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Posted by admin in Nawaz Sharif Massive Corruption, NAWAZ SHARIF SAGA OF ABSOLUTE & CHRONIC CORRUPTION on September 8th, 2013
ISLAMABAD: Former Managing Director of Pepco Munawar Baseer has exposed the Rs15 billion scam of the Nandipur Power Project
In a letter sent to the chief justice of Pakistan he states that the PML-N government has revived the 425 MW project with a monumental increase in the cost revised upwards to $570million from $329 million.
“The revised PC-1 of the Nandipur power project is a well thought out, well conceived and white collar scam to cheat the public exchequer of $149 million, the benefit of which will go to a select private sector party,” the former Pepco executive claims.
The reality is that all equipment, machinery is at the site or the port and paid for. The only increase demanded by the Dongfong Electric Corporation (DEC) is $40 million. And there could be an increase in extended insurance for 2-3 years, plus IDC. This could add up to say another $25 million at the most, bringing the cost to $425 million plus $25m which equals $450 million, certainly not $574 million. This means that the hefty amount of $124 million is still unjustified and unaccounted for.
Baseer pleaded in the letter praying that the Honorable Supreme Court might take notice of this new scam of defrauding the people of Pakistan by a well-conceived, white collar scam.When contacted Baseer said that no doubt the project has been delayed because of the then Law Ministry in the PPP government, but the machinery lying at the port is actually outdoor machinery and there is no question of its rusting which may need compensation.
They just need to install the machinery at the site and make the project operational. However, the contractor would have to remobilise its manpower and machinery at the site for which the Chinese company has demanded $40 million. To a question he said that if needed he would submit the petition with the SC seeking the probe into the monumental raise in the cost of the Nandipur project.
However, in the letter he submitted: “As a citizen of Pakistan I am extremely pained to see that corruption in the energy sector continues unabated. Most recently, the now famous case of the 425 MW Nandipur Power Project delays, in which suo moto action has also been taken by the Honorable Supreme Court, is again being used by the mafia to make windfall gains.”
It appears that the Pepco and Ministry of Water and Power, using this pretext, has now conjured up a new scam by submitting a new PC-1 for a monumental increase in the cost of the Nandipur project. Using the cover of the current back-breaking load shedding and the need to expedite the stalled projects of Nandipur and Chicho ki Malian, on order of the Honorable Supreme Court, the MW&P has come up with a new plan to rob the public. “It appears that the mafia has now formulated a unique plan under a white collar arrangement, which may even have gone unnoticed. However, I as the former MD of Pepco who revived this dead project after my takeover as MD Pepco, feel it is my moral, professional and national responsibility to bring the facts to light.
“The Nandipur project has certainly been the lowest cost power project, as under my management, neither commission could be asked for, nor commission could be offered or solicited by any party. The Chinese were amazed at this new favourable position and agreed to undertake the project after the requisite discounts. Full financing arrangements of $329 million were also made under a Co-Face (French) and SinoSure (Chinese) package with BNP-Paribas as the lead Syndicate Bank.
However it has always been the attempt of the mafia, including the private sector IPP sponsors, to stall any project which would demonstrate the real cost of power plants, exposing the inflated costs which have been used by all IPPs as an instrument to make upfront money which is generally transferred overseas. In the sequence of events along with the original cost of the Nandipur power project of $329 million, it can be clearly seen that even allowing for maximum escalation there is still an unprecedented increase of $124 million, which is unaccounted for.
Narrating the summary of Nandipur power project scam in the petition, Mr Baseer told that
i) Provisional Letter of Intent (LOI) issued by MD Pepco and accepted by DEC on 3 December,2007. Discounted EPC cost agreed with DEC was $329 million.
ii) Total Project Cost estimated at $385 million to include Insurance, Interest During Construction (IDC), and miscellaneous civil works (costing sheet attached, Annexure B).
iii) Project levelised Tariff for 25 years was 10.821 cts /kwh vs. equivalent IPPs (Atlas, Nishat Power, Nishat Chunian etc.) at about 12.125 cts /kwh. Net Tariff lower by 1.304 cts /kwh at FO cost of Rs25,597/ton in December 2007.
iv) Nandipur 425 MW Power Project is the lowest cost project as even compared to IPPs set-up in 1995 – 1998 under PPP government. (news report attached, Annexure C)
v) Full contract was signed in January 2008 by Mr Munawar B Ahmad, MD Pepco & Mr Loa Zhigung President DEC, for agreed EPC cost of $329 million.
vi) Financing arranged by Pepco through Co-FACE (French credit), Sino Sure (Chinese), and BOP (Rupees) under overall Syndicate headed by BNP Paribas (French Bank).
vii) DEC mobilization and construction started in October 2008. GE Turbines delivered and installed at site and paid for under financing arrangements.
viii) HRSG; Heat Recovery Steam Generator Steam Turbine, Balance of plant equipment shipped by DEC in seven (7) batches and paid for, and now still lying uncleared at KPT/PQA port since August 2010.
ix) The Chinese Contractor, DEC on August 20 wrote to Yusuf Raza Gilani (letter attached, Annexure D) requesting the GOP’s assistance in issuance of Ministry of Law legal opinion and release of shipment and balance payments.
x) There was apparently no response from PM’s Secretariat or Ministry of Law. Even the Chinese Ambassador wrote to the Prime Minister, Pepco etc, but no affirmative action was taken.
xi) Finally in September 2012, DEC was forced to de-mobilize its crew of about 400 construction and engineering workers and issued letter of contract cancellation.
xii) For past 2 years and 10 months, a simple matter of issuance of a legal opinion by Ministry of Law, re-affirming that the GOP Sovereign Guarantee for the overseas loans (Co-Face and Sino Sure) was valid has not been issued.
xiii) The PPP government clearly and intentionally delayed the matter and issuance of the Ministry of Law letters for want of commission by the concerned. Even when the then Minister of Water & Power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was approached on the matter he maintained that there was nothing he could do on the matter.
xiv) The position now is that nearly 100% of plant, machinery and equipment has been shipped and paid for under the financing arrangements, and is either at the Nandipur site or the KPT/PQA ports.
xv) About 50% work at site, including installation of three brand new GE Frame nine (9) turbines has been completed. Balance work, after delivery of equipment from port and re-mobilisation of the Chinese Contractor, DEC, can be completed within one (1) year.
xvi) DEC has only demanded an extra $40 million for re-mobilisation, and increase in construction costs. This would result in the project cost escalating to $425 million or thereof. (news report attached, Annexure F).
xvii) However a new mafia is at work now, and many reports, project escalation estimates have been spread in the media, stating that the project has escalated to an astounding $574 million (news reports attached, Annexure G).
xviii) The question is where did this extra cost of about $149 million come from? There are also reports of plans by PML-N to privatise the Nandipur Power Plant and let the “Chosen” party arrange for the “extra costs”. Since a new revised cost has been “approved” by the ECC.
xix) The revised PC-1 by Pepco/Ministry of Water & Power for Rs57 billion ($570 million) is under a well thought out scam to cheat the public exchequer of $149 million, the benefit of which will go to a “select private sector party”
xx) The reality is that all equipment, machinery etc is at site or at the port and is paid for. The only increase demanded by DEC is $40 million. Plus there could be an increase in extended insurance for 2-3 years, plus IDC. This could add up to say another $25 million at the most, bringing the cost to $425 m + $25m = $450 million, certainly not $574 million.
xxi) The Honorable Supreme Court may take notice of this new scam of defrauding the People of Pakistan by a hefty $124 million under a well conceived, white collar scam, which has indications of being the “Mother of all Scams”.
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) desperately awaits the long-overdue judgment in the Rs3.48 billion ‘willful loan default case’ against Nawaz Sharif and his family members concerning the Hudabiya Paper Mills Private Limited.
The case hearing was concluded on December 3, 2012 by a two-member Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, declaring that the verdict was being reserved to be announced ‘soon’.
The division bench comprising Justice Khwaja Imtiaz Ahmed and Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan had heard for six months three identical petitions filed by Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and several other family members, seeking cancellation of the corruption cases which were filed against them by the NAB. The cases pertaining to the Hudabiya Mills, Ittefaq Foundries and the Raiwind assets were prepared in 2000 when the Sharifs were detained in the Attock Fort following the overthrow of their government by Musharraf. As the Sharifs eventually proceeded to Saudi Arabia in December 2000 after signing a pardon deal with General Pervez Musharraf, these references were adjourned sine die on April 4, 2001.
The NAB once again took up the pending cases in 2007 as Nawaz Sharif returned home. On August 8, 2007, the NAB filed an application with the Lahore High Court for revival of the pending corruption cases against the Sharifs. But the NAB application was finally thrown out by the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court in August 2008, maintaining that the cases were not routed through the NAB chairman. Yet another NAB attempt was halted by the court on the same grounds in February 2010. However, on a petition filed by the Sharifs, a division bench of the LHC headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah ordered the NAB on October 5, 2011 to return the confiscated assets of the Sharif family, including shares worth Rs100 million, prize bonds worth Rs115 million, documents of properties in Murree, Chaudhry Sugar Mills, Hudabiya Engineering Services, Hamza Shipping Corporation, Ramzan Sugar Mills, etc.
On October 19, 2011, the Rawalpindi bench of the High Court comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Abdul Waheed Khan passed a stay order in favour of the Sharifs and directed an accountability court to stay further proceedings on corruption references. On September 15, 2012, the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court restrained an accountability court from pursuing the corruption case against the Sharifs till the matter was adjudicated by it. During subsequent hearing of the case on October 9, 2012, the division bench of the LHC, comprising Justice Khwaja Imtiaz Ahmed and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, advised the counsel for the Sharifs to ask his clients to pay back the decades-old bank loans to get rid of one of the three corruption references.
Justice Khwaja Imtiaz Ahmed told Salman Butt, the counsel for Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, “The Sharif family seems to have recovered its losses and it is believed that the family is now well-off and can easily return all the loans to the banks. The loans procured from different banks were the public money and it should be returned at the earliest.” On December 3, 2012, Justice Khwaja Imtiaz Ahmed and Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench reserved its judgment on the Rs3.48 billion ‘willful loan default case’ against the Sharifs concerning the Hudabiya Paper Mills after the NAB prosecutor Chaudhry Riaz Ahmed completed his arguments in the case.
In his arguments, Chaudhry Riaz Ahmed informed the court that there was sufficient material available with the NAB to proceed against the Sharif brothers in the Hudabiya Mills case, especially a hand-statement of Senator Ishaq Dar as the approver wherein he has charged sheeted the Sharifs. Quoting Dar’s statement, Ch Riaz Ahmed said several bogus bank accounts were opened on the instructions of Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, depositing the laundered money and later transferring the money into personal accounts.
In the “State vs Hudabiya Paper Mills Private Limited case”, nine members of the Sharif family were accused of committing money laundering to the tune of Rs642.743 million. As per the NAB reference, the Sharif family allegedly deposited ill-gotten money in fake accounts which were opened in the names of other persons and the money from these accounts was used to pay off the bank loans of the defaulting Sharif companies. Mian Muhammad Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, H
ussain Nawaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, Mrs Shamim Sharif (Nawaz’s mother), Mrs Sabiha Abbas, Mrs Maryam Safdar and the former finance minister of the Sharif cabinet, Ishaq Dar are the main accused in the Hudabiya reference.
While concluding his arguments in the Hudabiya Mills case before a division bench of the LHC on December 3, 2012, the NAB prosecutor Chaudhry Riaz Ahmed narrated in detail the 43-page handwritten statement by Senator Ishaq Dar wherein he had accused the Sharifs of involvement in money laundering. As per the statement, which had been recorded before a District Magistrate, Lahore, on April 25, 2000, Dar accused the Sharif brothers of having used the Hudabiya Paper Mills as cover for money laundering during the late 1990s. Dar’s statement was recorded before a district magistrate in Lahore, after he was brought to the court from a jail by Basharat Shahzad, then serving as assistant director in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
According to a senior NAB official, Ishaq Dar’s deposition was an irrevocable statement because it had been recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Dar happens to be a high-profile PML-N leader who has always been considered close to the Sharif brothers. In fact, Dar’s son, Ali Dar, is married to Nawaz Sharif’s younger daughter, Asma Nawaz. Ishaq Dar confessed in his statement: “I opened two foreign currency accounts in the name of Sikandra Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi with foreign currency funds provided by the Sharif family in the Bank of America by signing as Sikandara Masood Qazi and Talat Masood Qazi. All instructions to the bank in the name of these two persons were signed by me under the orders of original depositors, namely Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The foreign currency accounts of Nuzhat Gohar and Kashif Masood Qazi were opened in Bank of America by Naeem Mehmood under my instructions (based on the directives of the Sharifs) by signing the same as Nuzhat Gohar and Kashif Masood Qazi.”
As per Dar’s statement recorded before District Magistrate Lahore on April 25, 2000, besides these foreign currency accounts, a previously opened foreign currency account of Saeed Ahmed, a former director of the First Hajvari Modaraba Company and a close aide of Dar, and of Mussa Ghani, the nephew of Dar’s wife, were also used to deposit huge foreign currency funds provided by the Sharif family to offer them as collateral to obtain different direct and indirect credit lines. Dar conceded that the Bank of America, Citibank, Atlas Investment Bank, Al Barka Bank and Al Towfeek Investment Bank were used under the directives of the Sharif family.
Interestingly, Dar also implicated himself by confessing before the magistrate that he — along with his friends Kamal Qureshi and Naeem Mehmood — had opened fake foreign currency accounts in different international banks. Dar said an amount of $3.725 million was transferred in the Emirates Bank, $8.539 million transferred in the Al Faysal Bank and $2.622 million were transferred in the accounts of the Hudabiya Paper Mills Ltd. He had concluded his statement by adding that the entire amount deposited in these banks finally landed in the account of the Hudabiya Paper Mills.
However, Senator Ishaq Dar neither denied nor confirmed having given the statement. Approached by The News on April 30, 2011 after Rehman Malik had announced taking up the Hudabiya Mills money laundering case against the Sharif brothers, Ishaq Dar stated: “This is all rubbish. The Hudabiya Mills case is nothing but trash. The matter is sub judice in the Lahore High Court and the facts would be known to the general public in due course. All transactions were duly reported to the State Bank of Pakistan as per the law of the land”.
As the NAB sent details of the Hudabiya Paper Mills case to the Election Commission of Pakistan last week, the PML-N said the NAB’s action was based on mala fide intentions. “The NAB should not do politics and it should refrain from becoming a party”, a PML-N spokesman said. On his part, Shahbaz Sharif addressed a press conference in Lahore with Ishaq Dar sitting next to him, refuting that they defaulted on Rs3.48 billion bank loans. “We never abused political positions to obtain loans and then to default on them. It is a conspiracy by a gang of four to malign the most popular leader in the country while misusing the NAB”.
On the other hand, a NAB spokesman has refuted Shahbaz Sharif’s allegations, saying it was in fact the Election Commission which had sought from the Bureau a complete list of the politicians involved in willful default and plea bargain cases. “The NAB records show the Sharif brothers had petitioned the Lahore High Court, seeking the quashing of the loan default cases pending against them in the accountability courts. And since their petition has not yet been decided by the LHC despite concluding the case hearing and reserving the verdict almost four months ago, the status of the Sharifs remains the same — accused in default cases”.
Nawaz Government First MEGA Corruption Scandal in NandiPur Project
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Posted by admin in INDIA-AN EVIL NATION, INDIA-HO-- -- USE BUILT ON SAND AND COW DUNG, INDIA: THE EVIL HINDU EMPIRE on September 8th, 2013
While the incidence of rape and sexual violence is soaring in India, the rupee is falling steeply. From 54 rupees per dollar in May this year it has dipped to Rs.65 to date. There is a likelihood of its further plunge in the coming days if not arrested by effective measures. Let us deal with rape situation first.
India seems to be caught up between two mammoth crises. One is the moral meltdown and the other is the economic downturn. The societies do suffer from setbacks. But it also devolves upon the leadership to overcome such ugly monstrosities and put a halt to those setbacks in a competing world. India has been neck and neck with China in economic growth.
The economic debacle has lowered Indian ranking to 60, as mentioned in the annual Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, released by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). It is distressing for India because it is 31 points lower than her regional rival China.
Statistically every 20 minute a rape of a female takes place in India. Recently there has been a spate of agonizing and atrocious rape incidents in India. Doing masturbation in front of women in public places is a common spectacle. The gang rape by five males of a 23-year old medical student on December 16 last year in a bus is the most outrageous incident that shook the entire India and the world beyond. As a result of that brutal attack she died two weeks later.
Now as recent as August 22 another horrific rape of a photojournalist was committed in Mumbai. One can imagine how sinister and ugly the situation is getting in the largest democracy of the world.
The story of Rose Chasm a Chicago university student who stayed in India for studies is nerve shattering. In her article, “India: The Story You Never Wanted to Hear” viewed by over a million people, she shares her account of personally “experiencing repeated sexual harassment and the way travelers and local women folks were s were exposed to this insidious epidemic in India” Some extracts of her poignant article titled,“India: the Story You Never Wanted to Hear “are reproduced hereunder:
“For three months I lived this way, in a traveler’s heaven and a woman’s hell. I was stalked, groped, masturbated at; and yet I had adventures beyond my imagination.”
“This is the story you don’t want to hear when you ask me about India. But this is the story you need. There was no way to prepare for the eyes, the eyes that every day stared with such entitlement at my body.”
“When people ask me about my experience studying abroad in India, I always face the same dilemma. How does one convey the contradiction that over the past few months has torn my life apart, and convey it in a single succinct sentence?”
Let me quote another observation from a report published in AP and penned by Nirmala George. She writes,
“Rapes in India remain drastically under-reported. In many cases, families do not report rapes due to the stigma that follows the victim and her family. In other instances, families may decide not to report a rape out of frustration with the long delays in court and harassment at the hands of the police. Police themselves are reluctant to register cases of rape and domestic violence in order to keep down crime figures or to elicit a bribe from the victim.”
In a fiendish propensity for raping underage and very young children of late, several cases have been reported in the Indian press. One such horrific incident was of a four years old girl raped on April 17. She died in hospital nearly two weeks after she was raped and found unconscious at a farm. One can also reckon how other countless rape incidents remain unnoticed particularly in villages and dense urban areas where a pall of aloofness and fear of stigma deters the victims from disclosures.
In a recent report, the “Asian Center for Human Rights” cited statistics in which it showed that 48,338 child rape cases were reported in India between 2001 and 2011. The report said that the number of cases rose from 2,113 in 2001 to 7,112 in 2011.
ABC’s South Asia correspondent Michael Edwards in his August 20 article paints a dismal picture of the dwindling state of Indian economy. He quotes Mark Colvin as commenting that, “One of the world’s biggest economies is heading towards a crisis. India’s currency, the rupee, has crashed to record lows and its stock market is experiencing serious falls. To add to India’s problems, capital is also flowing out of the country at what economists describe as dangerous levels. Analysts argue that investor frustration at the slow pace of economic reform is a major part of the problem. Others point to a lack of political leadership.”
In his most objective analysis of the fledgling Indian economy, Arvind Subramanian in his article published by New York Times on August 30 writes that, “Growth has slowed to 4.4 percent a year; the rupee is in free fall, resulting in higher prices for imported goods; and the specter of a potential crisis, brought on by rising inflation and crippling budget deficits, looms.”
He apportions the blame for this crippling economic downturn to, “The current government, which took office in 2004, has made two fundamental errors. First, it assumed that growth was on autopilot and failed to address serious structural problems. Second, flush with revenues, it began major redistribution programs, neglecting their consequences: higher fiscal and trade deficits.”
India is the second most populous country after China. Its present population of 1.21 billion is projected to be the world’s most populous country by 2025, surpassing China. Correspondingly the socio-economic challenges would also exacerbate with the growth of population. If far reaching strategies are not evolved to forestall the population growth or create additional resources, there is going to be complete mayhem in India.
India is beset with a plethora of ethnic and racial mosaic. It is also bedeviled with draconian caste system that somehow hinders an even handed socio economic uplift. The dillats or untouchables and also the religious minorities remain marginalized. India is a secular society by constitution but practically the people go by their religious obligations. That is why one can witness cows, apes and occasionally elephant in Indian streets.
The round wheel on the Indian flag, the three animal faced emblem and otherwise the displays of Indian sacred weapon Shiva’s Trishool (three spears) are manifestations of preponderance for Hinduism. Like Pakistan and other religious dominated country, there is a predominant section of population that comprises die-hard and fanatic Hindu extremists. They protest vehemently and even go on rampage against the minorities particularly Muslims in case of a dispute such as Babri mosque.
India is certainly advancing comically but it still falls short of eradicating rampant poverty and raising the quality of life as China has done. China being a one party system can enforce her decisions effectively. India being a democracy has to seek consensus for watershed decisions.
The infrastructure in India has markedly improved over the years but still one can see the slums and ghettos in big cities. It would take a great deal of efforts and time for India to put on the grab of a veritable modern state.
Like other third world countries in India to there is endemic corruption and manipulation of state funds by the influential sections and misuse of power for personal gains at every level from top to bottom.
India is also plagued by a multitude of separatist movements. That challenge is the most formidable because it fractures and at least poses a grave danger to the Indian territorial integrity. Moreover it puts enormous financial burden on the Indian economy. No one could forebode how long it would take India to bridle, tame or overcome insurgencies for separation from the Indian federation.
The cardinal issue of Kashmir between India and Pakistan on one hand and Tibet with China on the other are, interminable deflections that would continue to bog down India till these are resolved. Once these territorial disputes are resolved India would be free to divert the funds now being spent on these issues to development and reconstruction.
The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of Diplomatic Times and a former diplomat
Posted by admin in ISLAMOPHOBES on September 8th, 2013
FORT WORTH — Brigitte Gabriel bounced to the stage at a Tea Party convention last fall. She greeted the crowd with a loud Texas “Yee-HAW,” then launched into the same gripping personal story she has told in hundreds of churches, synagogues and conference rooms across the United States:
Brigitte Gabriel spoke to a Tea Party event in September. She says her views were shaped while growing up in Lebanon.
As a child growing up a Maronite Christian in war-torn southern Lebanon in the 1970s, Ms. Gabriel said, she had been left lying injured in rubble after Muslims mercilessly bombed her village. She found refuge in Israel and then moved to the United States, only to find that the Islamic radicals who had terrorized her in Lebanon, she said, were now bent on taking over America.
“America has been infiltrated on all levels by radicals who wish to harm America,” she said. “They have infiltrated us at the C.I.A., at the F.B.I., at the Pentagon, at the State Department. They are being radicalized in radical mosques in our cities and communities within the United States.”
Through her books, media appearances and speeches, and her organization, ACT! for America, Ms. Gabriel has become one of the most visible personalities on a circuit of self-appointed terrorism detectors who warn that Muslims pose an enormous danger within United States borders.
Representative Peter T. King, Republican of Long Island, will conduct hearings Thursday in Washington on a similar theme: that the United States is infiltrated by Muslim radicals. Mr. King was the first guest last month on a new cable television show that Ms. Gabriel co-hosts with Guy Rodgers, the executive director of ACT! and a Republican consultant who helped build the Christian Coalition, once the most potent political organization on the Christian right.
Ms. Gabriel, 46, who uses a pseudonym, casts her organization as a nonpartisan, nonreligious national security group. Yet the organization draws on three rather religious and partisan streams in American politics: evangelical Christian conservatives, hard-line defenders of Israel (both Jews and Christians) and Tea Party Republicans.
She presents a portrait of Islam so thoroughly bent on destruction and domination that it is unrecognizable to those who study or practice the religion. She has found a receptive audience among Americans who are legitimately worried about the spread of terrorism.
But some of those who work in counterterrorism say that speakers like Ms. Gabriel are spreading distortion and fear, and are doing the country a disservice by failing to make distinctions between Muslims who are potentially dangerous and those who are not.
Brian Fishman, a research fellow at both the New America Foundation in Washington, and the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy at West Point, said, “When you’ve got folks who are looking for the worst in Islam and are promoting that as the entire religion of 1.5 or 1.6 billion people, then you only empower the real extremists.”
Ms. Gabriel is only one voice in a growing circuit that includes counter-Islam speakers likePamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Walid Shoebat. What distinguishes Ms. Gabriel from her counterparts is that she has built a national grass-roots organization in the last three years that has already engaged in dozens of battles over the place of Islam in the United States. ACT! for America claims 155,000 members in 500 chapters across the country. To build her organization, Ms. Gabriel has enlisted Mr. Rodgers, who had worked behind the scenes for the Christian Coalition’s leaders, Ralph Reed and the television evangelist Pat Robertson. (Ms. Gabriel herself was once an anchor for Mr. Robertson’s Christian television network in the Middle East).
As national field director, Mr. Rodgers planted and tended Christian Coalition chapters across the country, and is now using some of the same strategies as executive director of ACT! Among those tactics is creating “nonpartisan voter guides” that rank candidates’ responses and votes on issues important to the group.
Just as with the Christian Coalition’s voter guides, the candidates whose positions most often align with ACT!’s are usually Republicans. Mr. Rodgers previously served as campaign manager for Patrick J. Buchanan’s presidential run in 1996, and as a consultant for John McCain in 2008.
Ms. Gabriel and Mr. Rodgers declined to be interviewed in person or over the telephone, but agreed to respond to questions by e-mail. They permitted interviews with only their national field director and two chapter leaders they selected, though half a dozen other interviews were conducted with chapter leaders before they were told not to talk.
Ms. Gabriel says she is motivated not by fear or hatred of Islam, but by her love for her adopted country.
“I lost Lebanon, my country of birth, to radical Islam,” she wrote. “I do not want to lose my adopted country America.”
She insists that she is singling out only “radical Islam” or Muslim “extremists” — not the vast majority of Muslims or their faith. And yet, in her speeches and her two books, she leaves the opposite impression. She puts it most simply in the 2008 introduction to her first book, “Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America.”
“In the Muslim world, extreme is mainstream,” she wrote. She said that there is a “cancer” infecting the world, and said: “The cancer is called Islamofacism. This ideology is coming out of one source: The Koran.”
In what ACT! is calling “Open a Koran” day this September, the group plans to put up 750 tables in front of post offices, libraries, churches and synagogues and hand out leaflets selectively highlighting verses that appear to advocate violence, slavery and subjugation of women.
DERA BUGTI: Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani on Friday said, “Pakistan Army is playing a constructive role in the socio-economic development of Balochistan”, Geo News reported.
Addressing the cadets in Sui Military College‚ the Army Chief said there is no military operation anywhere in the province. Not a single soldier is involved in maintaining law and order situation in the Balochistan province, he said.
He said over 20‚000 Baloch students are enrolled in Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps run educational institutions including cadet schools‚ medical colleges‚ mining institutes and others.
He said Frontier Corps (FC) and police are dealing with all security related matters in consultation with Balochistan government.
Talking about mining institutes‚ the Army Chief wished for Baloch people to hold important positions in these institutions‚ instead of working as a laborer. He said during the past three years‚ Baloch representation in army has been raised from 1.7 percent to 3.5 percent. He said Pakistan Army has recruited over 12‚000 soldiers from Balochistan.
General Kayani said 760 Baloch officers are actively playing their role in Pakistan Army. He said for a national army‚ all provinces must be given their due representation.
He urged unity among Baloch tribes for the sake of development in the province and said if tribes establish peace among themselves‚ resources of Balochistan can be utilized in best public interest.
General Kayani also assured Pakistan Army’s full cooperation in the construction of Gwadar-Ratto Dero highway and Balochistan canal.
Chief Minister Balochistan, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, in his speech appealed to the people of Balochistan to unite for the welfare and development of Pakistan. He said the people of Balochistan are attached to Pakistan and will play their role. He also called for promotion of education in the province.
Posted by admin in BOOT THE SCOUNDRELS OR SHOWDAZ, Pakistan's Hall of Shame on September 7th, 2013
Sixty-six years ago, there had been a “founder”, who created a nation for the Muslims of India on 14th August, 1947. They had raised their hands to Allah in gratitude for blessing them with a nation of their own, a Nation called Pakistan.
Thousands of innocent men, women and children had died, as riots broke out during the partition, but for those who lost their loved ones, the sacrifice was worth it, as they were now free citizens and masters of their own destiny.
But since then, we have been trying to find another “builder” who could build this nation and introduce a system of governance that is “of the people, for the people and by the people”. A government that would improve the quality of life of the uneducated millions, who still live below the poverty line.
However, we failed to do so and our politics of tragedies and errors gave the army repeated excuses to dismiss and remove governments for corruption and mismanagement and take control 
of the Nation.
We had one PM hanged, one general-president blown up in the skies, one President and CJ, forced to resign, of which the CJ has been restored and now our current PM, whose government was dismissed twice for mismanagement and now holding office for the third time.
At the same time, numerous Presidents, PMs, Field Marshals and 5 Star Generals have come and gone and have tried various types and systems of governments, from basic, to tailored democracy, to dictatorships in different forms and the present one, which is a cocktail of all of these.
The one common factor in these explosive ‘Molotov Cocktails’ was, that they were all “in the best interest of the country” and promised us a better tomorrow and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And along the long journey, heroes and villains have merged and played musical chairs with the destiny of this nation.
In the process, we have seen our constitution mutilated and mauled, our LEAs and civic services made ineffective and nominated as the second most corrupt nation in the world, about to implode.
At one of Helpline Trust’s seminar, a former Chief Economist of Pakistan had stated: ‘There are only two stakeholders in Pakistan, the privileged few, about 5%, which includes the feudals, the armed forces and the rich and the famous, while the other stakeholders are the balance 95%, who are their subjects. They have no say in their own destiny or the destiny of this nation’. They are the forgotten citizens of Pakistan, like the people in T/ S. Elliot’s well known poem, ‘The Hollow Men’.
‘We are the hollow men, We are the stuffed men, Leaning together, Headpiece filled with straw. Our dried voices, when we whisper together, Are quiet and meaningless. This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.
(http://famouspoetsandpoems.
We may be a nuclear power with a growing economy, planning mass transit transport systems, under and over passes, etc., but unfortunately for the forgotten subjects, things have remained the same for the last 66 years and their plight is as dismal as before. Like most of Pakistan, they have been shamefully neglected and are still without electricity, safe drinking water and the basic amenities.
Rape and crimes against women are common all over the world, but civil society in other countries, show their disgust, by organizing protests on a National basis, demanding lawmakers to take immediate and visible action.
However, in Pakistan, civil society has also failed miserably, as it has never played its expected role, refusing to take a stand on important issues and demand accountability and turned a blind eye to the crimes against women, including ‘Honor Killings’ and the plight of the Forgotten People of Pakistan.
It took a brave, uneducated woman from a village, who was brutally raped, to shame the Nation. She demanded justice and begged the government to take notice of the plight of the women in Pakistan.
But the Nation turned their backs on her and she was forced to seek justice from strangers and take her case to the citizens of the world and it was the International community that recognized her courage and honored her by calling her the bravest woman in the world.
The Gods had woken us up from our deep slumber with a jolt, when the devastating earthquake struck the northern parts of the country, destroying homes and killing thousands of innocent citizens.
This was then followed by the devastating floods, which again killed thousands, destroyed crops and livestock, submerged numerous towns and swept away entire villages.
The plight and suffering of these pitiful victims had been brought into our comfortable homes by our TV channels and though many citizens jumped into action to assist the victims, we failed to learn from these tragedies.
Seeing the gravity of the suffering of the flood victims, experts had warned the government, that if dams were not built to prevent such floods, the people of Sindh would be committing mass Hara-Kiri.
But as usual, the warning fell on deaf years and the government failed to learn from the tragedy and take preventative measures. Forgotten were the sufferings of these people and today we once again see the loss of life and property, caused by the devastation of floods in Sindh.
Even our financial Shylocks have not spared the Forgotten People of Pakistan. They have broken their already bent backs, extracting their pound of flesh from their already undernourished bodies, by constantly raising the prices of electricity, petrol and essential items.
Returning to real time, the Government seems to be unable to stop the drone attacks, target killings, ethnic violence and enforce the simplest of laws, while the Great Khan seems to have survived his day in court, without eating humble pie and boosting his status as a person, who is not prepared to compromise on his principals.
Let us hope that the new government will review its priorities and improve the lives of the Forgotten Citizens of Pakistan and not just the privileged few. And if not, then they will be forgotten again and continue to suffer for another decade.
May God protect Pakistan from the hollow promises of hollow leaders.
Hamid Maker. (email: [email protected]).
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