Imran stands out – Adiah Afraz
An article in The News “Imran stands out” by Adiah Afraz this particular section is worth appreciating
I’m afraid, from a junior Bhutto to a senior Sharif we wouldn’t be left with a lot of choices if this is how we chose our leaders.
And speaking of leaders, I support Imran Khan because the leaders that my votes have put in power don’t inspire me. My life is difficult as it is, and I don’t have patience for a detached world where corrupt billionaires play victims and democracy serves the purpose of revenge. I have had enough.
Imran Khan speaks of my realities. His aspirations for my country are similar to mine. So what should I do? Should I stubbornly tell myself that no, good things can never happen to me, and painstakingly find arguments that feed my scepticism? Or should I get up and say: Ok, it seems very difficult, I don’t know how this man is going to do it, but then look at his track record. He is not an angel from the heavens, but he is credible. Credible, but human nevertheless, who like all humans is bound to make mistakes.
So let’s not attack him before he has even starts. Let’s help him out. He probably needs it.
Dues ex machina Pakistan by Zain Umar
Zain Umar pens another masterpiece Deus ex machina of Pakistan, the entire article is worth a read – but these three paragraphs hold me captivated.
Dues ex Machina is Latin for “god out of the machine” whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object
If Jinnah was the leader of the nation of lion hearts, the Quaid e Azam, Imran Khan has earned the title of the leader of the nation of cornered gladiators.Quaid e Azam saw a dream and converted it into reality; Imran Khan endeavors to save the same dream from going sour.
The stage is the same, the place is the same, the challenge is the same, the circumstances are the same, the patriotic fervor and charisma of the leader are the same, what is left to be done is the same gushing of emotions, venting of passions and expression of will which set our forefathers on the road to freedom 65 years ago.
Time to relive the tale, recreate history and reinvent Pakistan. Time to herald a new era of peace, prosperity and beatitude. Time to show the world that we are a nation of 180 million lion hearts, a nation of cornered tigers, led so admirably and heroically by destiny’s child, the fabled savior of our times, Imran Khan!
Bravo Bravo
The Imran that we know – Shafqat Mahmood
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood pens his thoughts on PTI’s ongoing effort to hold intra-party elections published in The News (25th May) The Imran that we know – Shafqat Mahmood
Imran has decided to take the more difficult, some say impossible, route. He wants real elections at all levels in the party. The wizened political pros are not happy, the cynics are predicting party collapse, and our media friends are shaking their head, telling us to stop even at this late stage. Real genuine party elections are not easy.
The modalities themselves to say the least are daunting. We are hoping to enrol between five to ten million members. Getting all of them to the polls with limited party resources to directly elect district level party leaders is going to be some task.
But, then, this is what Imran is. Always going for the seemingly impossible. His vision is that the party can never become an institution until it establishes a culture of real elections at all levels. They may be messy and not everything will work out exactly as planned but it is a journey in the right direction.
So Imran Khan’s the target of your Goebbels’s Vendetta!
Zain Umar penned a very passionate article on his blog So Imran Khan’s the target of your Goebbels’s Vendetta! criticizing bloggers and writers at Express Tribune on going virulent against Imran Khan, I think this paragraph sums up my passion and the passion of thousands of PTI supporters
Imran Khan has his faults; he has had his share of indiscretions, oversights, omissions and faux paus; but which mortal is above such foibles and weaknesses? He who has never committed a sin, should hurl the first stone! He who lays claims to infallibility be our savior and I am ready to swore his allegiance
PTI National Unity Jalsa 25th Dec Instructions & Route Maps
Elaborate security arrangements are being made, to ensure a peaceful event, with a massive crowd expected, we together need to ensure discipline amongst ourselves
- Come early as the Jalsa is expected to start at 2pm
- Security check points will be to ensure safety of everyone, please corporate with the police and our volunteers
- Please pack WARM clothes as Karachi is experiencing a cold spell
- Please bring water and snacks
- It may be best to carry a darri so you can sit on the ground if there are not enough chairs
- There are 3 public entrance points for the Jalsa, please follow the
- Gate 1 = Ladies & Families
- Gate 2 & 3 = General
Imran Khan’s Telemarketing buzz for Karachi Jalsa
Over the last two days, people in Karachi were abuzz with a 30-second phone call from the famous politician Imran Khan inviting them to the National Unity Jalsa in Karachi on 25th Decemeber. Quite a large number of people narate funny stories as to how they were briefly fooled into believing that this was a real call. The project kicked off early in the morning of the 18th December unfortunately as early as 6:30am [we apologize to those who received this call so early on a Sunday morning] apart from that small gaff – the city was giggling with excitement to have “had a personal call” from the heart throb Imran Khan.
The recording in Imran Khan’s voice says
Assalam-o-Alaikum. This is Imran Khan speaking. How are you?
I am coming to your city to bring everyone together on December 25 at Mazar-e-Quaid for a peace rally. I hope that you can break all the shackles and take part because at this rally we need to make the beginnings of a new Pakistan. I will be waiting. Thank you.
Only recently a post appeared on Pro-Pakistani titled “PTI is Spam Calling in Karachi to Market its Jalsa” where they ask a valid question, but I believe labeling this audio message as “spam” is unfair and instead it should have aptly been coined “Telemarketing”
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Jemima Khan responds to Smear Campaign on Imran Khan
As Imran Khan declares his assets political opponents question his explanation to which Jemima Khan responds to allegation on twitter
Imran Khan takes the game of Asset declaration to Raiwind & beyond
With Imran Khan declaring his assets today, the challenge moves onto Raiwind & other political mafias
Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf [Offical page] has indeed started to change the political ground rules in Pakistan, the status quo parties have a lot to hide and they will run for cover and deflect attention from their own financial issues or produce fake returns to share with the public – they have looted and plundered and when caught the best form of defense is ignore and deflect the questions.
Notice how Ch Nisar focused on the minute details of IK’s assets, but refused to comment on the bank vaults of Raiwind. You will ALSO notice the Sharif’s will not come publicly themselves because if they are caught then its embarrassing, if someone else falters they can send other cronies to clean up the mess, Hanif Abbasi is leading the pack, what an amazing line of defense they have in Raiwind.
It is now public pressure that can differentiate the crooks from credible Pakistanis. Keep asking them the hard questions and dont let them off the hook, let the onus to ask the hard questions NOT be on PTI, but instead the PUBLIC must take these crooks to task
From Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to My Kaptaan – by Dr. Arif Alvi
Published in The Express Tribune on 3rd August 2011 by Dr. Arif Alvi
The crowd was pulsating as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) continued to talk about Afro-Asian solidarity. Some of us raised anti-Ayub slogans. ZAB stopped us and said ‘abhi naheen’. He was into the third hour of his first public speech after ditching his mentor and the venue was Government College Lahore. The 60s were an era of healthy debate between the left and the right. My mother insisted that I stop reading comics and novels and she thrust upon a young mind The dialogues of Plato.
I graduated to Maududi, Marx and Engels to understand socialism, religion and the exploitation of man by laissez faire capitalism. Iqbal fired up a passion and pride, and Bhutto’s book The Myth of Independence gave me a nationalist perspective, though I disagreed with his political philosophy. People dislodged Ayub Khan and yours truly still carries a couple of bullets in his right arm as a memento of a people’s struggle gone awry, somewhat like Egypt of today with no real change. Our lot since then has gotten from worse to worst and beyond.
Forty years later I am travelling with Imran Khan from Lahore to Faisalabad for a PTI jalsa. His recent upsurge started from the Peshawar dharna. Karachi was the watershed where people of all ethnicities joined in to make a statement that there is a breath of fresh air in this miserable political arena. Multan was a notch higher and we reached there in time from Lahore despite many receptions on the way.
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Imran Khan’s stand on Taliban – War is not the Only Solution
This article was sent to Dawn in response to Cyril Almeida’s column Talibangate, but was not published, it has more recently been published in The News in a slightly edited version, but the actual rebuttal is reproduced here
Mr Cyril Almeida in his article in Dawn on 19th March, states that Imran Khan has cried hoarse opposing this war against the Taliban. We need to respond to the link being created by such assertions implying that being against this ‘War’ Khan and his party must be supporters of the Taliban. ‘You are either with us or against us’.
PTI is not a supporter of Taliban. Far from it. We condemn the violence perpetrated by Tehrik-e-Taliban or any other group against innocent people and those who murder and slaughter people. However, we also believe that the Taliban label encompasses a lot of others including those who are reacting to US presence in Afghanistan and their sympathizers in Pakistan; those who react also against the Pakistan army and on civilian population because of US presence in Pakistan; the fundamentalists who believe that Sharia should be imposed even against the wishes of the people; those who disillusioned with justice in Pakistan believe imposition of Sharia law will provide Insaf, little realizing that any law in the hands of the present unaccountable bureaucracy will not deliver; those who are affectees of collateral damage and want to take revenge (à la Iraq); those who are sponsored by ‘local’ and ‘outside’ agencies (including India) and finally the fundamentalist who has hijacked all this chaos and suffering. We can go on and on, different groups, even criminals, land and drug mafias which are taking ample advantage of this strife.
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Talibans want to Negotiate for Peace with Imran Khan as a mediator
Today The News published a report of an audio tape delivered to their offices in Peshawar of a Taliban leader suggesting that they would like to discuss the possibility of a peaceful resolution in the region and offered the name of Imran Khan as a potential mediator. Looking at the news item published in the newspaper its ironic to note that the editorial board choose to hide the importance of this ground breaking news item, camouflaging it under the title of “No Talks with Taliban now: Fazl” probably yet another dubious statement by Maulana Fazlur Rehman who chose for the umpteenth time to toeing the official pro-establishment line of going guns blazing, suggesting that peace was utterly out of the question.
I feel this offer by the Swat Talibans to come onto the negotiating table is a very important development and quite possibly a breakthrough in an out-of-control war on terror offensive. It is my opinion that such peace initiatives should have been in place throughout the offensive, fully empowering the Pakistan Army to aggressively demilitarize the warring militants but at the same time keep an open door policy for diplomacy and possibly a peaceful settlement of this conflict.
Some pessimists may rightly see this to be a deliberately attempt by the Talibans to forestall any ongoing military offensives, which may give them time to recuperate and retaliate later with renewed energy, it is a genuine concern, but on the flip side it could also mean to suggest that the Talibans have weakened enough to be now ready to come onto the negotiating table for any peace talks.
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Laidbackshow Episode 6
Show Notes After the jump
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MQM’s Haider Abbas Rizvi challenges with his MNA seat?
Yesterday on ARY in the show ‘Off the Record’ with Kashif Abbasi he interviewed Imran Khan and MQM MNA Mr. Haider Abbas Rizvi. In the heated debate around the 26th minute of the telecast Haider Abbas Rizvi entangles with Imran Khan challenging him to prove with documentary evidence that the Canadian Courts may have declared MQM as a terrorist organization taking the challenge to vacate his MNA if he were to bring documentary proof to support the claim
Click over to on Awaz.tv to watch the show – fast forward to 26:40 minute marker, where Haider Abbas Rivzi brings up the Canadian challenge.
With all the confidence brimming from TV interview maybe its now time to help refresh Mr. Rizvi’s memory with full references to a few Canadian Federal court rulings questioning MQM as a terrorist organization
MOHAMMED KASHIF OMER vs THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION – May 3, 2007
The decision stated –
Having reviewed the Board’s reasons in light of the evidence presented, I find that the conclusion of the Board to the effect that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the MQM is an organization that engages, has engaged or will engage in terrorism, is reasonable.
Imran Khan banned from Sindh again for the 4th time
Imran Khan was scheduled to arrive in Karachi today aboard a PIA flight from Lahore – but it seems that the Sindh Government feels that he is unwelcome. Protests by PTI workers are being held on Shahrah-e-Faisal and the members are heading towards Karachi Press Club to show their protests.
The question is that why should not a citizens of Pakistan be not allowed to visit other cities?
Might he be right when he accused the government to say its not a government but a mafia