8 comments Id like to store this interview for posterity – Faisal Qureshi has brilliantly ripped apart the CNN Interview with Con-Air Gilani – read my earlier response – “Con-Air” Gilani Goofs up at CNN our our discussion on Out of Bounds – Shutup Clinton & Gilani the Goof
1 comment 3 comments Watch this last minute of this CNN Interview (4:34) with Prime Minister “Con-Air” Gilani and pray tell me how on earth do we have an idiot like him as our Prime Minister
Pay close attention to the very last question – When Gilani was asked that one out of third Pakistanis want to leave the country due to rampant corruption, injustice and other issues to which he replies “Why don’t they leave then. Who is stopping them.”
At hearing PM’s response quite literally the anchors jaw drops in bewilderment – then I think moments later Gilani realized his goof-up and his constipated facial expression almost wishes he could rewind and plead the fifth.
WORST – Our level of International respect is at such a low that when the CNN interviewer tells PM “Con-Air” Gilani to look her in the eyes & respond (3:09)- DAWGIE does exactly as told – WOOF – WOOF
Another sad moment from the Democracy is the best revenge horror series
2 comments Yousaf Raza Gillani
Prime Minister of Pakistan
Presidential Suite
Churchill Hotel
London
Sub: While You Were Away
Dear Yousaf
I pray this finds you in greatest of health and highest of spirits.
It felt really good that although your trip must have been packed with various activities, meetings, etc., purely in our national interest, you decided to take along 90 most deserving individuals who have worked so very hard for long. Indeed the development which has taken place during your tenor is exemplary and those individuals must have needed a break.
While you are away, we, here, are also having a wonderful time and I thought it would only be fair to keep you abreast so that there is not a moment during your trip that you think about what is happening back home and worry about it.
As I stood waiting for a bus at the stop amidst the routine hustle and bustle of life while the heat was killing me, a bus came to an almost stop and the damn driver decided to press the accelerator. Not his fault! Another bus of the same route had pulled up and you know very well that situation becomes a life and death situation for both the drivers. As a result, three poor women fell while a few, while trying to get out of the way, tripped over the fallen women and got injured. Can you imagine, right then, as I watched, a couple of young men came and pretended to help the women get up while they both had guns and conveniently decided to rob these women off of the very few currency bills they had. You know me well! I just couldn’t just stand and watch. I tried to stop these men so one of them turned around and hit me on the head with his gun. I bled a little and some good souls took me to the hospital. Just a few stitched and I was up and about. But you know what, as I was being treated in the hospital, I felt immediate peace as I thought of you. I could just feel the pleasure you must have felt flying in that very special airplane and then being received in London in about 25 to 30 odd most expensive fleet of cars. I am sure they were air-conditioned! Were they? I have heard the roads are also like carpet and you hardly feel the car being driven. I could just feel you and the 90 people who went with you, and I tell you, all my pain went away. I just thought to myself, those who work hard for me and my nation and serve the country in the manner you and those 90 people have, deserve to be treated like kings. The feeling took over me and I almost forgot all the pain I had gone through.
38 comments By: Agha Haider Raza
Yet again Pakistani’s find themselves, lined up, shoulder to shoulder offering prayers for the departed. The brazen attack during Friday namaaz has clearly shown the audacity and ability of the militants present within Pakistan. On the one side, the suicidal mission that was led out is a direct signal to the Pakistan Army (the attack was taken out in the officers residential colony in Parade Lane, Rawalpindi Saddar) for retreating its forces in the tribal region, while also visibly proving that these militants are not Muslims. The issue for me however is, why have our top brass only been visible at the namaaz-e-jinaza when one of their own has lost their life? Poor Peshawar has been witnessing non-stop death and bombs. It surely has been a while since I saw or read the Prime Minister being in this troubled city of Peshawar, rubbing shoulders with us and praying for those who have lost their lives due to actions taken by the state.
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11 comments By: Agha Haider Raza
So the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) beneficiaries list comes out. The media is happy that those persons who enjoyed taking advantage of the NRO have light casted upon them, while the government is trying to push forward the argument of how they have respected the Supreme Court’s judgment and have publicized the list. It seems to be a win-win situation for all parties. But is it really? Calls for the resignation of ministries and portfolios have echoed from all corners. How has this zero-sum game turned into a finger-pointing-name-calling battle?
As we all now know, the NRO was a ‘bail-out’ for politicians and businessmen, giving them a clean sheet. This not only cleared the way for billions of rupees to be kept in the hands of defaulters, but also allowed plenty of politicians to get re-elected as their corruption charges were taken out of the court as well. Though many readers would say that I am playing the ethnic card here, I’d like to know why 96% of the beneficiaries are Sindhi’s? Secondly, if the PPP, claims itself to be a liberal-democratic party, why have they not asked for a majority vote on such a sensitive issue? After all, the billions of rupees that have been siphoned through this ordinance are Pakistani’s money, not the beneficiaries. Why should this debt be written off?
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3 comments Cyril Almedia is one level headed analyst who I take very seriously, his regular friday columns are a must read to get a decent idea of how the pulse beats within Pakistan’s political circus. This Fridays column for Dawn is a must read where Cyril analyses the various options that could possibly take Zardari out
The judicial option? NRO or no NRO, the fact is Zardari hasn’t been convicted of anything yet and as president has immunity in fresh criminal cases …… Perhaps later, once Zardari is out of his office, they [CJ Iftikhar and his team of non-PCO judges] will get their chance — but that doesn’t really help the minus-one brigade right now.
6 comments “Only in the desperate days and weeks after those celebrations of mid-August did the horrors of Partition’s impact begin to emerge. No viceregal time had been wasted in planning for the feeding and housing and medical needs of ten million refugees. No British officers or troops remained to keep the peace in shattered Punjab, or in Bengal, nor in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, left in deadly limbo to become the source of increasingly violent conflicts between India and Pakistan, the cause of three wars to be waged between them over the next fifty-five years.” – Stanley Wolpert, Shameful Flight.
There are many similarities in the events of yesteryear and today. The difference is that the British had an escape route, we dont !
The images of displacement of a million people this week horrifies me to think of its repercussions. While the government’s rhetoric is of a united counter insurgency attack which requires support of all stakeholders (political parties, public and foreign countries) involved, I fail to see any real strategy laid out by those in charge. Again, today’s speech by the PM in the National Assembly was demoralizing to say the least, apparently, the PM has no backup plan if things go wrong. The point that strengthening the armed forces and utilizing foreign aid on the military offensive will bring success is a narrowly viewed idea.
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7 comments Guest Blog by NRehman
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has a chance of a life time to become a long awaited hero for the Pakistani nation. If the PM stands firm against Presedent Zardari and ask the Parliament to vote for the restoration of the judiciary, he will get an enormous applause from the whole nation. The long march by Lawyers will change its slogan to “Kadam Barhao Gilani hum tumharay sath hain“.
He has a chance to start a new era for PPP and will leave other parties far behind them. This is such a perfect opportunity that even the establishment will feel helpless if they wanted to take any action against it. He will have the support of most of the Parliament in both houses. Senior PPP leaders like Amin Faheem, Aitazaz Ehsan and Safdar Abbasi will support him straight away and the other will follow immediately, there is already a big conflict in PPP over this NRO issue but nobody is bold enough to come out and complain.
Come on PM show us what you are made of and lead the nation through this tough time, you have been given a golden chance to shine and make PPP a formidable force in Pakistan.
23 comments Guest Post by Aqil Sajjad
There are some rumours that the PPP is planning to use the army to curb the long march. One hopes these stories turn out to be false, because if the military were to side with the government against the lawyers, it would be pitting itself against the people of Pakistan. Its public image would take another serious battering, and army officers would again come in for a lot of abuse from angry people when they went out in their uniform, as was the case in the post Nov 3 days.
This would be very unfortunate, since we need the army to play its due role in the defence of the country with full public support, rather than getting into a fight with te civil society on behalf of some vested interests.
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42 comments 
Early today morning a number of terrorist people on foot attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team as it was approaching Gaddafi Stadium the bus was brutally attacked by almost twelve gunmen as it passed through the Liberty Roundabout.
The bus was miraculously shielded from about two rocket attacks and serious damage was avoided as Police Security escorts retaliated for about twenty-five minutes with heavy gunfire. This sadly resulted in critical injuries to police forces and about five of these selfless public servants lost their lives protecting the lives of our cricketing guests.
Reports initially emerged that quite a number of Sri Lankan players were injured but as the news filtered through two players received serious wounds one was a grazing wound to the chest and the other to the ankle. Remaining players received minor injuries due to flying debris and shrapnel. As of now the Sri Lankan team has been evacuated via a helicopter to Lahore airport for an onwards journey to Sri Lanka via Dubai aboard an Etihad Airways flight
Watching different channels and looking at the footage of the attack, it is clear that religious fundamentalists may have struck yet again. They were armed with hand grenades, rocket launchers, modern rifles and other sophisticated weapons apparently they were with a small beard and looked to belong to Pushtoon origin [?].
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29 comments While a post earlier we discussed the rare breed of honest Pakistanis who truly believe in making sure that all their outstanding debts to society are cleared up. In all honesty when looking out our current breed of politicians one sincerely hopes that they too may one day learn that being an elected representative of a population they thence forth entrusted with a very heavy responsibility to serve the people in a very just way and to top it off being Muslims they are further burdened with an additional responsibility to be answerable to all their actions and deeds in life here-after.
130 comments A few days back the Aiwan-e-Sadar [Presidential Palace] was utilized as the a wedding reception hall to host the wedding ceremony of our Prime Minsters Gilani’s sons wedding – its just surprising that the entire country suffers the worst economic crisis but oblivious to all this suffering our leaders continue to live lavishly utilizing public property for their own advantage. I’m infuriated at such blatant misuse of public office, when is all this going to stop!! will they ever consider it their duty to ‘work for the people of Pakistan’ the people who got them there in the first place !!
