Rural-Urban Divide in Sindh.

The message was clear, “let’s forgive and forget” for the betterment of Sindh and Pakistan and start a new democratic Pakistan where each political party accepts each-other’s mandate. Asif Zardari also went on to visit the grave of Altaf Hussain’s brother to offer prayers – he was warmly welcomed by the emotional MQM leaders, workers and the people of Karachi.

Five months forward, MQM is part of the broader coalition but confused about her role in the new government thanks to the step-motherly treatment of the PPP’s government although things are about to be moved to a postive direction.

Nawaz Sharif politics on the other hand had been of confrontational nature where he played and still is playing “for the galleries”, which is understandable in politics since he was and is left with no other options – everyone seems opposition to him thanks to his six years of his civilian despotism in the nineties.
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Nov 15, 2008    |       4 comments

Sugar Mill Scam?

Dawn newspaper published a very concerning report where Senators were reportedly hurling accusations of corruption in regards to the sale of two Sugar Mills, in the midst of the controversy was Jamal Leghari, son of former president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari who was also defending Dewan Yousuf.

Mr. Leghari brought to the attention of the Senate whereby Larkana Sugar Mills was given a hefty loan of Rs350 million without collateral & the sale of Dadu Sugar Mills for a paltry Rs90 million to a ‘front man’ while the previous government had rejected a bid Rs420 million bid for the mills
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Oct 3, 2008    |       13 comments

Tariq Ali speaks about Pakistan Current Situation

Guest Blog by Yaseen Khawar of Pakistanic.com

Tariq Ali s a renowned Pakistani intellectual of world reputation resides in U.K but visits Pakistan from time to time. Recently he gave an interview to Amy Goodman, It is presented here:

Amy Goodman: Recently Pakistani border security forces have stopped American army to cross the Pak Afghan border and do an operation in Pakistani territory but Pakistan’s army open fire on their helicopter. How would you comment on this?

Tariq Ali: I think circumstances have become quite dangerous. It is the point of discussion in American administration since last year whether to do operation inside Pakistan’s territory but there is a strong lobby inside U.S administration which says that if U.S operated inside Pakistan it will benefit those elements against which U.S is doing operation.

Amy Goodman: How?

Tariq Ali: When pushtoon population of North West Frontier Province will see that America has started operation against them, they will join Taliban inside Afghanistan to strengthen resistance.
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Sep 25, 2008    |       23 comments

Rahman Dakait nominated for International Peace Award 2008

International Human Rights Commision has nominated Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik for the ‘International Peace Award 2008 for War against Terrorism. The real problem with Pakistan is there appears to be a complete collapse of moral fabric. I still choose to call him Rehman Dakiat for his endless list of goofups.

It should be recalled that this third Peoples Party nomination is right on the footsteps of Sherry Rehman being nominated for International Peace Award 2008 for Democrats a few months back.

Reading this news report for Rehman Malik – I am utterly speechless, as I and many Pakistanis will cringe at the thought of honoring REHMAN MALIK aka Rehman Dakait {of all people!!!} for the ‘peace prize’. It is yet another example of the political circus being run in Pakistan… I leave this news report at your disposal [and digestion] in utter disgust
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Sep 19, 2008    |       30 comments

Aitzaz Ahsan explains his decisions

Guest Post by Samad Khurram

Friends and concerned citizens,

I am making public a few of my communications with Aitzaz Ahsan and his consolidated response to help put things in perspective. There have been a few questions that had been lingering in every one’s minds regarding decisions made at crucial junctions of the movement, Aitzaz’s decision to remain in the PPP – even when the party is the only hindrance in the restoration of the judges -, the end of the Long March and the lawyers silence on the casualties in the War on Terror and I hope this can address all of them. Many other answers are not part of these long emails but will be answered in due time.

I have been a part of this struggle only because I rationally believe in it. The decision is an informed, educated one so I have been constantly giving the leadership my input, criticizing whenever I think is appropriate but otherwise supporting them throughout. The decisions taken by the leadership itself have been very informed and well thought out and I would like to make some of the reasoning public as many people have had raised questions.

To start of I am making public my infamous, rather harsh email – that was even picked up in Off the Record by Kashif. It was written after talking to people following the end of the Long March and how things seemed very abysmal.It appeared unlikely that we would ever recover from the aftermath. Many of the things in the email were based on the collective sentiment of our activists who had come for a siege

However I become extremely occupied with things after the Ambassador incident and Aitzaz later wrote an article for me in the Newsweek to ensure I am not labelled into something I am not.
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Sep 14, 2008    |       7 comments

The Lawyers Movement – Achievements and Challenges

By Faisal Siddiqi
Advocate

Is it time to write the obituary of the lawyer’s movement? Or will this lawyer’s movement never be defeated because history and truth (and some say, God) is on our side?. The aforementioned responses are the two opposite responses given to the current impasse in the lawyer’s movement. The former response suffers from opportunistic scepticism and the latter response from irrational optimism. What is required is to avoid both these extreme positions. The lawyer’s movement urgently requires to build on it’s achievements, to learn from it’s past mistakes and to objectively analyze it’s future challenges in order to determine it’s goals and devise a realistic strategy to achieve these goals. The lawyer’s movement can neither go home in despair nor carry on with the same old script and strategy of their struggle.

What, has been and is, the principle objective of the lawyer’s movement? To restore, enhance and preserve the independence of the judiciary from both executive and legislative domination. The battle ground for this objective has been the restoration, enhancement and preservation of independent judges. In striving for this principle objective of the independence of the judiciary, the lawyer’s movement has also been the warrior brigade for the intrinsically linked objective of constitutional democracy in Pakistan. One doesnot want to sound arrogant or blow one’s own trumpet but in terms of the aforementioned objectives, the lawyer’s movement has been remarkably successful and there seems to be no rational reason for scepticism or for irrational bouts of despair and despondency.
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Sep 14, 2008    |       7 comments

Zardari is the best Revenge – Benazir’s Subliminal message

After the tragic assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, both Bilawal Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari have been drumming our ears with the democratic vision (?) of Benazir Bhutto. Bilawal Bhutto while addressing the PPP press conference on 31st December said

My mother always said, “Democracy is the best revenge” – Bilawal Bhutto [31st Dec 2007]

For starters we all played along, it seemed to be the new PPP war chant, it seemed to be the trump card for the ticket to a sweeping victory in the upcoming elections, it seemed all too innocently ‘democratic‘. But on 6th of September when Pakistanis watched Asif Ali Zardari accede to the throne of Presidency did we finally realize our curse. This cartoonist quite aptly sums up the feelings of an entire nation

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The subliminal [wikipedia] message for us fools here in Pakistan could have actually been

‘Zardari Democracy is the best Revenge’

Sep 1, 2008    |       11 comments

Pakistan: A Revolution, A civil war or a United States sponsored terrorism?

Guest Blog by Silence posted from Islamabad Observer

A perception is systematically being spread in West about Pakistan being a nursery for terrorists and with the recent unrest in Tribal regions of Pakistan, the western media has started a campaign to prove that a ‘civil war’ is going on in Pakistan and some have gone to the extent that Pakistan is going to fall in to hands of extremists just like Iran, in an Islamic revolution and her Nuclear weapons can go in to hands of terrorist, quite understandable, as this very fear was created and nourished by former dictator Pervez Musharraff to get western support for his illegitimate rule that if he steps down, the militants would take over and George Bush administration which wanted to keep Americans in a constant state of ‘fear’ marketed the idea to international community for its so called war on terror. “The main objective of the Islamophobes, particularly in the US media, academia and politics was pitting Muslims against each other. It was promoted in the name of a “war within Islam.” Soon after 9/11 the calls for a “war within Islam” intensified. Pakistan was the high value target long before the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, but undermining the Soviet Union was a priority. Focus shifted to Islam and Pakistan after the Soviet withdrawal. Taliban became the perfect scapegoat. Instead of helping the Taliban to correct their approach and ways to living by Islam, Muslims fully participated in demonising the Taliban. Operation 9/11 was planned. A war on Afghanistan was planned even before that. The country was invaded and occupied not just for the sake of occupying Afghanistan but for encircling the cooperating Pakistan as well. Write Abid Ullah Jan a researcher and Author of famous book, “The Musharraff Factor: Leading Pakistan to its inevitable demise”.

Weather it’s a civil war, an Islamist revolution or a “United States sponsored terrorism for oil” and part of plan of Neo-conservatives and American oil giants who want an access to energy rich Central Asia and want to use Afghanistan, NWFP and Baluchistan region till Indian ocean as a route for their energy supplies. American CIA with the help of Pakistani dictator General Zia ul Haq and Pakistani intelligence service ISI successfully turned Soviet-Afghan war in to Jihad or a ‘holy war”, the students from religious schools around the world were recruited with help of Muslim clerics by CIA and sent to tribal regions of Pakistan where they were trained by ISI and armed with sophisticated Americans weapons before sending them to join the ‘holy war’ in Afghanistan. In 1986, the Soviets troops were forced to withdraw from many areas because of heavy casualties and finally, under heavy international pressure managed by USA and huge losses in the battlefield, Soviet Union withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan in 1988.
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Aug 29, 2008    |       23 comments

Living with Corruption

Guest Post by Silence

Corruption and governance goes together in developing countries, especially the third world where democratic process is influenced by bloodline, money politics, feudalism, intervention of imperialist powers through military and religious exploitations. The process becomes more painful when the society is trying to develop from under develop, while profiled as ‘high risk investment zones’ these countries need investment for development, the clever investor who is aware of this fact bargains for softer terms and governments are unable to deny, the rules are relaxed and projects vital for survival of society are given to these investors, an example of this is can be the IPP’s in past Benazir Bhutto’s regime in Pakistan which was widely criticized at that time but proved to be a lifeline for Pakistan’s industry in following decade. It’s not a national interest which forces the governments to relax the rules, once relaxed in broader national interests, these rules become a tool for corruption and personal benefits, the prime examples are Pakistan’s defense agreements, where an Air Force Chief got kick backs of Billion of $ and many politicians like Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif multiplied their holdings, Shaukat Azaiz sold the national institutions for personal gains and was forced to stop from handing over Pakistan Steel and a PIA owned hotel in New York by Supreme Court and Pakistan Senate respectively, the father in law of former dictator Pervez Musharraff got the contract of elevated Rail track in Karachi for five times higher bid from national exchequer then the Chinese company offered and that too on soft loan basis.
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