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Archive for January, 2013

EJAZ HAIDER IN EXPRESS TRIBUNE: Karachi — welcome to Hell …

Posted by admin in MQM on January 18th, 2013

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Karachi — welcome to Hell …
 
January 8, 2013
 
Karachi, today, is a violent urban jungle with an assortment of lowlifes keeping the population hostage to their bastardly instincts. 
 
Consider the list of culprits. There are the scions of Baloch and Sindhi sardars and waderas who move around in SUVs with guards brandishing weapons (note that they do so becausetheir elders are bigger scum, thank you). Then there are the children of the urban rich who, having failed to instil urban values in the sardars and waderas, have adopted the latter’srural-medieval mindset. 
 
There are crooked politicians, their guards, political storm troopers; criminal gangs, ranging from thieves and robbers to land grabbers to extortionists and murderers to hired guns; cops on the take; a government split along ethnic lines; anyone who can rent a gun and settle a score. Finally, add to this list the Taliban terrorists and sectarian killers and you have, dear non-Karachi-ite reader, what Karachi is. At the centre of this is the majority of Karachi-ites, resigned to their fate, living from day to day, a terrified, terrible existence.
 
Nothing I’ve said in the preceding paragraph will surprise Karachi-ites. Karachi was not always like this but that’s another story. For now, this is about what it has become. Some of where (and how) Karachi became this hell is contained in a long-forgotten report by a commission Mr Nawaz Sharif had set up in the 90s under one General Shafiqur Rehman. This was the time theMarwat brothers were running amok. 
 
My friend Mazhar Abbas, a journalist of high merit, who has seen Karachi go to the dogs (or seen dogs come to Karachi, whichever way one puts it) tells me that the then chief minister of Sindh,Jam Sadiq Ali, would not provide security to the commission. They were holed up at the Sheraton and people deposed before them in the hotel. Still, the report is worth a read.
 
Extortion is common practice. Speak to businessmen and shopkeepers in the city and one realises the extent of the menace. People of all ethnicities and political affiliations are involved in it. A very senior journalist who constructed a house in Gulistan-e Jauhar received a call from the Baloch Aman Committee and the caller, after congratulating him on the new house, demanded that he pay up Rs 100,000 to ensure safe living in his home.
 
The journalist went to the Sindh governor, the Sindh CM, the IG Police, the CPLC, PFUJ, KUJ, the Presidency, you name it. Result: zip, zilch and zero. He locked his home and has shifted to Islamabad (because he could afford to; there are millions of other Karachi-ites who cannot afford to). The man has a home in Karachi and he is living in a rented house.Welcome to Karachi.
 
I asked Sheheryar Mirza, a young, freelance journalist, what the hell is going on. He had more stories to tell. A police officer said the police could clean up the city if only “we were given a free hand”. What does ‘free hand’ mean, I asked Mirza. “In the case of Karachi, it means that police officers will be allied with whoever is in power and their master’s enemies will bear the full brunt of police’s coercive power.”
 
So, the answer is not just giving a free hand to the police but creating a professional force that is politically neutral and whose work cannot be hampered by politically influential individuals. “They know, for the most part, what is going on,” says Mazhar, adding: “See, how quickly they have rounded up the accused in Shahzeb Khan’s murder case with the SC’s backing.”
 
The young man’s murder was what got me talking to people. Karachi has seen many killings. But for the most part they are either politically motivated, are the result of extortion and land grabbing, or are owed to terrorism. These menaces have come to define the city, unfortunately. But what about the upscale localities of Clifton and Defence; why are they insecure?
 
That is where the ‘respectable’ scum come in, treating citizens like serfs, driving around with guards, drunk, partying, picking up girls and very often raping and dumping them. “Why are such cases under-reported,” I asked a friend. Because, he said, people are afraid. These families are influential and killing a human being for them is like swatting a fly. Even if a case is reported, the rich and influential criminals never get punished.
 
And the government? There is no government. Karachi has political factions, even within the ruling coalition. The home department is dysfunctional. Zulfiqar Mirza, who huffed and puffed about security and governance, patronised criminals in Lyari. According to some estimates, he issued licences for some 400,000 weapons. We are, of course, told no weapons licences will be given until the elections. Is someone frikkin’ kidding us?
 
Shakir Husain, entrepreneur and writer, says it’s not just the feudal families that act like this. “This is a mindset. They break traffic rules, drive people off the roads; they can get away with anything.”
 
Some people are buying guns and acquiring guards as deterrence. The trend will continue. Those who bend will crouch and take it lying down. Those who say enough will also get into the killing game. Because what else can one do, living with constant indignities and governmental apathy, but take the war to the lowlifes, whether they reside inside or outside the government?
 
The police are not only corrupt and criminalised but also lacks manpower, equipment, investigation skills and professional integrity and independence.  This is a recipe for disaster in Pakistan’s financial hub. To imagine that the Sindh government and, by extension, the federal government can mount effective counterterrorism operations in a city that the vermin of all types hold by the short and curlies is to try and find one straight bone in Rana Sanaullah.
 
Karachi needs to be cleansed; from upper crust pests residing in upscale localities as much as from the thugs holed up in Orangi, Lyari and elsewhere. It needs political commitment and an effective police and civil administration. This is obvious. The question is, how. You want to know when a system has become totally dysfunctional? It is when the highest court in the land has to take suo-motu notice of a murder case because the nation is being ruled by criminals.
 
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2013.

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My biggest gripe with Dr TuQ (Tahir ul Qadri).

Posted by admin in Looters and Scam Artists on January 18th, 2013

My biggest gripe with Dr TuQ (Tahir ul Qadri). He has scared / shaken the politicans of Pakistan so hard that 9 political parties assembled at the Raiwind pallace just last night.
 
Please study closely the photo below. Have you ever seen such a motley crew before?
 
M.A.K
 
 

A motley crew is a cliché for a roughly organized assembly of characters. Typical examples of motley crews arepirates, Western posses, rag-tag mercenary bands and freedom fighters. They may align with, be (as a group), or include either the protagonist or the antagonist of the story. Dictionary.com defines a motley crew as ‘a gathered group of people of various backgrounds, appearance, character’, etc.

 

Motley crews are, by definition, non-uniform and undisciplined as a group. They are characterised by containingcharacters of conflicting personality, varying backgrounds, and, usually to the benefit of the group, a wide array of methods for overcoming adversity. Traditionally, a motley crew who in the course of a story comes into conflict with an organised, uniform group of characters, will prevail. This is generally achieved through the narrative utilising the various specialties, traits and other personal advantages of each member to counterbalance the (often sole) speciality of a formal group of adversaries.

 
 
 

Reference

 
Opposition’s huddle: United we stand — ‘for democracy’
 
By Abdul Manan: January 17, 2013
 

Leaders of opposition parties address a joint press conference in Lahore. PHOTO: ONLINE

 
LAHORE: Major opposition parties rallied behind the government on Wednesday in its duel with influential scholar Dr Tahirul Qadri, saying that they were united to defend the democratic process. However, there was a catch: Led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), opposition groups spelt out a 10-point charter of demands, which include immediate announcement of an election schedule.
 
Nawaz presided over two high-level meetings at his residence in Jati Umra, Raiwind – one with his party and the other with the heads of major opposition groups – to discuss the political situation in the country as well as the Supreme Court’s order against the premier. Opposition leaders vowed to resist any unconstitutional step – a reference that Pakistani politicians often use for military takeovers.
 
10-point declaration
 
Emerging from the huddle with other opposition leaders, Nawaz read out the 10 demands, which, according to him, had been unanimously drafted and would have to be fulfilled immediately. Firstly, the opposition parties demanded the  announcement of an “unambiguous election schedule”, as well as a roadmap for the formation of a caretaker government well in time. Secondly, they demanded that the consultative process for the interim government should be expanded, and other parties should be consulted.
 
The opposition parities expressed confidence in the Election Commission of Pakistan and asked the government to implement the Supreme Court’s orders on electoral reforms. Thirdly, the opposition parties said transition in the country would be possible only through free and fair elections.  Individuals should refrain from their “unconstitutional demands which will have negative impact on election”, they added. The parties also expressed concern over the poor law and order situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Karachi.
 
PM’s reaction
 
Welcoming the opposition’s stand, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf assured the nation that the government was committed to holding free, fair and impartial elections as per the law and Constitution and warned that any obstacles created in its way would not be tolerated. The prime minister also assured political parties that they would be consulted on all matters related to elections. He reiterated that the next elections would be held on time.
 
Meetings
 
The second meeting presided by Nawaz was attended by JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Munawar Hassan, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Talal Bugti, Hasil Bazinjo, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Hamid Nasir Chatha, PML-F Punjab President Mustafa Khar, Saleem Saifullah, Haroon Akhtar and Professor Sajid Mir, among other leaders. Terming Dr Qadri’s sit-in “a circus”, Nawaz said his demands are a true form of Mukmuka (underhand deal) among Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, Dr Qadri and President Zardari.
 
Maulana Fazlur Rehman lashed out at Dr Qadri, saying he would not be able to pull off such a dharna without any backing. Regarding the Supreme Court’s order calling for the arrest of the prime minister, Nawaz said he agreed with the court. However, according to the participants, the meeting unanimously vowed they would let the PPP complete its tenure despite the Supreme Court’s ruling.
 
According to sources, the meeting also discussed whether Dr Qadri was being backed by a local, foreigner or Zardari himself. The participants said the opposition parties unanimously agreed that the army was not interested in exploiting the Dr Qadri situation. They said that following this viewpoint, the opposition parties have given the government the go-ahead for taking action against the dharna.
 
Caretaker and election-related matters
 
The opposition parties have provided Nawaz and opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan a mandate to initiate talks with Premier Ashraf regarding the caretaker set-up and to sign a contract with him. The content of the contract would be the appointment of a caretaker prime minister and four provincial chief ministers.

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COL.RIAZ JAFRI’S LETTER: PM’s Arrest

Posted by admin in Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on January 16th, 2013

LETTER TO EDITOR

January 15th,2013

PM’s Arrest

It is customary all over the world for the honourable ministers to resign even on an ordinary allegation of moral turpitude to allow fair and uninfluenced investigations against them.  But, here the ‘honourable’ coteries of our ‘honorable’ PM are trying their best to find some kinds of Unknown-40and explanations for him to retain the ministership!

What different standards of honour and honourability?!  

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

30 Westridge 1
Rawalpindi 46000
Pakistan
E.mail: [email protected]

 
 
 
 
 

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Zardari in WikiLeaks – Nawaz Sharif is worst than Asfandyar Wali Khan for the GHQ?

Posted by admin in Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on January 16th, 2013

images-54Nuclear Fuel Memos Expose Wary Dance With Pakistan

 

….. “Kayani will want to hear that the United States has turned the page on past ISI operations,” it said. General Kayani was probably referring to the peace accords with the Taliban from 2004 to 2007 that resulted in the strengthening of the militants.

If the general seems confidently in charge, the cables portray Mr. Zardari as a man not fully aware of his weakness.

At one point he said he would not object if Abdul Qadeer Khan, revered in Pakistan as the father of its nuclear weapons program, were interviewed by the International Atomic Energy Agency but tacitly acknowledged that he was powerless to make that happen.

Mr. Zardari, who spent 11 years in prison on ultimately unproved corruption charges, feared for his position and possibly — the wording is ambiguous — his life: the cables reveal that Vice President Biden told Prime Minister Gordon Brownof Britain in March 2009 that Mr. Zardari had told him that the “ISI director and Kayani will take me out.”

His suspicions were not groundless. In March 2009, a period of political turmoil, General Kayani told the ambassador that he “might, however reluctantly,” pressure Mr. Zardari to resign and, the cable added, presumably leave Pakistan. He mentioned the leader of a third political party, Asfandyar Wali Khan, as a possible replacement.

“Kayani made it clear regardless how much he disliked Zardari he distrusted Nawaz even more,” the ambassador wrote, a reference to Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister.

By 2010, after many sessions with Mr. Zardari, Ms. Patterson had revised the guarded optimism that characterized her early cables about Mr. Zardari.

“Pakistan’s civilian government remains weak, ineffectual and corrupt,” she wrote on Feb. 22, 2010, the eve of a visit by the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III. “Domestic politics is dominated by uncertainty about the fate of President Zardari.”

That assessment holds more than eight months later, even as Mr. Obama in October extended an invitation to the Mr. Zardari leader to visit the White House next year, as the leader of a nation that holds a key to peace in Afghanistan but appears too divided and mistrustful to turn it for the Americans.

 

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ALLAHU AKBAR: SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN HAS ORDERED THE ARREST OF CORRUPT PM OF PAKISTAN RAJA “RENTAL CROOK” ASHRAF ALONG WITH 16 ACCOMPLICES

Posted by admin in Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on January 15th, 2013

 ALLAHU AKBAR-PAKISTANIS REJOICE THANK ALLAH A MILLION TIMES    

Pakistan top court orders CROOK PM PERVEZ ASHRAF arrested

 
Supreme Court issues arrest order in case related to rental power agreements when PM Ashraf was a federal minister.

 

 
 

MASTER CROOK RAJA “RENTAL POWER CHEAT 

Raja Pervez Ashraf was the federal minister for water and power when he is alleged to have taken kickbacks [EPA]

The Pakistani Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in connection with a corruption case.

The court ordered the arrest of PM Ashraf on Tuesday morning, in relation to a case relating to contracts for the purchase of rental power plants by the federal government when Ashraf was the federal minister for water and power.

The Supreme Court ordered the arrest of 16 people, including the prime minister, and directed authorities to present Ashraf in court on Wednesday, local media reported.

“[Raja Pervez Ashraf] was the power and electricity minister and during that time he is said to have embezzled millions of dollars, the case was pending at the Supreme Court and the court therefore decided that the PM should be arrested immediately, because he is found guilty of complicity in embezzlements of large amounts of money,” reported Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder in Islamabad. 

The move has come as Tahir-ul-Qadri, a populist cleric, demanded the resignation of the government in protests attended by thousands of followers in the heart of the capital Islamabad.

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